You won't believe it until you hear it! Some daily habits can stealthily rob your food of its nutrients without you even realizing it.
When it comes to diet, people don't just seek delicious flavors; they also focus on nutrition and health. But you won't believe it until you hear it. People think they're already eating a nutritious diet, but nutritionists, after conducting numerous surveys, point out that some of our daily habits have unknowingly stripped away most of the nutrients. Besides cornmeal, don't add alkali when cooking congee
When cooking rice, congee, beans, or stir-frying, it's not advisable to add alkali, as it easily accelerates the destruction of vitamin C and B vitamins. Vitamin B1 and B2 are already sensitive to heat, and adding alkali makes them even more so, causing them to be destroyed more easily at slightly higher temperatures.
Nutritionist's advice: Because the niacin bound in corn is not easily absorbed by the human body, when making corn congee, steamed cornbread, or corn cakes, you should add a little alkali to the cornmeal. This not only makes the corn products excellent in color, aroma, and taste but also allows the bound niacin to be easily absorbed and utilized by the body. Cut vegetables less, tear them by hand more
Vegetables should be washed before cutting, otherwise water-soluble vitamins and minerals will be lost. When cutting vegetables, tear them by hand if possible and use a knife as little as possible, because iron can accelerate the oxidation of vitamin C.
Nutritionist's advice: When stir-frying, use high heat and cook quickly, adding as little water as possible. When stewing, add a little vinegar appropriately to season the food and protect vitamin C from loss. When cooking meat dishes, add a little starch to reduce the loss of nutrients and improve the texture. Long soup simmering means all the nutrients are gone
Cantonese people call the process of making soup "simmering," believing the longer the better, often simmering for half a day, which they call "delicious soup." In reality, this is not scientific. Nutrients like vitamins C and B, and amino acids are most sensitive to heat and are lost at temperatures above 80°C. Long simmering will destroy these nutrients.
Nutritionist's advice: The average simmering time should be 1 to 1.5 hours. Fish soup should be simmered for a shorter time. If you want to add vegetables to the soup, you must add them after the soup is done and eat them immediately to reduce vitamin loss. Mix the filling in one direction, not back and forth
When making dumplings, many people squeeze the water out of the dumpling filling, which leads to a large loss of nutrients. When mixing meat filling, they also stir it up, down, left, and right.
Nutritionist's advice: When mixing meat filling, don't stir it back and forth, as this will destroy the protein. Instead, add a little water while stirring the meat filling in one direction. This will result in a better texture and less nutrient loss. Rinsing rice many times leads to great nutrient loss
The Chinese attitude towards rice, from ancient times to the present, has always been just one word: "rinse." To rinse means to wash again and again. However, after rinsing rice twice, B vitamins begin to be lost. After more than two rinses, various nutrients start to be lost.
Nutritionist's advice: Don't rinse rice too many times. Generally, rinsing twice with clear water is enough. Don't rub it forcefully. It is better to soak the rice for two hours before cooking. This not only saves cooking time but also results in less loss of vitamin B5 in the rice.