Our diet depends heavily on cooking. We can digest meals with less effort thanks to it. It softens food that our tiny teeth, frail jaws, and underdeveloped digestive systems can't handle, including cellulose fibre and raw meat. Even though proponents of raw foods may claim that cooking destroys vitamins and minerals in food and denaturates digestive enzymes, it turns out that eating raw veggies is not necessarily healthier. As a result, we have been gorging ourselves with salad, tomatoes, carrots, and celery without daring to approach a steamer or a skillet. But which is healthier, cooking or eating vegetables raw? Today, however, we are about to debunk the popular cooking myth regarding the purported superiority of raw veggies.
Raw Vegetables
The idea that raw veggies are preferable is primarily motivated by the fact that cooking generally tends to remove the majority of food nutrients. The response "it depends on the vegetable and how it's cooked" might be given, however in general, this is untrue. Additionally, as we will see, it is often preferable to prepare veggies. The misconception about eating raw veggies stems from the fact that overcooking can actually reduce the amount of some vitamins, including those in the B and C families. So it is best to consume vegetables raw in order to avoid overcooking them. A typical example is that of broccoli. Due to its abundance of sulforaphane, a chemical with anti-tumor effects, this wonderful vegetable is rightfully regarded as a superfood. Broccoli should only be consumed raw since if it is overcooked till soft, the sulforaphane it contains will lose its anti-inflammatory effects. However, for many of us, this is not exactly a magnificent experience, thus researchers advise using a quick cooking technique that keeps the vegetable crisp. The characteristics of the broccoli are preserved in this way, and the taste is rewarded with a delightful plate of pan-fried broccoli with garlic and olive oil!
Cooked Vegetables
However, you'd be surprised to learn that some vegetables are really healthier when cooked. Carrots and tomatoes are two of the offenders that raw foodists hold in particular regard. Lycopene, a very potent antioxidant and anti-tumor agent, is around 35% more abundant in cooked tomatoes. The precious substance is released when the cell walls are broken down by the heat. Carotenoids are another sort of beneficial antioxidant that should be cooked rather than raw in order to maintain their power. It is always a question of "how" veggies are cooked, as we previously stated. For instance, frying destroys the nutrients in most foods by heating them at extremely high temperatures for only a short period of time. Naturally, this does not mean we have to stop enjoying wonderful fried zucchini, but those who want to keep the nutrients in their meals should choose to steam or quickly boil veggies in lots of water.
Conclusion
The misconception that raw veggies are easier to digest because they retain their enzymes and limit the body's utilisation of those enzymes will be debunked as the article comes to a close. This is obviously untrue since vegetable enzymes deactivate as soon as digestion begins and differ greatly from those required to digest them inside the body. In addition, as previously mentioned, heat aids in the breakdown of cell walls, making most cooked veggies easier to digest than raw ones.