Losing Vitamins from Cooking

Question
Hello, I read that if you cook vegetables and fruit longer than two-three minutes you will lose the vitamins and minerals from them.  I know boiling is bad, but what about steaming my vegetables for longer then three minutes?  Also, there is a recipe where I cook in the oven vegetables for about twenty minutes, does that make the vegetables lose their vitamins and minerals?

Answer
Some vitamins, when exposed to heat will degrade.  Most notably Vitamin C.  However, many vitamins do not degrade when exposed to heat, so that is really not the biggest concern.

The biggest concern is enzymes.  Every food carries within it the enzymes necessary to fully digest it.  Unfortunately, heat above 106 degrees destroys enzymes.  This would not be a problem but in order for us to digest and fully utilize the nutrients in cooked foods we must use our own enzymes to do this.  Much like the eggs in a womans ovaries, we have a finite number of enzymes in our body.  When they are used up, they are used up and as we get older we slowly lose our ability to digest and utilize the COOKED food that we eat.  Ultimately, we will not have any enzymes left in our body and will not be able to assimilate the food that we eat and die.

The secret then is to eat as much raw food as possible.  Raw food is living food and carries with it not only the enzymes necessary for digestion and assimilation but it also carries with it the life force for that plant on an ATOMIC level.  That is, the electrons that are present in the raw food are still active.  When you eat raw food that contains active electrons, they are transferred to your body and utilized by it.  All of the actions that take place in our body, whether it is running, or walking or breathing or even thinking, occur because of electrons.  So you can see how important consuming living foods is.

There is a lot more about this on my blog at http://everydayhealthandwellness.blogspot.com Please feel free to look it over at your convenience.

In closing, I recommend to all of my clients that they follow a 75 percent raw and 25 percent cooked diet.  I hope this answers your question.

Tasha.

1. Prev:Intuitive eating
2. Next:Underweight concern