Exploding Food Myth 13. Cooking vegetables destroys all their healthy effects

(Photo: featureshoot.com)

Vitamin C and folic acid are soluble in water and suceptible to oxidization, and when they -particularly green vegetables- are cooked in lots of water that is later thrown out, much of the good stuff is thrown out with the water. But it is easy to minimize the loss of minerals and vitamins contained in vegetables if we do not cut them, place them directly in boiling water and serve immediately. However, green vegetables are best cooked in steam or with very little water in the microwave (we knew this, didn't we?). It doesn't help to shoot them, or the child that refuses them, however good they may be. (See Exploding Food Myth 12)