Vegetables: Raw or Cooked?

Everyone knows vegetables are good for you.  Below, are the recommendations for daily vegetable intake if you do 30 minutes or less of exercise a day.  If you exercise more, you may need to increase your food intake to match the calories you burn.

Daily Recommendation
Children	2-3 years old 4-8 years old	1 cup 1 ½ cups
Girls	9-13 years old 14-18 years old	2 cups 2 ½ cups
Boys	9-13 years old 14-18 years old	2 ½ cups 3 cups
Women	19-30 years old 31-50 years old 51+ years old	2 ½ cups 2 ½ cups 2 cups
Men	19-30 years old 31-50 years old 51+ years old	3 cups 3 cups 2 ½ cups

Did you know that to get the daily recommendation of vegetables, you can eat them raw, cooked, frozen, or canned?  Did you also know that some vegetables are better for your health if you eat them a certain way?  Here are a few popular vegetables and a look at how heat affects some of their nutrients.

Tomatoes- Cooking significantly increases the amount of lycopene found in tomatoes so cooked or canned tomatoes can actually be better for you.  The lycopene increases because cooking breaks down the cell walls which releases nutrients.

Peas- When canned, they lose 85-95 percent of their Vitamin C.

            In general, Vitamin C is usually higher in frozen vegetables than fresh.

Mushrooms- Cooking brings out their potassium.

Onions- Cooking onions release flavonoids which can help prevent heart disease but it decreases the amount of phytonutrients which help curb your hunger.

Carrots- According to the Carrot Museum in England, there are many, MANY pros and cons to both ways.  Their suggestion is to just eat carrots, no matter how they are prepared.  Cooking does help break down the cell walls and increases the bioavailability of some nutrients (beta carotene which converts into Vitamin A), however it decreases most of the Vitamin C.

Spinach- Cooking will provide higher amounts of iron, calcium, fiber, Vitamin A and E.  Eating raw will provide more folate, Vitamin C, and potassium.

As you can see, there are pros and cons to cooking any vegetable.  Don’t fall into the trap that cooking decreases the nutrition of all fresh foods because it can enhance nutrition as well.  The best thing for your diet is to eat a variety of fresh and cooked vegetables.  Taste can be just as important because if you don’t like the taste of a vegetable, you won’t eat it.  So cook them however you will eat them!

Sources:

Campbell, M. (2013). Cooked vs. raw spinach for iron content. Retrieved from http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/cooked-vs-raw-spinach-iron-content-1420.html

Dr. Furhman. (2013). Raw vs cooked. Retrieved from https://www.drfuhrman.com/faq/question.aspx?sid=16&qindex=4

Dr. Oz Fans. (2011, January 4). Dr oz: Is it better raw or cooked? carrots, onions & red pepper. Retrieved from http://www.drozfans.com/dr-ozs-advice/dr-oz-is-it-better-raw-or-cooked-carrots-onions-red-pepper/

Health. (2013). Raw or cooked: Which vegetables are healthier?. Retrieved from http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20667296_2,00.html

Parker-Pope, T. (2013, October 10). Ask well: Does boiling or baking vegetables destroy their vitamins?. Retrieved from http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/18/ask-well-does-boiling-or-baking-vegetables-destroy-their-vitamins/?_r=2

United States Department of Agriculture. (2013).Vegetables. Retrieved from http://www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/vegetables.html

World Carrot Museum. (2013, November 10). Carrots nutrition and good health: Pigment power. Retrieved from http://veganismisthefuture.com/tag/vegetables/ 

Pictures: http://veganismisthefuture.com/tag/vegetables/