How to Harness Food Nutrients When Cooking

Did you know there are nutrients beneficial to the human body on the rind and the parts of the foods you usually throw away? This attitude can greatly damage your health, after all, what you waste could bring more quality of life to your body.

Of all the foods discarded in the trash, most are fruits and vegetables. The primary rule to make them less discarded is to choose to buy the freshest foods, which can be reused in many different ways, bringing numerous health benefits.

The nutrition technician, Regiana Simão, comments that many discarded foods are rich in various vitamins. ? Peel, discarded by most people, does contain amounts of nutrients that are ideal for the human body. So the best solution is to cook the vegetables with them and then remove them ?, he says.


Prefer to buy the fruits of the season. When making your selection, make sure there are no bruises or dents around them. You can use the shell of each one to make juices or even homemade jams. Thus, in addition to consuming the vitamins in the pulp, you will also use the components in the shell. For this, a good option are apples, pineapple, pear, guava, grape and star fruit.

Avoid freezing

When freezing legumes and vegetables, it is common to lose some nutrients. Therefore, prefer to consume these steamed or even grilled foods with little olive oil.

Remember that cleaning with running water, running your fingers carefully in the foliage is essential to eliminate pets and dirt present in food.


Enjoy the shells

Papaya, pumpkin and guava peels contain carotenoids. Rich in vitamin A, they are responsible for preventing skin and lung cancer, as well as being a powerful antioxidant.

Depending on the food, you have the option of making sweets, juices, vitamins, cakes, jellies and even pates. But the important thing is to know how to store properly so that the nutrients present in these foods are not wasted or eliminated at the time of preparation.

Regina also points out that the nutritional values ​​of the house can be much higher than those contained in the pulp. I always give the example of melon rind. This fruit contains 5.67 mg of phosphorus in its pulp. In the shell, this amount goes to 20mg ?, says.


Care in cooking

Nutritionists claim that when food is exposed to high heat, it can lose the nutrients in it. When cooking with an open pan, 40% to 60% of the nutrients are eliminated. Already in steam, this number reduces to 10% to 30%. Here are some surefire tips for baking:

1 ? It is quite common to peel potatoes and carrots before cooking. But this attitude does eliminate the nutrients present in these foods, because the shell acts as a protection, retaining the internal components. Therefore cook each of them with the peels and then, when cooling, remove carefully with the help of a sharp knife.

2 ? Avoid putting too much water in the pan when cooking. If you cannot use steam for cooking, the microwave may be the best solution.

3? Prefer to cut the vegetables into larger pieces as the little ones multiply the loss of nutrients. According to Regina, if the food is too small, when in contact with water, they lose these beneficial components to the body.

4? Reuse the water you cooked the vegetables for soup preparation as they contain the vitamins in the food.

Regina says that having these attitudes can contribute to a better quality of life, as well as avoiding unnecessary waste. "Being aware of these details can meet the nutrient needs your body needs in one food," he says.

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