I live near the mountains, which attracts all types of people who seek to be closer to nature in lifestyle without really being prepared for it — most don't know how to stay warm in the winter, and if they had to, they couldn't even slay an elk with their bare hands, like me. But basically, it means while waiting in line at Vitamin Cottage I have to listen to all sorts of yupster hippies complain about all of us rubes who cook our food, thereby robbing it of Mother Nature's natural nutritional gifts. (The raw foodists look like they're talking amongst themselves, but all along I see them shooting sidelong glances at me. So what if I still have steak in the corners of my mouth? I don't complain about your licey dreads; I just cut them off while you sleep.)
Anyway, put down that buckwheat stalk, Sunshine, and listen up: New evidence by Italian researchers shows that cooking certain types of food might actually boost its nutritional value. In the Dec. 26 issue of ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Nicoletta Pellegrini and colleagues from the University of Parma tested the effects of boiling, steaming and frying on the nutritional components of carrots, zucchini and broccoli. Not surprisingly, frying reduced the antioxidant compounds of the vegetables, but boiling and steaming maintained antioxidant levels across the board. In broccoli, steaming actually increased the content of glucosinolates, a group of plant compounds lauded for their cancer-fighting abilities.
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