Despite the belief that raw vegetables are better and healthier than cooked ones, there are exceptions, and that's especially true for vegetables that regularly end up on our plates. With these, the nutritional value increases with cooking. Tomatoes, spinach, carrots, kale and legumes are examples of fruits of nature that are much healthier cooked!
It's true, yes most vegetables (and fruit) by cooking and other methods of heat treatment, it loses its aroma, structure, not to mention its nutritional values. But as with everything, there are exceptions here, and not for some exotic vegetable, but for foods that regularly appear on our menu. Did you know they are tomatoes, spinach, carrots, legumes and kale healthier and more beneficial if you cook them?
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Vegetables, which we present to you in more detail below, are healthier if you eat them cooked and not raw, as it then has more useful substances than in its original state.
Spinach
Although spinach is known as a power food thanks to Popeye, there is much more to it than that. It is considered one of the healthiest types of green vegetables. It is one of the few foods rich in vitamin K, which is extremely important for bone health. It is "bathed" in fiber and antioxidants, and is also a real treasure trove of iron, magnesium and calcium. With heat treatment, the value of the mentioned substances triples!
Carrots
Raw carrots can be difficult to digest, but cooked carrots are not only easier to digest, but also have more nutritional value. Carrots contain beta-carotene, an antioxidant that converts to vitamin A and helps improve vision, and because they are fat-soluble, like kale, blanch them with a little olive oil before eating.
Brussels sprouts
If you thought cooked kale was just softer and tastier, let us tell you that it's also healthier. It "bets" on fiber, which is excellent for digestion and successful in "compacting" cholesterol. Kale is also an excellent anti-inflammatory food, heart food, rich source of antioxidants and iron. With heat treatment, all these properties come to the fore.
Tomato
Tomatoes are probably the most surprising representative of vegetables that are more healthily heat-treated. It is usually eaten fresh in salads, sandwiches and as an addition to snacks, but the amount of antioxidant lycopene it contains (which works against cancer and heart disease) jumps by as much as 30 percent when it is heated. Cooking makes it easier for the body to absorb only four percent of it from raw tomatoes.
Legumes
Cooking legumes is not only healthy, but in many cases also mandatory, as they are rarely edible and digestible raw. Most of them have a hard cellular structure, some shells even contain toxic substances, which are destroyed by heat treatment and bring all the useful substances to the surface.
