Vegetables are one of the indispensable foods in every meal, but there are also rules to follow when eating them. The following will teach you how to eat vegetables correctly...
Cut before washing
Many nutrients and beneficial substances in vegetables are water-soluble. Cutting vegetables into small pieces before washing will cause a large loss of nutrients into the water. The correct method is to wash first, then cut, and then cook.
Squeezing out vegetable juice
When making fillings for dumplings or buns, vegetables need to be finely chopped, which will produce a large amount of juice. Some people squeeze out the juice for better shaping or easier wrapping, which discards 70% of the vitamins and minerals in the vegetable. The correct method is to chop and mix the vegetables with ingredients like dried tofu, mushrooms, or meat, allowing the vegetable juice to seep into the other fillings. This also makes the buns more delicious.
Long-term storage of vegetables
Withered vegetables not only taste bad, but most of their vitamin C is also destroyed. The harmless nitrates in vegetables can be converted into nitrites. Nitrites can turn normal hemoglobin into methemoglobin, which loses its ability to carry oxygen. In severe cases, it can cause symptoms such as cyanosis of the nails and lips, and even the whole body, shortness of breath, etc. Therefore, vegetables should be eaten as fresh as possible.
Improper refrigeration
The suitable storage temperature for most vegetables is 3°C-10°C, but cucumbers cannot be stored below 10°C. If stored in a refrigerator at around 4°C, the cucumber's color will darken, the body will become soft, and a transparent, gel-like liquid can be seen after cutting, which will completely eliminate the fresh fragrance of the cucumber.
Blindly eating raw
Some vegetables are naturally toxic and must be cooked to destroy the toxins, such as sword beans, lima beans, potatoes, and bean sprouts. Vegetables that can be eaten raw must be naturally non-toxic, uncontaminated, and have a good taste, such as radishes, tomatoes, and cucumbers. However, the vast majority of vegetables on the market today have been sprayed with pesticides. Although people are accustomed to soaking vegetables before washing, this only removes about 30% of the pesticides. Eating such vegetables raw can harm human health.
Cooking time
Vitamin C in vegetables is easily oxidized and decomposed by heat. The loss is smaller when quickly stir-fried over high heat or heated for a short time with a lid on. If cooked for 10 minutes, vitamin C can be reduced by 60% or more.
Eating leftovers
According to measurements, stir-fried green vegetables lose 20% of their vitamin C after 15 minutes, 30% after 30 minutes, and 50% after one hour. Leftover food from a previous meal is also prone to spoilage and can easily cause food poisoning. Therefore, it is best to cook and eat immediately, which is both hygienic and nutritious.
Using too much oil
Both vegetable oil and animal oil produce 9 kilocalories per gram. Consuming too much can induce obesity or high blood lipids, and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases due to excessive calorie intake. Therefore, the amount of oil added when cooking should be appropriate. The recommended daily intake is 25 grams per person, not exceeding 30 grams.
Vegetable soup must be discarded
When cooking, about 30%-70% of the vitamin C and some water-soluble nutrients will dissolve into the soup. If the vegetables have been blanched before stir-frying to remove oxalic acid, nitrites, and pesticides, and if a small amount of oil and salt is used during cooking, then drinking the soup is harmless.