Aug2015_The most effective way to cook vegetables for optimum health and weight loss

I’ve gotten a lot of questions recently about cooking vegetables and how the cooking process affects sugar content in our foods.  It’s actually very interesting how vegetables change depending on how they are processed.  Here is a quick rundown!

The carbohydrates in our favourite vegetables (carrots, beets, etc) all undergo changes in their sugar content from baking, boiling, steaming, and roasting.  The exact impact on the vegetables depends on a variety of factors:  How long you cook them;  how high a temperature you cook them at;  and how much moisture you use when cooking them. 

Heat increases the rate at which vegetable starches get converted into vegetable sugars. 

For example—about 20% of the starches present in a raw carrot are converted into vegetable sugars when it is heated. The longer the carrot is heated, and the higher the temperature the greater that conversion.  In general the vegetable sugars are more likely to cause a rise in insulin levels than the raw starches which is why cooked vegetables often taste much sweeter and why (if you are a type 1 diabetic) you may need a little bit more insulin when eating them. 

Now we get to an important factor – especially when planning:  How you cook those veggies!! 

When vegetables are steamed or boiled in water, a portion of the sugars and starches are lost into the cooking water. 

When vegetables are roasted or baked in the oven, this loss of sugars and starches into water does not take place AND roasting typically takes place for longer periods of time and at very high heat making for a strong conversion of starch to sugar. 

For this reason, roasted vegetables typically have a higher vegetable sugar content than vegetables that have been steamed, boiled, or sauteed. 

For optimum results limit the portion of roasted vegetables to 1-2 cups 2x per week is a good rule of thumb so that we don’t over-do this higher natural sugar form.

Digestive Health

Leanne Laing

Your Body By Design

0412 353 427.