{"id":9845,"date":"2021-05-31T14:10:50","date_gmt":"2021-05-31T13:10:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/?p=9845"},"modified":"2023-03-17T14:34:03","modified_gmt":"2023-03-17T14:34:03","slug":"is-it-ok-to-boil-your-veggies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theguthealthdoctor.com\/is-it-ok-to-boil-your-veggies","title":{"rendered":"Is it OK to boil your veggies?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You might have heard the anti-boiling brigade claiming this cooking method can \u2018kill\u2019 the nutrients, but let\u2019s bust the boiling myth!<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes, the way your vegetables are cooked can change their nutritional profile a little, but that doesn\u2019t mean boiling is \u2018bad\u2019, or that there\u2019s a \u2018best\u2019 or \u2018worst\u2019 way of prepping your meals. As with everything in nutrition, it\u2019s just not that clear cut.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let me explain&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The key factors that can impact the nutrients in vegetables when you\u2019re cooking are:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"color: #ed0965;\"><b>Water:<\/b><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> how much liquid is used<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"color: #ed0965;\"><b>Heat:<\/b><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> how hot they\u2019re cooked<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"color: #ed0965;\"><b>Time:<\/b><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> how long they\u2019re cooked for<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While boiling can reduce certain nutrient levels, it can make other nutrients more accessible.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ed0965;\"><b><i>On the plus side<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Heating vegetables can increase the availability of some nutrients, making them easier to absorb, get into our bloodstream and feed the rest of our body.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Boiling carrots, for example, has been shown to increase levels of beta-carotene absorbed (the plant chemical responsible for the orange glow).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is because beta-carotene isn\u2019t heat sensitive (unlike vitamin C). In fact, the heat can help soften the plant walls where the beta-carotene is trapped, making it more accessible.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In turn, beta-carotene is transformed into vitamin A in our body to support immunity and eye health.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Boiling tomatoes has also been shown to increase the lycopene levels too.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ed0965;\"><b><i>On the other hand\u2026<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Water-soluble vitamins (i.e. dissolvable in water), such as vitamin C and the B vitamins, can often reduce during boiling as they \u2018dissolve\u2019 into the water (ever seen the water changing colour when you boil veggies like broccoli or sweet potato?). So, boiling in heaps of water can lead to some loss of water soluble vitamins.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One study looking at the effects of boiling on different veggies found boiling spinach and broccoli could reduce the vitamin C content by 50% or more, and boiling courgette \/ zucchini and sweet potato reduced the vitamin C by about a third.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BUT It\u2019s important to remember that most of us easily hit our daily intake of vitamin C through diet anyway. Plus, you\u2019ll still be getting the gut-loving fibre and plenty of other nutritious goodness, so there\u2019s no need to avoid boiling all together, especially if it\u2019s your favourite way to cook veggies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ed0965;\"><b>Top tips for boiling<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Try to use less water where possible &#8211; enough to just cover the vegetables<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Keep the skins on your vegetables for extra nutrients and fibre<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Keep an eye on the time &#8211; boil your vegetables long enough to enjoy eating them, but try to keep that delicious crunch (no one likes an over-boiled soggy sprout!)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Make use of the liquid too. One for the soup-lovers: enjoying the liquid and blending up into a soup captures these water-soluble nutrients and all the amazing flavours<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ed0965;\"><b><i>The bottom line<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ultimately, if you\u2019re having plenty of plant-based foods, including different forms of cooked vegetables, you\u2019re still going to get plenty of vitamins even if you lose a little bit here and there.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So enjoy your veggies however you like them &#8211; the most important thing for your gut, and overall, health is to get as much variety of all of your plant-based foods as you can.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s worth mixing it up and enjoying different food forms &#8211; if you boil your vegetables one night, why not try drizzling on some extra virgin olive oil and roasting them next time.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You might have heard the anti-boiling brigade claiming this cooking method can \u2018kill\u2019 the nutrients, but let\u2019s bust the boiling myth! &nbsp; Yes, the way your vegetables are cooked can change their nutritional profile a little, but that doesn\u2019t mean boiling is \u2018bad\u2019, or that there\u2019s a \u2018best\u2019 or \u2018worst\u2019 way of prepping your meals&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":6685,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-or-nutrition","category-myth-busting"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Is it OK to boil your veggies? 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