Myths About Vegetables Debunked By Specialists
Veggies are or at least should be a constant part of a healthy nutrition. They give us vigor and keep us away from some diseases at a time when chaotic and unhealthy eating habits, combined with other factors, leave deep marks on our body and health. Let’s see below here if what we generally know about veggies, especially out of folklore, is true or false. Here are some myths about vegetables about to be debunked, via Yahoo!Green.
The first myth is the one saying fresh vegetables are more nutritious than frozen. But studies show that sometimes you can get more nutrients from frozen veggies, depending on variety and how old the vegetables at your supermarket are. That’s because produce starts losing nutrient quality as soon as it’s picked and imagine some are also transported and stored on shop shelves for a while. As concerns frozen vegetables, they are flash-frozen right after harvest so they are preserved at their peak of freshness when they are most nutritious.
Another myth passed down to us is that cooked vegetables are less nutritious than raw ones. The truth is half way in between because it all depends on the vegetable. Cooking destroys some nutrients, such as vitamin C and folic acid, but it releases others, such as vitamin A and the nutrients in fiber and makes them easier to digest. It’s also easier for your body to absorb more lycopene, a cancer-fighting antioxidant, in cooked tomato sauce than from raw tomatoes. So, a best choice here is to steam or roast veggies instead of boiling, which leaches out water-soluble vitamins into the cooking water.
How many times haven’t you been warned that potatoes make you fat? In fact, potatoes are basically fat-free and low in calories and these delicious and inexpensive root vegetables contain a healthy dose of fiber, which can actually make you feel satisfied for longer and help you lose weight. The truth here is that it’s not the potatoes themselves that make you fat. It’s how you cook them and what you slather on your spuds that can cause you to pack on the pounds.
Finally, another myth we often hear is that the lettuce core is squeaky clean. Nothing could be falser and more dangerous since studies have shown that the apparent air-tight core protected by the outer leaves can cause severe food poisoning due to the presence of salmonella and listeria. So give the salad a good rinse, leaf by leaf, even though it comes in plastic bags, a rule which is applicable to all veggies.
