Trying to eat healthy can be difficult because even if you are choosing nutritious foods, their preparation affects the benefits you receive. There are many common mistakes often made that prevent you from extracting the most vitamins and minerals from the foods you eat. Here are seven healthy foods that you are probably eating wrong.
Broccoli
While boiled or fried broccoli certainly tastes better than steamed or raw, you must resist the urge if you want the get the most health benefits from this particular vegetable. Broccoli naturally has a lot of vitamin C and antioxidants, but if you boil or stir-fry yours, you are losing a lot of these nutrients before they ever have the chance to make it to your mouth!
Grilled Meat
While summer barbecues can be quite tasty, be careful about eating the “perfectly charred” cuts of meat. Recent research suggests that grilling meat at high temperatures over an open flame may potentially produce cancer-causing chemicals called heterocyclic amines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Also, you have to be careful about checking the internal temperature of the meat to make sure it is safe to eat—you can’t rely on the external color of the meat when you are using high temperature methods of cooking such as chargrilling.
Garlic
Allicin is a cancer-fighting enzyme that is found in garlic, and this substance is more powerful when exposed to air. So, in order to make sure that the compound gets fully activated, you should let chopped garlic sit out for about ten minutes before tossing it into any dish you are preparing.
Flaxseeds
It has recently been discovered that flaxseeds have tons of health benefits locked inside of their tiny pods. They are high in fiber, promote heart health, and contain lignans, which protect against cancer. However, in order to get these benefits, your body has to be able to digest the seeds. Whole flaxseeds are not able to be digested by our bodies, so sprinkling a handful into your yogurt or smoothie won’t get you very far. Instead, buy flaxseeds pre-ground or grind them yourself in a coffee grinder in order to get all of the health benefits out of them.
Strawberries
Everyone loves juicy summer strawberries, especially since they are loaded with fiber, antioxidants, and vitamin C. However, in order to get the full health benefits out of each bite, avoid cutting into them for as long as possible. Since certain nutrients, especially vitamin C, are sensitive to light and oxygen, as soon as you cut into this fruit, their nutrients begin deteriorating.
Greek Yogurt
Greek yogurt often has a thin, watery layer, known as whey, that collects on the surface. While many people will usually pour this down the sink before digging in, it turns out that it actually contains lots of protein, vitamin B12, calcium, and phosphorus. So, instead of simply dumping it out, stir this substance into your yogurt before eating it in order to get the most out of what you’re paying for.
Also, if you are eating yogurt for its probiotic benefits, keep in mind that live and active cultures are not able to withstand heat and will be destroyed if you attempt to cook them into a hot dish such as chicken curry or marinated lamb.
Tomatoes
Unlike yogurt, tomatoes actually become healthier when they are cooked. Recent research has shown that the antioxidant content in tomatoes increases when they are heated to roughly 190 degrees Fahrenheit.
