I'm Coming Out

sidevalve

sidevalve

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Sorry but I'm going to do it - I'm going to 'come out' - confess - admit it --- I like well done veg !!!
I'm tired of being told that cabbage sprouts etc should be almost raw and it's better for you like that - well tough to the dieticians I don't like it like that and I'm cooking it and I'm eating it. Each to their own but I'm sick of being told what I must like by all knowing 'scientists' in fancy white coats.
That feels better
 
Nice one. I also hate undercooked vegies. Having sprouts so hard that the fork bends when you try to stab them. Your right. That feels better.
 
I would definitely have to agree with this one. I like my vegetables properly cooked. I have heard it said that too much steaming can remove some of the nutrients from the vegetables. However, when vegetables are undercooked I find them difficult to chew. This is especially so with carrots and beans. I have no problem eating broccoli in a half-cooked stage though. I find that if they are cooked too long they become mushy and lose their flavour. This is why whenever I am cooking vegetables that include broccoli, I would add in the broccoli after the other vegetables are already half cooked, and just leave it on for 5 minutes.
 
I agree! Especially for the veggies I don't care for as much. Even if they lose some nutrients, you still get the fiber, which I think is one of the most important parts.

However the veggies I really like the taste of I can eat either way, such as broccoli and red peppers.

I know they say the vegetables lose their nutrients if they are overcooked, and that lightly steamed veggies are best. But there is also a movement out there saying that eating completely raw food is best, which I totally disagree with.
 
This is a subject of significant debate among nutritionists. There is something to be said for raw, but at the same time, tough cellulose can not be broken down by the stomach without first being softened. You can test this for yourself simply by looking in the toilet the morning after eating a large portion of raw vegetables. Now, if you happen to be constipated, by all means, raw veggies are the best way to push things through, but you will not be able to extract the nutrients trapped in the cellulose.

My personal favorite way to cook veggies is in the steamer. This way I am able to soften the cellulose enough to be able to digest it thoroughly, but the vegetables are not submerged in water, so the temperature is a little lower than boiling, much lower than a frying pan and the nutrients won't have an opportunity to leach into the water.

If you have a juicer, that is a way to get more nutrients out of raw vegetables because the juicer mechanically breaks down the cellulose for you.
 
sidevalve said:
Sorry but I'm going to do it - I'm going to 'come out' - confess - admit it --- I like well done veg !!!
I'm tired of being told that cabbage sprouts etc should be almost raw and it's better for you like that - well tough to the dieticians I don't like it like that and I'm cooking it and I'm eating it. Each to their own but I'm sick of being told what I must like by all knowing 'scientists' in fancy white coats.
That feels better
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I am glad you came out of the food "closet":). I can only imagine how good it must feel. I have to tell you I am no fan myself of the under cooked veggies but especially when I have guest, I "conform". I guest I want to be" socially acceptable" on those occasions. This is an age old debate and unless you have some health issues like I do, I say eat it how you love it. DancingLady spoke to some interesting facts but even the juicer is coming under heavy fire.

Sidevalve, please enjoy your new found freedom.
 
I'll add my 2p's worth here as well. Some very, particularly of the cabbage variety such as kale actually release more of some nutrients to the body when they are overcooked! Yep you heard me correctly. I was looking into it when I was diagnosed with osteoporosis in solely my left femur (the rest of my body had a much higher bone density than normal) because I did not want to go onto the standard treatment for osteoporosis when it had not been tested on premenopausal women (not post, pre) and I was quite surprised to find out, well shocked really, than more calcium and other nutrients useful for bone density are available to the body when make is overcooked, than when it is raw or cooked 'correctly'! So feel free to enjoy some of your greens overcooked, it is actually good for you! But only if you keep the volume of water to an absolute minimum when coming or reuse said coming liquid.

I have lost the paper/study I read this in for lake, but found similar articles (not papers) mentioning something similar for spinach.

And when it comes to certain minerals, you're better off eating your spinach cooked. Green vegetables such as spinach, beet greens and Swiss chard are high in calcium, but their high levels of a compound called oxalic acid binds calcium and reduce its absorption. Cooking releases some of the calcium that's bound to oxalic acid. Three cups of raw spinach, for example, have 90 milligrams of calcium, whereas one cup of cooked has nearly triple the amount (259 milligrams). Cooking vegetables also increases the amount of magnesium and iron that's available to the body
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From here.

It all depends on what reason you are eating that particular vegetable. Obviously some vitamins are destroyed by overcoming, so a mixture of the 2 method seems to be the best approach!
 
Well honestly it doesn't matter much to me as i love vegetables on a whole and as such will have it cooked or raw in a salad however my kids have preference to having their vegetables cook so at times i will opt to pleasing them.
 
I like that you are taking a firm stance here and it is really up to you and how you enjoy your vegetables at the end of the day.
Personally I love all sorts of vegetables and prefer them a bit on the raw side. Being a vegan I suppose you have to like even the 'worst' types of vegetables otherwise you won't have much to eat!
 
I prefer my veggies to be done or overcooked too and it seems like you are not alone here! I went to an Asian restaurant recently and got myself a big bowl of brocoli beef and was really excited to dig into it. The brocoli and carrots were so hard that I did not get half way done with the meal before giving up on it; my mouth was so sore. It tasted so much better the next day when I reheated it and gave the veggies a chance to soften.
 
I have to agree myself! Some vegetables, like peppers and sweetcorn are meant to be crunchy but carrots, broccoli and cabbage are not! I am not keen on veg that has been overboiled but I love them properly steamed. I do save the cooking water and use it to make gravy though - I don't want to miss out on any nutrients plus it tastes great.
 
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