5 Foods You Are Eating Wrong
Download PDFHow you cut, cook, and sip matters when it comes to getting the most health benefits from certain foods.
Vegetables
Your mistake: Boiling them.
The fix: Steaming.
Why it works: Steaming helps retain cancer-fighting nutrients in cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, cauliflower, kale, and arugula, better than other cooking methods. Boiling vegetables often causes many of the vitamins to leach into the water. Unless you drink the water, steaming in a basket for 3 to 4 minutes is your best bet.
Strawberries
Your mistake: Slicing them before eating.
The fix: Eating them whole.
Why it works: Whole strawberries contain 8 to 12 percent more vitamin C than sliced strawberries because vitamin C begins to break down when exposed to light and oxygen. For the biggest vitamin C boost, store whole strawberries in the fridge—cool temperatures help retain vitamin C as well.
Tomatoes
Your mistake: Eating them raw.
The fix: Heating them up.
Why it works: Tomatoes have been linked to lowering the risk of stroke, helping fight prostate cancer, and preserving brain power with age. Heating tomatoes significantly increases their levels of lycopene, a chemical that boosts antioxidant levels. Cook tomatoes in olive oil for the biggest nutritional boost: lycopene is fat-soluble, so fat in your diet helps your body absorb it properly.
Frozen Produce
Your mistake: Skipping frozen foods at the grocery store.
The fix: Hitting the freezers.
Why it works: Many people think only fresh is healthy, but this is a misconception. In fact, frozen fruits and vegetables often contain higher levels of antioxidants—including polyphenols, vitamin C, and beta-carotene—than their fresh counterparts. As produce ages, nutrients begin to change and break down. It’s better to eat food that was frozen at peak ripeness with its nutrients intact than week-old produce that no longer has the same beneficial chemical makeup.
