Peak Sante Archives - Page 16 of 16

Debunking the Raw vs. Cooked Debate

by Christina Della Rocca, n.d | Dieting, Peak Sante, Raw, Recipes

Have you heard the recommendation to eat certain foods (or all foods) raw?

Do you already eat a variety of healthy foods, and want to know how to get the most vitamins and minerals out of them?

You’re probably not surprised that there isn’t a “one size fits all” approach to maximizing the vitamins and minerals your body absorbs from foods.

Let me go over which types of foods are best eaten raw, and which ones are best eaten cooked to maximize their nutritional benefit.

Raw vs. Cooked – Which Contains More Vitamins and Minerals?

Let’s finally put an end to the debate of raw vs. cooked.

Of course, in the grand scheme of a well-balanced, nutrient-dense, varied, whole foods diet, the cooked vs. raw debate isn’t that critical for most people.

Where this can become a consideration is for vitamin and mineral deficiencies (or “insufficiencies”). These may be due to digestion or absorption issues, or avoidance of certain foods (due to allergies, intolerances, or choice).

And I’ll tell you that the answer isn’t as simple as “raw is always better” or “cooked is always better.” As with most nutrition science, it depends on several factors. Some vitamins are destroyed in cooking, while others become easier to absorb (a.k.a. more “bioavailable”).

Here is the skinny on vitamins and minerals in raw foods versus cooked foods.

Foods to eat raw

As a general rule, water soluble nutrients, like vitamin C and the B vitamins, found mostly in fruits and vegetables, are best eaten raw.

The reason why is two-fold:

First, when these nutrients are heated, they tend to degrade; this is from any heat, be it steaming, boiling, roasting, or frying. Vitamin C and the B vitamins are a bit more “delicate” and susceptible to heat than many other nutrients.

Of course, the obvious way to combat these nutrient losses is to eat foods high vitamin C and B vitamins in their raw form (like in an awesome salad or a snack with hummus) or to cook them for as short a time as possible (like quickly steaming or blanching or add the end in a sautē).

Fun fact: Raw spinach can contain three times the amount of vitamin C as cooked spinach.

The second reason why foods high in vitamin C and the B vitamins are best eaten raw is that they’re “water soluble.” So, guess where the vitamins go when they’re cooked in water? Yes, they’re dissolved right into the water; this is particularly true for fruits and veggies that are boiled and poached but even for foods that steamed as well.

Of course, if you’re a savvy health nut, you’ll probably keep that liquid to use in your next soup or sauce to preserve those nutrients that are left after cooking. Just don’t overheat it or you may lose what you were aiming to keep.

But, how much loss are we talking about? Well, of course, it ranges but can go from as low as 15%, up to over 50%.

In short, the water soluble vitamins like vitamin C and the B vitamins degrade with heat and some of what’s left over after they’re heated dissolves into the cooking water. So be sure to cook your fruits and veggies as little as possible, and keep that cooking water to use in your next recipe.

Soaking nuts and seeds

Regarding raw nuts and seeds, it may be beneficial to soak them. Soaking nuts and seeds (for several hours at room temperature) allows some of the minerals to become “unlocked” from their chemical structure, so they’re more absorbable.

Foods to eat cooked

Cooking certain orange and red “beta-carotene rich” veggies (e.g. tomatoes, carrots, & sweet potatoes) can help make this pre-vitamin A compound more absorbable.

Fun fact: One study found that absorption of beta-carotene was 6.5 times greater in stir-fried carrots than in raw carrots!

Of course, eating your fat-soluble vitamins with a bit of fat will help you to absorb more of them, so that’s one factor to consider.

One vegetable that’s best eaten both raw and cooked is:

Spinach!

And I’m not just saying this to get everyone to eat it any way possible (although, I would love for this to happen…unless you’re allergic, of course).

Spinach contains so many beneficial compounds that it’s great eaten both raw and cooked.

Eating raw spinach preserves the water-soluble vitamins C & the B vitamins.

Eating spinach cooked allows the pre-vitamin A, as well as some of the minerals like iron to be better absorbed. Not to mention how much spinach reduces in size when it’s cooked, so it’s easier to eat way more cooked spinach than raw spinach.

In summary:

The old nutrition philosophy of making sure you get a lot of nutrient-dense whole foods into your diet holds true. Feel free to mix up how you eat them, whether you prefer raw or cooked just make sure you eat them.

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Recipe (cooked spinach): Sautēed Spinach

Serves 4

2 teaspoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 bag baby spinach leaves
1 dash salt
1 dash black pepper
Fresh lemon

Directions:

In a large cast iron pan heat olive oil.
Add garlic and sautē for 1 minute.
Add spinach, salt, pepper and toss with garlic and oil.
Cover pan and cook on low for about 2 minutes.
Sautē cook spinach for another minute, stirring frequently, until all the spinach is wilted.
Squeeze fresh lemon juice on top.

Serve & enjoy!

Tip: Enjoying the cooked spinach with the vitamin C in the raw lemon juice helps your body absorb more of the iron. why? because it is high in Vitamin C!

References:

https://authoritynutrition.com/cooking-nutrient-content/

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/10-ways-to-get-the-most-nutrients

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Recherches récentes sur les régimes

l'actualité… Les titres peuvent être trompeurs, mais nous n'avons pas pu passer à côté de celui de Medscape qui titrait: « Pour la perte de poids avec un régime pauvre en glucides, la qualité compte ». Il s'agit d'une étude portant sur l'évolution du poids de...

Recherches récentes sur les régimes

l'actualité… Les titres peuvent être trompeurs, mais nous n'avons pas pu passer à côté de celui de Medscape qui titrait: « Pour la perte de poids avec un régime pauvre en glucides, la qualité compte ». Il s'agit d'une étude portant sur l'évolution du poids de...

About the Author: Christina Della Rocca, n.d.

Christina Della Rocca is a multi-disciplinary Health Coach with over 20 years of experience in the fields of health, fitness, and wellness.

One of Montreal’s leading wellness professionals, Christina has been featured on Montreal AM live, RDS television, CHOM FM, CJAD, Mountain City Rock, and Trends Magazine. Founder and Director of « EXERCISE PLUS » A Wellness Company that brings health & Fitness programs to companies in and around the Montreal area., Christina is a leading Corporate Wellness Specialist.

Are my symptoms the result of a food intolerance?

by Christina Della Rocca, n.d | Dieting, Peak Sante, Recipes

Do you have symptoms that just don’t seem to go away?

I’m not only talking about just digestive symptoms but any random aches, pains, discomforts, etc.?

One of the trickiest things to figure out is whether a random symptom could be due to a food intolerance. That’s because symptoms can be delayed, or ongoing, and not even resemble a gastrointestinal symptom at all.

In this post, I go over a few of the common symptoms, and two (very) common foods that you may be reacting to, but don’t even know it.

Food intolerances or “sensitivities” can affect you in so many ways.

And they’re a lot more common than most people think.

I’m not talking about anaphylaxis or immediate allergic reactions that involve an immune response. Those can be serious and life-threatening. If you have any allergies, you need to steer clear of any traces of foods you are allergic to, and speak with your doctor or pharmacist about emergency medication, if necessary.

What I’m talking about, is an intolerance, meaning you do not tolerate a specific food very well and it causes immediate or chronic symptoms anywhere in the body. Symptoms can take hours or even days to show themselves. And symptoms can be located just about anywhere in the body.

This is what makes them so tricky to identify.

Symptoms of food intolerances

There are some common food intolerances that have immediate and terribly painful gastrointestinal symptoms, such as lactose intolerance or celiac disease. These can cause stomach pain, gas, bloating, and/or diarrhea; symptoms can start immediately after eating lactose or gluten.

On the other hand, other more insidious symptoms may not be linked to foods in an obvious way.

Symptoms like:

Chronic muscle or joint pain
Sweating, or increased heart rate or blood pressure
Headaches or migraines
Exhaustion after a good night’s sleep
Autoimmune conditions like Hashimoto’s or rheumatoid arthritis
Rashes or eczema
Inability to concentrate or feeling like your brain is “foggy”
Shortness of breath

If your body has trouble digesting specific foods, it can affect your hormones, metabolism, or even cause inflammation and result in any of the symptoms listed above. And these can affect any (or all) parts of the body, not just your gastrointestinal system.

How to prevent these intolerances

The main thing you can do is to figure out which foods or drinks you may be reacting to and stop ingesting them.

I know, I know…this sounds so simple, and yet it can be SO HARD.

The best way to identify your food/drink triggers is to eliminate them.

Yup, get rid of those offending foods/drinks. All traces of them, for three full weeks and monitor your symptoms.

If things get better, then you need to decide whether it’s worth it to stop ingesting them, or if you want to slowly introduce them back one at a time while still looking out to see if/when symptoms return.

Start Here: Two common food intolerances

Here are two of the most common triggers of food intolerances:

Lactose (in dairy – eliminate altogether, or at least look for a “lactose-free” label – try nut or coconut milk instead).

Gluten (in wheat, rye, barley, and some other common grains – look for a “gluten-free” label – try gluten-free grains like rice, quinoa & gluten-free oats).

This is by no means a complete list, but it’s a good place to start because lactose intolerance is thought to affect up to 75% of people, while “non-celiac gluten sensitivity” can affect up to 13% of people.

So, if you can eliminate all traces of lactose and gluten for three weeks, it can confirm whether either or both of these, are a source of your symptoms.

Yes, dairy and grains are a part of many government-recommended food guidelines, but you absolutely can get all of the nutrients you need if you focus on replacing them with nutrient-dense foods.

A reliable way to monitor how you feel after eating certain foods is to track it. After every meal or snack, write down the foods you ate, and any symptoms so you can more easily spot trends

And, as mentioned earlier, symptoms may not start immediately following a meal. You may find, for example, that you wake up with a headache the morning after eating bananas.

You might be surprised what links you can find if you track your food and symptoms well!

IMPORTANT NOTE:

When you eliminate something, you need to make sure it’s not hiding in other foods, or the whole point of eliminating it for a few weeks is lost. Restaurant food, packaged foods, and sauces or dressings are notorious for adding ingredients that you’d never think are there. You know that sugar hides in almost everything, but did you also know that wheat is often added to processed meats and soy sauce, and lactose can even be found in some medications or supplements?

When in doubt you HAVE to ask the server in a restaurant about hidden ingredients, read labels, and consider cooking from scratch.

What if it doesn’t work?

If eliminating these two common food intolerances doesn’t work, then you can go one step further to eliminate all dairy (even lactose-free) and all grains (even gluten-free) for three weeks.

You may need to see a qualified healthcare practitioner (Doctor or Naturopath) for additional help getting organized and a good plan, and that’s OK. Do not continue suffering if you don’t need to!

For those of you who love to play around in the kitchen, here is a recipe for a homemade non-dairy milk. Of course, for those of you who don’t, or just don’t have the time, you can find lots of non-dairy milks in your local health food store or even most grocery stores carry a full range options today.