Raw vs. Cooked Vegetables

By this point, you're familiar with the SAD (Standard American Diet) and the many drawbacks it has, included elevated sugar, salt, and preservative levels among other things. There is quite a bit of research and science informing us that choosing a raw food diet is a much healthier choice for our bodies to maintain optimal health. However, some may wonder, why raw vegetables are healthier than cooked.

Raw Vs. Cooked Vegetables

Here, we believe the raw food diet is the most healthy way to get your body on-track and full of healthy food options that will provide you the nutrition you need to thrive in your life. In many cases, cooking food can make some things taste better, but it can also alter the nutritional content of the foods, making them less healthy for your body. Cooking food can also destroy enzymes that are in it, requiring your body to make more enzymes to digest the food properly. However, that's not the biggest area where raw vegetables are much healthier than their cooked counterparts. Certain nutrients are reduced or lost during the cooking process, especially the process of boiling them. Water-soluble vitamins are lost by as much as 50-60% when boiled. Other nutrients are also lost during the cooking process, including Vitamin A. Certain vitamins are not affected by the heating process, but when you lose a majority of A, C, and B vitamins, you are not getting the nutritional content that you thought you were when you chose healthy vegetables for your dinner. Instead, you're getting part of it, if that, and likely have other potential toxins leaking in from your cookware or unhealthy options mixed in. As far as retaining vegetables and the truly healthy choice, it's obvious that raw vegetables are the proper choice. It's one thing to know about the various nutrients lost during the cooking process, but it also depends on the cooking process. Of course, you should always strive to have raw foods in your diet as the majority, but sometimes that can be difficult to do, especially if out at a restaurant or a friend's house for dinner, which is why it's important to know how vegetables need to be cooked to keep the majority of their nutrients. Steaming is one of the best ways to cook vegetables to keep their nutrients if you absolutely must eat cooked vegetables. If you choose to fry your vegetables, you may as well choose not to eat them, as this can cause a huge increase in free radicals that you are putting your body. These free radicals rampage your body causing damage and injury to your cells and some have found links to causing cancer. While some vegetables may taste better steamed or cooked, the benefits of eating vegetables raw is too high to deny. By retaining more of the vegetable nutrients, your body has a higher chance of absorbing more through a healthy raw food diet.