What vegetables are healthier cooked than raw?

Cooked carrots, spinach, mushrooms, asparagus, cabbage, peppers and many other vegetables also supply more antioxidants, such as carotenoids and ferulic acid, to the body than they do when raw, Liu says. At least, that is, if they're boiled or steamed.

Is it better to eat raw carrots or cooked carrots?

Raw carrots can be a nutritious and filling snack, and their fiber can help ease constipation. But if you eat them cooked, your body can better absorb the beta carotene in them, and it reduces your chances of getting sick from a contaminated carrot.

What vegetables are best to eat daily?

Healthy eating means consuming more dark green vegetables, such as broccoli, spinach, and other dark leafy greens . Include more red or orange vegetables, such as carrots, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and legumes, in your diet (dry beans and peas).

Is broccoli healthier, raw or cooked?

The leaves and stems of broccoli are very nutritious, but the florets have an even higher concentration of nutrients and phytochemicals. Raw broccoli has more vitamin C than cooked , but cooked broccoli makes the carotenoids more available to the body. So enjoy broccoli cooked or raw¬ just be sure to eat it often.

What is the number 2 healthiest vegetable?

2. Kale. Kale is a very popular leafy green vegetable with several health benefits.

What vegetable has no health benefits?

Veggie: Celery In fact, this vegetable doesn't contribute much to your body at all. The long, green stalks lacks many of the nutrients often found in other green vegetables, like vitamins C and A. Your body relies on vitamin C to help grow and repair cells, and vitamin A to promote eye, skin and bone health.

Are bell peppers healthier, cooked or raw?

Bell peppers, whether raw or cooked, are packed with vitamin C and various antioxidants. Eating them raw provides maximum vitamin C content, but cooking bell peppers can increase the availability of other nutrients .

Is cucumber healthier, raw or cooked?

Vitamin C gets degraded on exposure to heat so these will lose their nutritive value while cooking. Cucumber: It is best to eat cucumbers raw as cooking reduces the nutritional content of this vegetable.

Is celery healthier, raw or cooked?

People can eat celery raw or cooked. Raw vegetables usually contain more nutrients than cooked ones . Steaming celery for 10 minutes may not affect the antioxidant contents significantly, but boiling celery may do so, according to one study.

Is cabbage healthier, cooked or raw?

Even Raw, It's Great for You Although you get different nutrients if you cook or ferment it, raw red cabbage in particular might give you the best nutritional boost per serving . Slice it very thinly and leave it for about 10 minutes to help bring out the fullest, most complex flavors.

Do vegetables lose health benefits when cooked?

Cooking, in fact, can increase the amount of certain nutrients in certain vegetables, such as lycopene in tomatoes and carotenoid levels in carrots. The reason being that the bonds that lock the nutrients in are broken by the cooking process thus the body can absorb more of them.

Is spinach healthier, raw or cooked?

Spinach. The leafy green is packed with nutrients, but you'll absorb more calcium and iron if you eat it cooked . The reason: Spinach is loaded with oxalic acid, which blocks the absorption of iron and calcium but breaks down under high temperatures. What Do You Really Get When You Buy Organic?

5 Veggies That Are Healthier Cooked Than Raw (2024)

Think every vegetable yields the most nutrition if eaten uncooked? Think again.

by Kasandra BrabawPublished: Aug 1, 2016

5 Veggies That Are Healthier Cooked Than Raw (1)

It can be a heated topic among vegans and veggie lovers: Is the raw or cooked version nutritionally superior? On one hand, raw food enthusiasts will have you thinking that cooking leaches all key vitamins from vegetables and destroys beneficial live enzymes. But, like most things, it’s not that simple. Yes, raw veggies should be consumed in abundance, but so should sautéed, steamed, grilled, and roasted ones; research shows that cooking can actually break down tough cell walls and make nutrients easier to absorb. Pretty cool, right?

Here are 5 surprising veggies that thrive under heat.

(Looking to lose weight? Shed up to 25 pounds in 2 months—and look more radiant than ever—with Prevention’s new Younger In 8 Weeks plan!)

The article 5 Veggies That Are Healthier Cooked Than Raw originally appeared on Prevention.

Carrots

Tomatoes

Tomato sauce, tomato paste, ketchup—chances are that you eat plenty of cooked tomatoes. But if you don’t, now would be a good time to start. If you’re limiting yourself to fresh tomatoes, then you’re only getting about 4 percent of the powerful antioxidant lycopene that this veggielike fruit has to offer, according to research published in the International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition. That’s because raw tomatoes have thick cellular walls that make it difficult for our bodies to absorb lycopene. Once they’re cooked, however, the lycopene becomes much easier for our bodies to utilize, says Wendy Bazilian, RD, coauthor of Eat Clean, Stay Lean.

Spinach

When Popeye swallowed a can of spinach, what was it that made his muscles bulge? If you’re thinking “iron,” then you might be right. But it could also be folate—a B vitamin essential for cell growth and reproductive health that’s found in dark leafy greens.

While cooking spinach doesn’t increase folate levels, a 2002 study found that steaming spinach keeps folate levels constant. Why is that good? “A whole bunch of spinach wilts down to just a little bit,” she says. “So you’re going to eat a lot more of it after it’s cooked.” And thus, consume more folate as a result.

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Asparagus

These green stalks are super high in cancer-fighting vitamins like A, C, and E, as well as folate. But the thick cell walls make it hard for our body to absorb these healthy nutrients. Cooking asparagus breaks down its fibrous cells so that we can absorb more of the vitamins.

Pumpkin

We know—eating raw pumpkin isn’t really something people do. And that’s a good thing, since cooked squash is incredibly more nutritious (this includes all kinds of squash, like zucchini and acorn), says Bazilian. Pumpkins, like carrots, are rich in antioxidants like beta-carotene, which are much easier to absorb once they have been heated. “Something like a can of cooked pumpkin puree is off the charts in terms of nutrition,” says Bazillian.

Related: 20 Perfect Pumpkin Recipes

But Cooking Methods Matter...

While cooked veggies are great, both Bazillian and Pegah Jalali, RD, a dietician in New York City, say that how you cook them matters. Research shows that the absolute best method for cooking veggies is boiling, but not in a big pot of water like you would pasta. Jalali suggests putting 2 to 3 tablespoons of liquid in a pan with your veggies, and then cook your vegetables whole. This not only retains flavor, Bazilian says, but can also provide up to 25 percent more nutrients than veggies that were cut before cooking.

You also want to add a little fat. Healthy fats like olive oil, avocado oil, or flaxseed oil actually increase your body’s ability to absorb key nutrients.

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5 Veggies That Are Healthier Cooked Than Raw (2024)

Carrots

Tomatoes

Spinach

Asparagus

Pumpkin

But Cooking Methods Matter...

Watch Next

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