Article: If a food contains a lot of nutrients and vitamins but your body cannot absorb or process them, then the nutrients are essentially wasted. Cooking can often increase the absorption of certain nutrients. For instance, the absorption of beta-carotene was found to be 6.5 times greater when carrots were stir fried versus when eaten raw. Tomatoes sautéed in olive oil may be linked to an  increased absorption of lycopene, an antioxidant. Spinach, asparagus, and mushrooms are other foods that may benefit from heating, as this can increase the bioavailability of certain nutrients, allowing your body to better absorb them. Try cooking foods whole an unpeeled to preserve their vitamins while cooking. It may surprise you to learn that microwaving is a good way to heat food while preserving many nutrients, particularly in mushrooms and garlic. This is due to the short cooking times. Iron pots may destroy vitamin C but add iron, especially in acidic food, while unlined copper will destroy vitamin C, vitamin E, and folacin. Roasting meat for a long time destroys thiamin. If you boil vegetables or cook them in large quantities of fat (for instance, through deep-frying), you may end up leaching out valuable vitamins. Water-soluble vitamins such as vitamin B and vitamin C will be leached out during boiling, while fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamin A will leach out into cooking oil. Instead, steam vegetables using a small amount of water on the stovetop or in a microwave. You can also sauté them in a small amount of fat that will be including in the dish itself.  As long as you use microwave-safe vessels, microwaving does not affect nutrient content more than any other cooking method.  Keep the lid on. By keeping the lid on your pot while cooking vegetables, steam is created that helps cook the vegetables faster. Drizzling some olive oil on your salad or lightly frying your greens in oil can help you absorb the fat-soluble vitamins contained in vegetables. Any water that is used while cooking catches the vitamins that leach out of the food, as well as some of its flavor. Choose cooking methods that allow you to retain this water. For example, cook vegetables in a soup. Or, use the leftover water from steaming as the basis for the broth for your next batch of soup.
What is a summary of what this article is about?
Know which foods are most nutritious when cooked and how to cook them. Choose cooking pots wisely. Don’t overcook. Steam where possible. Add some oil to your vegetables. Reuse or conserve cooking water.