Since childhood we have been aware of the promotion and importance of its consumption, but this time I bring you up 40 practical tips for eating fruits and vegetables And thus optimize the benefits of your intake.
We were taught how to consume apples, pears, oranges and various salads from a young age, some of them are received with great pleasure, but others are terribly resistant to include them in their daily diet.
When we are big, we make our own decisions and usually end up forgetting this pattern of consumption, opting for packaged foods.
Why so much insistence on encouraging consumption?
The benefits of consuming at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day are more than researched and tested, although unfortunately in most of our countries we do not even reach 50% of this daily consumption.
Therefore, it is imperative to seek to improve access to these foods (their availability and prices according to the market), to educate about their nutritive and preventive potential of various chronic and acute diseases.
Benefits
Reports from the World Health Organization (WHO) indicate that low intake of fruits and vegetables causes more than 1.5 million deaths a year, which are manifested mainly in cardiovascular diseases, cancer, respiratory diseases and diabetes .
In contrast, the usual intake of fruits and vegetables has been associated with a decreased risk of disease and premature death. It is said that increasing your daily consumption of 3 to 5 servings decreases your risk of stroke by 25%.
The reduction of these risks could be justified by the high content of protective nutrients (such as fiber) or nutrients that do not contribute to these foods and which in excess increase the risk of mortality (free sugars, salt, saturated and trans fats) .
40 Practical Tips
- I recommend you always place the fresh fruits and vegetables in the cooler part of cooling (the lower section).
- However, some fruits and vegetables can suffer texture damage from the cold; Bananas to less than 12 ° C and cucumbers below 7 ° C.
- For this reason, tomatoes, avocado, banana or pineapple are best preserved in a cool, dry place outside the refrigerator.
- Fruits such as apples, pears, bananas, apricots and others give off natural substances, such as ethylene , Which can accelerate their maturation and that of other foods around them.
- Certain foods are more sensitive to nutrient losses by temperature, for example, broccoli is one of the most sensitive.
- Do not be afraid to refrigerate or even freeze the apples in their different varieties, since they are kept well below 2 ºC without altering its texture.
- Other fruits such as peach and nectarine require temperatures between 2 and 8 ºC for optimum preservation of their texture, aroma and juiciness.
- When it comes to wholesale storage, in addition to temperature, industries use atmospheres modified in oxygen, CO2 and other gases, which conserve fruits and vegetables for long periods.
- It is a myth that the vitamin C of home orange juice is not very stable, since only extreme conditions (for example heating it to 120 ° C) considerably diminish the vitamin's concentration.
- The nutritional properties of orange juice remain practically intact for up to 12 hours, although their taste may become more bitter.
- You should not wash fruits and vegetables before storing them in the refrigerator, because excess moisture can advance the decomposition process.
- Washing and disinfection should only be carried out immediately before consuming them.
- Freezing is a process that changes nutritional content very little, but it can cause unappealing changes in its texture, especially in fruits.
- The processed foods Preserved at high pressures, such as fruit juices, are safe and their quality values of the original product are preserved.
- Whenever possible, try to consume fruits and vegetables without peeling and through the normal chewing process.
- Peeling fruits causes a minimum to moderate loss of nutrients, depending on the technique used and the fruit in particular.
- The loss of nutrients in this sense are proportional to the depth of cut and the time of exposure to harmful agents such as light, oxygen, etc.
- Notwithstanding the previous point, in some cases peeling also eliminates possibly harmful substances such as Solanidine In the potato, present in the area close to the skin.
- The outer leaves or layers of vegetables usually have a higher concentration of nutrients. For example, the outer leaves of lettuce provide more vitamin C , Calcium, iron and carotenoids than the leaves that are most in the interior.
- The skin or peel of apples contains 2-5 times more vitamin C than their pulp (point to favor not the skins).
- Consuming the fruits and vegetables that have an edible skin contributes a Extra amount of dietary fiber in your diet .
- Vitamin C in particular remains virtually intact in raw fruits and vegetables, although the availability of other nutrients, such as carotenes, is greater in cooked (eg cooked tomato).
- In the case of fruit squeezed at home, like the juices sold or coming from concentrates (100%), they contribute much less fiber than the fruit from which they come.
- By liquefying fruits, it increases your glycemic index (it increases blood glucose levels faster), which is Dangerous especially in diabetics .
- Fermenting these foods can improve the Iron food of plant origin Breaking chemical structures that keep him kidnapped.
- Lyophilization is a special and very sophisticated process of dehydration whose modifications of quality to food are minimal and once rehydrated are very similar to those of fresh food.
- If you do not have a good freezer (or you do not have enough spice) the homemade canning is a very good alternative to preserve fruits and vegetables for a long time (do not forget to label the containers).
- Canned foods (including fruits and vegetables) often contain a significant amount of salt (canned vegetables) or added sugars (fruits in syrup), which can be harmful to health.
- One way to delay browning (changing color in fruits or vegetables when exposed to the environment) is through the application of lemon juice or vinegar that slows the color changes by enzymatic action, this is the case of the apple Or banana.
- Also baking soda is sometimes applied in the cooking of vegetables to reduce its hardness or to keep the green color of its leaves.
- If no cooking existed, many of the vegetables could not consume them because of their sensorial characteristics or low digestibility that do not allow their consumption in crude.
- Try to avoid long cooking (for example when you forget that you have the pot with spinach on the fire), as they can cause a significant loss of water and increase the concentration of other nutrients.
- I generally recommend that you wait for the water to boil to submerge the food, as its nutritional content is better preserved and losses are reduced, although this aspect is not so critical if you are going to take advantage of the cooking water for consumption as it is Case of soups and creams.
- If you use a pressure cooker I inform you that it is a good option if you apply the technique correctly (not to exceed you in time), since they generate less losses of nutrients than with the simple boil.
- If you use steam cooking, this is usually more respectful of nutrients than other techniques that use water or oil.
- Although we might think, cooking in microwaves, appears as one that favors the best nutrient retention.
- Sauteed is a technique that is applied with a little fat and applying high temperatures in a short time. In this case the vegetables are minimally cooked (sometimes called"al dente") and the nutritional losses are very low.
- Frying has a minimal impact on the protein or mineral content of the food in question, as it ends up creating a crust that covers the food and prevents any excess oil from entering the food or the water it contains.
- To reduce the oil retention, it is recommended to fry at the appropriate temperature (approximately 180ºC) with abundant oil, preferably olive oil, in addition to try to use egg and flour batters to replace breadcrumbs.
- If you are going to use defrosting in the microwave, you should check that the container you use is suitable, and it is recommended that this process be done in glass containers.
Categories
Category I. Fresh fruits and vegetables
Fruits: Are the fruit, fleshy parts or seeds of floral organs, in a suitable state of maturation and accepted for human consumption. Does not include nuts (almond, walnuts, chestnut, etc.) or oleaginous seeds or fruits (eg olive, peanut, coconut, etc.).
Vegetables: Are herbaceous plants that can be used as food, in their raw or cooked form. Vegetables are vegetables whose edible parts are constituted by their green sections.
Category II. Processed fruits and vegetables
This group includes processed products composed entirely of fruits and / or vegetables, to which no sugar or salt has been added. This section covers dried, freeze-dried, preserved or frozen fruit, vegetables and mushrooms, as well as fruit and vegetable juices and purees.
One of the great initiatives for its consumption is the Association"5 a day", which recommends us the following:
- Promote the consumption of varied fruits and vegetables, especially in children, adolescents and young adults.
- Adapt the purchase of fruits and vegetables to the rhythm of consumption, family size and cold storage capacity.
- Privilege the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables of season and of local production.
- If you consume processed fruits or vegetables select those that have lower salt levels, saturated fats and added sugar.
- Use varied culinary and consumption techniques, as they facilitate the intake of fruits and vegetables
- Restrict the consumption of natural or commercial juices 100% to no more than one glass per day.
- Prefer its consumption in fresh, raw and unpeeled, when the food allows.
- Learn to minimize during storage, handling and cooking, loss of nutrients.
With regard to this last point, we will go on to review specific points to consider in their manipulation, conservation or consumption.
Domestic manipulation
Many times we can consume these foods naturally, but it is not strange to use them in hot foods, fried, liquefied or frozen. These operations can cause changes in the nutritional contribution or availability of some compounds present in them.
In this sense, it is vital to know the changes brought about in fruits and vegetables through the different culinary choices of consumption, which will be vital to optimize the use of its multiple benefits.
Final Considerations
The patterns of feeding are very diverse and generally promote various chronic diseases, we must be agents that Promote healthy living habits , Where the consumption of fruits and vegetables, regardless of whether they are consumed raw or cooked, has been associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular diseases.
In many of our fairs and local stores, small and medium producers offer their products directly from their farms, to values that are usually reasonable, so I think we should take advantage of these instances as long as possible.
With this we will enjoy different fruits and vegetables throughout the year, and even if this is not possible, we have different conservation alternatives both in the industrial and in our own homes to get the best of them and fully enjoy these delicacies.
References
- Bernstein AM, Bloom DE, Rosner BA, Franz M, Willett WC. Relation of food cost to healthfulness of diet among US women. Am J Clin Nutr. 2010; 92 (5): 1197-203.
- He FJ, Nowson CA, MacGregor GA. Fruit and vegetable consumption and stroke: meta-analysis of cohort studies. Lancet. 2006; 367 (9507): 320-6.
- Buescher RW, Howard LR, Dexter P. Postharvest enhancement of fruits and vegetables for improved human health. Hortscience. 1999; 34 (7): 1167-70.
- Farran A, Rafecas M. Changes in nutrient content in food preparation. In: Salas J, Bonada A, Trallero R, Saló E, Burgos R (editors). Nutrition and Clinical Diet 2nd edition. Barcelona: Elsevier; 2008. p. 645-54.
- Erdman JW, Erdman EA. Effect of home preparation practices on nutritive value of food. In: Rechigl M, ed. Handbook of Nutritive Value of Processed Food (Vol. I). Boca Raton: CRC Press; 1982. p. 237-63.
- Brennan JG. Manual of food processing. 1st ed. Madrid: Editorial Acribia, S.A.; 2008.
- Varela G. Current facts about the frying of food. In: Frying of food: principles, changes, new approaches. Cambridge: Ellis Horwood- VCH; 1988. p. 9-25.
- Bógnar A. Tables on weight yield of food and retention factors of food constituents for the calculation of nutrient composition of cooked foods (dishes). Karlsruhe: undesforschungsanstalt für Ernährung, 2002.