9 ways to retain nutrients when cooking

Prolonged exposure to water, heat, and light may cause some foods to lose nutritional value like vitamin B1, vitamin C and polyphenols.

Here are simple tips which will help you retain nutrients while enjoying your favourite foods. Have a look!

1. Rule for washing
Always wash the vegetables first and then chop them. Chopping first and then washing takes away the nutrition of your food.

2. Don’t chop small
Do not chop vegetables into very small pieces as most of the nutients will be destroyed when they come in contact with air. The best way is to chop the vegetable into larger chunks.

3. Water usage
Cook vegetables in smaller amounts of water. Boiling in too much water damages the nutrients. It is best advised to cook the veggies covered on low flame in their own water.

4. Heating your food
Avoid re-heating of food as it destroys the chemical structure of nutrients and vitamins.

5. Loss of minerals
As soon as you chop veggies, you should cook them as the vitamins and minerals are secure in their cells as once they are exposed to light and air, the nutrient contents can be destroyed.

6. Excess water
Do not throw away the excess water drained after boiling rice or vegetables. The excess water is loaded with nutrients and it can used in preparing gravies, kneading dough or serve it as a refreshment drink.

7. Root rules
Root vegetables like potato, ginger, turnip and carrots should be boiled with skins and the peel should be removed after boiling. Boiling with peels helps the nutrients to migrate to the centre of the vegetables which helps in better retention of its nutrients.

8. Baking soda
Don’t use baking soda when cooking vegetables. Although it helps in retaining color of the vegetables as well as speeds up the cooking process, but destroys the vitamin C content of the veggies.

9. Fresh food
Eating fresh food is an good idea because the depletion of nutrients could be slowed down. Another reason is the quicker you consume it, the more nutrients can be gained from it. Try eating within 4 hours of cooking your food.