Avoid These 9 Mistakes When Eating Vegetables
Brief: Office workers often prefer to do a big weekly shopping trip, storing the vegetables at home to eat slowly. While this saves time and is convenient, it's important to know that vegetables lose a large amount of nutrients for every extra day they are stored. For example, spinach loses up to 84% of its vitamin C after just one day at room temperature (20°C).
1. Cooking Vegetables Over Low Heat
Vitamins C and B1 are both sensitive to heat. Therefore, avoid stir-frying over low heat for long periods; instead, use high heat. Adding a little vinegar can also help preserve vitamins. Some vegetables are even more suitable for eating raw in salads, such as cucumbers and tomatoes.
2. Storing Vegetables for Too Long
Office workers often like to do a big weekly shopping trip, storing the vegetables at home to eat slowly. While this saves time and is convenient, it's important to know that vegetables lose a large amount of nutrients for every extra day they are stored. For example, spinach loses up to 84% of its vitamin C after just one day at room temperature (20°C). Therefore, you should try to minimize the storage time for vegetables. If you must store them, choose a dry, well-ventilated, and light-proof place.
3. Throwing Away the Most Vitamin-Rich Parts
Some conventional ways of processing vegetables also affect their nutrient content. For example, some people discard the bean sprouts to eat only the sprouts, but in fact, the cotyledons of the sprouts contain 2-3 times more vitamin C than the sprouts themselves.
Another example is squeezing out the juice when making dumpling filling, which can cause a loss of over 70% of the vitamins. The correct method is to mix the chopped vegetables with oil first, then add salt and seasonings. This "oil-coating-the-vegetables" method prevents the filling from becoming too soupy.
4. Not Eating Cooked Vegetables Immediately
Many people like to keep cooked food warm in a pot or in a thermos flask to eat later. This also leads to a significant loss of nutrients. Imagine how wasteful it would be to painstakingly prepare a meal only to have it become completely devoid of nutrition because you didn't eat it right away.
5. Not Drinking the Vegetable Broth
When stir-frying, a large amount of nutrients from the vegetables dissolve into the broth. It's a shame not to drink it.
6. Cutting Vegetables Before Washing Them
Cooks in large cafeterias often cut vegetables first and then give them a quick rinse together. Many people don't think much of this, but it actually causes a large amount of vitamins to be washed away into the water.
7. Preferring Stir-fried Vegetables
Many people on a diet believe that stir-frying vegetables with meat can reduce fat intake, but in fact, vegetables absorb oil more easily.
8. Eating Raw Vegetables Without Washing Them
With increasing pollution in vegetables, including pesticide residues and parasitic bacteria, it's best to wash them thoroughly and peel them before eating them raw.
9. Eating Only Vegetables and No Meat
Vegetarianism is becoming more popular. While it can help prevent arteriosclerosis, a purely vegetarian diet is not good for several reasons: First, the human body needs to obtain a certain amount of cholesterol from meat daily, and a moderate amount of cholesterol is even beneficial for cancer prevention. Second, a diet without meat can lead to insufficient protein intake, which may increase the risk of digestive tract tumors. Third, it can lead to a deficiency in vitamin B2. Fourth, because vegetables generally lack zinc, vegetarians are also prone to severe zinc deficiency. A better approach is to combine foods according to your body's needs. This way, you can achieve the benefits of a vegetarian diet while avoiding the potential harm it can cause.