Is Steaming Vegetables Evil and Bad for Health?

One reader recently asked me what I think of an article published by Dr. Joel Fuhrman on raw foods versus cooked foods.

Dr. Fuhrman in his article writes that:

"Raw food advocates mistakenly conclude that since many cooked foods are not healthy for us, then all cooked foods are bad. This is not true."

In his article, Dr. Fuhrman points out that:

- It is true that high temperature cooking or boiling destroys many nutrients, but more conservative methods preserve many of those nutrients

- Steaming vegetables and making vegetable soups breaks down cellulose and alters the plants' cell structures so that fewer of your own enzymes are needed to digest the food, not more.

- In the end, Furhman thinks there are no benefits and only negatives from not including cooked greens in your diet, because cooked greens are the most nutrient dense foods. He thinks the ideal diet includes 50% raw vegetables and 50% cooked vegetables.

I tend to agree with Fuhrman's reasoning, but not necessarily with his conclusion.

It's true that some nutrients are more easily available after vegetables have been cooked, while others are destroyed or reduced by cooking.

It's also true that by eating only raw vegetables we're missing out on a lot of nutrients, since they could be "locked" in the fiber and not always assimilated properly.

The ideal way to get your nutrients would be to eat your vegetables raw and chew the heck out of them! However, due to poor dentition and lack of time, most people are not able to eat enough raw vegetables and chew them well enough, so that they can extract all the nutrients.

It's true that cooking breaks down the fiber of vegetables and makes them easier to chew and digest (in some cases). For example, steamed broccoli is a whole lot easier to eat than raw broccoli!

But if you cooked all your vegetables you'd be missing out on a lot of important nutrients that could be damaged by heat.

Like Fuhrman, I believe that green vegetables are so important that we should make an effort to eat them in large quantities on a daily basis. About one pound of greens per day is the minimum for most people, to get sufficient amounts of calcium and other nutrients in a raw diet. I recommend two pounds a day for optimum health.

You should also eat your vegetables in a way that your body can totally assimilate them.

For some people, that may mean steaming some vegetables so that they are easier to chew and digest. I personally like to eat some cooked vegetables like spinach and broccoli on a regular basis.

However, my number one, favorite way to eat greens is in green smoothies!

By blending greens with fruit in smoothies, you get the best of both worlds. Your vegetables stay raw and nutrient-dense, but the blending process makes them easier to digest and assimilate.

If you drink one or two liters (or quarts) of green smoothies every day, you WILL totally transform your health in a matter of weeks or months.

Can't wait to get started and need some motivation? In just a few weeks we're going to start a new Green Cleanse, a yearly program I run, where my participants spend a week drinking nothing but green smoothies and eating nothing but fruit. The results are dramatic!

For more information on the Green for Life program, go to:

http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/greenforlife.html