Back to Blog Home

Dr. Weil explored the nutritional value of steaming vs. boiling vs. microwaving in his syndicated column this week. Here are some of his remarks:

“Steaming using little energy, creates a minimum of mess, and does the least damage to the nutrients in vegetables.”

He says he boils hardier veggies like corn, beets, and potatoes, but I don’t know why. He knows that boiling veggies results in some nutrient loss into the cooking water. I steam these things and they do just fine.

Now here’s what I found really interesting:
“A study published in the November 2003 issue of Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture found that broccoli cooked in the microwave lost up to 97% of its antioxidant content, but lost only 11% when it was steamed. Another study showed that spinach cooked in the microwave retained nearly all its folate but lost about 77% of this nutrient when cooking on the stove.”

Some day I’d like to do a study on “infused vegetables” as they’re cooking in Glorious One-Pot Meals. My hunch is that they retain nutrients similar to steaming since it’s a similar process.

Related posts:

1. Popcorn: a perfect snack  I love popcorn. When faced with a freshly-made bowl, I...
2. Healthy Easy Snacks for picky toddlers, kids, and adults, too What do you do when a kid won’t eat vegetables?...
3. Physical Activity a Key to Later Health Those who are physically active in their 50s and 60s...
4. How does the Atkins Diet hold up after 2 years? A study just released showed that participants in a 2-year...
5. Halloween recipe: Monster Heads Halloween calls for fun foods. That’s when Monster Heads make...