 Studies have shown frozen foods to be more nutritious than fresh food when the fresh foods have been allowed to sit for an extended period. So unless you have fresh picked the vegetables from your garden or you have bought them at your local farmer's market where you know they have not been long out of the field, you can count on the nutrition in the frozen vegetable aisle.Flash Freezing Provides Nutritious Vegetables Freezing is a very efficient method of preserving nutritional value, texture and flavor of many vegetables. Most vitamins will keep well in frozen vegetables. Carotene (a compound that is converted to vitamin A in the body) may actually be better preserved in frozen produce because packaging keeps the vegetables away from light (which destroys carotene). For example, frozen peas typically have about 60% more carotene than 'fresh' peas (that have been exposed to light during their trip to the market and while awaiting sale). The vitamin losses associated with blanching and the thawing/cooking process are similar to those that occur during normal cooking of fresh vegetables. This means that, provided they have been stored and then cooked properly, frozen vegetables provide similar levels of nutrition to fresh vegetables. It is also worth noting that for cooking both frozen and fresh vegetables, steaming is superior (in terms of retaining nutritional value) than boiling in a large volume of water. Other vitamins are generally fairly heat stable and are largely retained during the blanching process and subsequent period of frozen storage, or are not found in significant quantities in vegetables anyway. Nutrients other than vitamins are not significantly affected by the freezing process. Posted August 2008 Our source: Nutrition Smart and Living Naturally From the American Institute for Cancer Research 1. Choose a diet rich in a variety of plant-based foods. 2. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. 3. Be physically active, try to maintain your weight at stable level. 4. Drink alcohol in moderation, if at all. Red wine has some beneficial properties but grape juice has the same ones. 5. Select foods low in fat and salt. No fat is not good for you either-use olive oil, canola oil to cook and flax seed oil on your salads. Don't get caught up in buying "reduced fats" foods, they are not really healthy and often contain artificial or processed ingredients. Ann's NOTE: I read labels. Reducing chemical residues on food: Some recent studies have shown that about 77% of fruits and vegetables contained pesticide residue. Since wind, or rain can bring chemicals to organic foods, they need to be washed thoroughly also. (about 25% of organic foods have some residues) Wash well, remove outer leaves of greens. Health food stores carry some brands of "washes" that help reduce pesticide exposure. Eat a variety of foods to lower exposure risk to any one pesticide EAT ORGANIC wherever possible. Many supermarkets carry some organic produce, ask your store manager. Or go to a local health food store |
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