The best way to eat your veggies

Reading this article, I was reminded of Michael Pollan's basic advice in In Defense of Food: Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much. (And do it for the joy of eating.)

That last bit is a reminder to quit treating food like a pile of nutrients. In the end, though, that is why we eat, at least from a biological perspective: we eat to sustain life.

Luckily, we can do so in a way that satisfies both our palate and our nutritional needs. The NY Times recently ran an article about the best way to prepare vegetables in order to maximize their nutritional value. And they reach a conclusion that reinforces Pollan's message:

Because nutrient content and taste can vary so widely depending on the cooking method and how a vegetable is prepared, the main lesson is to eat a variety of vegetables prepared in a variety of ways.

Raw is better in some cases, cooked is better than others. And eating veggies along with some fat or oil helps with absorption of fat-soluble nutrients like beta-carotene.

The article did answer a question that's been nagging me since 2002 when a friend in Portland made the statement that microwaving vegetables destroys the vitamins. Given the frequency with which I Google just about everything I wonder about, I've never bothered to follow-up on his assertion, and I have found myself shying away from microwaving anything unless absolutely necessary. From the Times:

... A March 2007 study in The Journal of Food Science looked at the effects of boiling, steaming, microwaving and pressure cooking on the nutrients in broccoli. Steaming and boiling caused a 22 percent to 34 percent loss of vitamin C. Microwaved and pressure-cooked vegetables retained 90 percent of their vitamin C.

And to do a little more checking, I did go to Google and found a couple of other short articles that compare microwaving to other forms of cooking. Here they are: another from the Times and one from Environmental Nutrition (which also adds the smart recommendation of using glass rather than plastic in the microwave).