Gisèle Talhouët, naturopath at Laboratoires Le Stum, talks to us today about the difference between raw and cooked food.
Why cook food?
The goal of cooking is to make food easier to consume and digest. Cooking involves a transformation process that will alter the taste, texture, appearance, and even color of the food. It will also alter its potential toxicity or nutritional qualities. For example, cooking chicken will destroy parasites or germs and prevent possible food poisoning.
When it comes to grains, legumes, or root vegetables like potatoes, cooking them will make the fiber less irritating and more digestible.
Cooking methods come into play
Often criticized, cooking in water is one of the least harmful methods of transformation for vitamins, at least for some, because the sensitivity of the latter to heat varies depending on whether it is Vitamin C (the most sensitive) or B12 (the least sensitive).
First of all, let's know that above 45 degrees, many enzymes, vitamins and even minerals are completely or partially destroyed. At 60 degrees and above, vitamin C and most B vitamins are also destroyed... I would like to remind you here of the importance of vitamin B, particularly for the nervous system... and therefore in stress prevention!
At over 100 degrees, vitamins A, D, E, K are completely destroyed!!!
Needless to say, for the Naturopath that I am, banning all microwave cooking is imperative, even for simple reheating ; because besides the temperature it is the molecular composition of the food which is altered leaving only a “filling” function and not a “nourishing” one.
Let’s get back to our boiling… It remains interesting provided you drink the water ! This is what we do when making soup, but you can also consume the cooking water from your organic vegetables as broth or use this cooking water as a sauce base.
The cooking steam Or stewed can also be used, bearing in mind that some of the vitamins and minerals end up in the water because the steam causes the precipitation of the precious nutrients.
Finally the cooking in a pan, in the oven Or in frying are the least recommended because they are more destructive. However, be aware that the duration, temperature and cooking method are important. Generally speaking the longer and more intense the cooking, the more vitamins and enzymes are destroyed ...
The advantage of raw
So should we eat raw?
Eating raw has many benefits. But each individual is different, so it's important to tailor it to your needs! While a 100% raw diet may seem difficult to maintain over time and socially, it does seem that a larger portion of our daily intake of raw foods remains beneficial in many ways for our health and vitality.
Indeed, enzymes, vitamins and minerals remain intact if we consume raw foods. In addition, starting your meals with raw foods by adding, for example, sprouted seeds or lacto-fermented vegetables will help activate digestion. So why not eat as much raw food as possible every day? The body has its rhythms, just like the seasons. It therefore seems interesting to increase the proportion of raw food in summer when temperatures are mild (which is feasible all year round in the tropics), and in winter to try to give a large part to raw vegetables while consuming processed and therefore cooked foods because the body also needs to warm up, particularly when temperatures drop in winter.
Last point, if we want to lose weight : know that Cooking increases the glycemic index of foods . For example, a cooked apple contains much more sugar than a raw apple. And what is true for fruits is also true for vegetables; if we take the case of beetroot or carrots, the glycemic index is multiplied by almost 3 after cooking!
The only drawback to raw food: people with sensitive intestines. In fact, a exclusively raw diet can irritate the intestines especially in people with colitis; it will therefore be necessary to adapt according to their microbiota.
In conclusion, favor raw or lacto-fermented foods But observe the effects on you and your digestion and adapt your diet to your metabolism. Each organism is unique and it is good to remember this.
