Question
Barbara Fingold
Where can I find information on what vegetables are healthier eaten raw and which are best eaten cooked?
Answer
I have never seen such a list, and I doubt if a, uh, a clean or simple list is available because, uh, like so many things in our, uh, in our food world, uh, you know, vegetables, uh, are a complicated matter. And, you know, when it comes to choosing vegetables to eat, uh, raw or cooked, uh, they can each have advantages. Uh, you know, on, on one hand, if we're eating foods in their raw state, uh, we have, uh, greatest access to, you know, whatever nutrients and, and goodness, you know, all those phytonutrients in, in particular that are associated with the, the plant foods that we enjoy, uh, are gonna be, um, on one hand abundant. And, uh, however, uh, you know, on the other hand, there are some constituents of these foods, some components of these foods that are, uh, relatively difficult for a body to access in the raw state. And in fact, when heat is applied, when these food items are heat treated, which is a term for cooking, uh, these constituents become more bioavailable to our body. And, uh, so the question you ask is not so simple. Uh, you know, instead, it's probably a good idea for most people, most of the time to eat some mix, uh, of raw foods and their cooked counterparts, uh, in order to benefit from the way that our body processes and, and accesses, uh, these phytonutrients and other, uh, you know, components of the food that we enjoy. Okay? So, uh, again, I'm not familiar with such a list. Uh, instead, the prevailing, uh, discussion out there is to enjoy a broad foundation of food so that we get, uh, access to all these amino acids and the many, many, many phytonutrients, many of which we don't even know about yet, uh, that are present in plant-based foods.
