I love the roasted flavor of "roasted vegetables" ~ How to eat vegetables in the most nutritious way?

To stay away from obesity and cancer, the National Health Administration calls on the Chinese people to eat "579 servings of fruits and vegetables every day". However, how do you cook the 3 to 5 servings of vegetables? The "roasted vegetables" that have been popular in Europe and the United States have also quietly spread to Taiwan. Nutritionists remind people not to eat the burnt parts. Eating too much may make you more likely to become a candidate for colorectal cancer!

Cut onions, carrots, colorful peppers, cauliflower and eggplant into pieces slightly larger than a bite size, spread them out on a large baking tray, sprinkle with appropriate amounts of olives, salt, pepper and fresh herbs, and place in an oven preheated to 200 degrees. The "roasted vegetables" dish will be ready in about an hour. Its clever combination of caramelized flavor and the sweetness of vegetables always makes people salivate and want to eat one bite after another.

Eat vegetables healthily! A comparison of 7 common cooking methods

However, in addition to roasted vegetables which take a long time to bake, more people in China are accustomed to cooking vegetables by steaming, boiling, blanching, stir-frying, and frying. Some people like to eat them raw after washing. If we put aside personal taste preferences, which cooking method is most conducive to health?

Qiu Shihan, a nutritionist at the Millennium Love Foundation, said that vegetables are rich in dietary fiber, various vitamins and minerals, and a variety of antioxidants. Except for fiber, most other nutrients will be affected by "temperature" and "cooking time", resulting in varying degrees of damage or loss, or even deterioration due to heat. Therefore, in principle, it is healthier to eat vegetables raw while they are fresh. But in fact, eating them raw has other health concerns!

The following is an analysis by nutritionist Qiu Shihan on common ways to eat and cook vegetables, and she also provides tips on safer ways to eat them.

1. Eat raw: The precious antioxidants in harvested vegetables are easily destroyed by heat. Therefore, from the perspective of "retaining nutrients", eating them raw is the best way. However, the worst thing about eating raw vegetables is that the vegetables are not washed thoroughly, and you may accidentally eat bacteria, insect eggs or agricultural residues attached to the surface, causing gastrointestinal discomfort. Therefore, it is recommended to eat seasonal vegetables as much as possible and rinse them with running water for 5 minutes before eating to reduce insect eggs and pesticide residues.

2. Blanching: Blanching itself will make vitamin C, B vitamins and minerals in vegetables dissolve in water, causing a large loss of nutrients in vegetables. Blanching for too long will also destroy the nutrients. Therefore, time control is relatively important. It is recommended that leafy vegetables should not exceed 20 seconds, and vegetables with a harder texture such as broccoli should be blanched within 3 minutes. In addition, be sure to wait until the water boils before putting the vegetables into the pot. If you blanch the vegetables before the water boils, the vegetables may have changed color when you take them out, and the bacteria and insect eggs attached to the surface may not be killed because the "high temperature sterilization" time is too short, and they still have the potential to cause harm.

3. Boiling soup: Compared with blanching vegetables, more water is used. If the vegetables are eaten together with the soup, the nutrients lost into the soup can also be eaten. However, when boiling soup, the potassium ions in the vegetables are released into the soup. Kidney patients need to limit potassium in their daily diet. It is recommended to eat only the vegetables and not drink the soup when consuming vegetable soup.

4. Steaming: Mastering the principles of "using less water" and "high temperature and fast steaming" can reduce the loss and destruction of nutrients. It should be noted that vegetables such as carrots and tomatoes that are rich in fat-soluble vitamins such as beta-carotene and lycopene, if no other oil is added when steaming, boiling or blanching, remember to add some oil or other oil-containing foods after taking them out of the pot to eat them together, which will help the body absorb the nutrients.

5. Deep frying: In addition to the loss of nutrients and antioxidants, another thing you need to pay attention to when frying vegetables is the "oil". After frying, the vegetables will lose water and become easy to absorb oil, so eating fried vegetables is equivalent to eating oil. In addition, frying oil is easily deteriorated after repeated heating at high temperature, and may produce the carcinogen "benzopyrene" (BAP), increasing the risk of lung cancer.

6. Stir-frying: Although less oil is used than deep-frying, high-temperature cooking can still easily cause the oil to deteriorate. It is recommended to stir-fry in water instead, which is healthier.

7. Grilled: Although many people love the unique burnt aroma of grilled vegetables, for the sake of health, it is better not to grill them until they are burnt on purpose and do not eat them after they are burnt. Grilled vegetables will produce "polycyclic amines", which are carcinogens. Excessive exposure may increase the risk of colorectal cancer and stomach cancer. As for those who are used to wrapping vegetables in tin foil before grilling, it is recommended not to add sauce when grilling vegetables. Firstly, the sauce can easily burn, and secondly, the sauce may contain acidic ingredients that will cause the aluminum in the tin foil to be released. Eating too much may increase the risk of dementia.