Thread: Raw vs. steamed veggies

You may lose vitamins and minerals. I don´t think that happens with the GI, only with you do the steaming with cheese.
Funny thing is that the carrot from Romania has a GI of 16 while the carrot from Canada has a GI of 92.

I read that you can lose up to 97 percent of broccoli's antioxidants / cancer fighting compounds when cooked in a microwave.

Me, I usually steam mine and without being in direct contact with the boiling water (steaming) minimizes nutrient loss.

Eating raw vegetables they can contain microbes... cooking them makes the vegetables safer to eat

Controlling Nutrient Loss

Most minerals and some vitamins dissolve in water. Soaking vegetables in water before cooking or cooking vegetables in large amounts of water causes leaching of important vitamins and minerals. The other five factors that lead to nutrient loss are high temperatures, prolonged cooking, alkalis (such as baking soda and hard water), plant enzymes (which are destroyed by heat), and oxygen. Some nutrient loss is inevitable, but most can be avoided by understanding how these six factors affect vegetables.

Originally Posted by Pylon

Is there a significant difference? I read that steamed/cooked carrots have a GI of 98, while raw have a GI of around 20. Does anyone know if that kind of change occurs when steaming cauliflower or broccoli?

Steaming vegetables does not cause any significant degree of change in either GI or nutrient value (as long as you don't cook them till they are a soggy goop - then you can effect the phytochemicals and nutrients in the vegetables! ).

Also - the GI of carrots is low, regardless of cooking. The original study that calculated the GI of carrots as 92 was flawed and re-examination showed that the GI was infact low (49).

Here is a link for more info:
http://www.mendosa.com/diabetes_update_14.htm#Carrots

Originally Posted by Emma-Leigh

...

Aren´t you the one that had a surfing women for an avatar? You never told us if that was you.

Originally Posted by Vieope

Aren´t you the one that had a surfing women for an avatar? You never told us if that was you.

Hmmm... You must be thinking of someone else - I have never had a surfing avatar (in fact, I have never had an avatar at all )