Freezing Food

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we have an abundance of food this year in our garden. Partially due to all the rain we have had. I am considering freezing the over flow. ? will this destroy the nutritional value. I realize there are varying opinions.This is a post I found which is basically contrary to other post I have read.

Does microwaving differ in its "nutrient-destruction-quotient" from boiling or steaming food?

Various websites have very different statements on this. When I complained to my girlfriend that I couldn't find a solid answer on this, she suggested asking you all.

So, the myth stated: Cooking food destroys its nutrients

And what about soup? Would boiling a potato into soup actually result in destroyed vitamins, or do the vitamins leach out into the water, so by eating the soup broth, you'd get the vitamins anyway.

On the other side, how does refrigerating or freezing food affect it's nutritional value?

thelightworks Senior Member

Registered: 02-03-08 Posted 12-16-08 12:36 AM

Basic rule of thumb: temperature changes do not destroy nutrients. sidenote: sometimes cooking converts nutrients into more digestible forms.

Ignored post by thelightworks posted 12-16-08 12:36 AM Show Post

Huxley.Wilberforce Senior Member

Registered: 08-10-08 Posted 12-16-08 01:04 AM

Some nutrients are altered by heat. Others aren't. Minerals pretty much stay the same. Vitamin C, among others, is destroyed.

Microwave ovens heat food to the same temperature as a regular oven in far less time. Since destruction of nutrients is affected by both time and temperature, microwave ovens destroy less nutrients than conventional cooking.

The degree to which any of this matters ought to be obvious: people all over the world eat mostly cooked food, without any apparent deficit of nutrients as a result. There's enough left over, even after cooking, to meet nutritional requirements.

And as thelightworks noted, cooking makes many foods more easily digestible, boosting their overall nutritional value.

Comments

  • I just have to state one obvious fact here, microwaves don't just heat food- they radiate it! Obviously not a good choice, besides destroying enzymes you now have a radioactive mess that looks like food!

  • superfood2superfood2 Raw Newbie

    The body's ability to assimilate nutrients is affected by cooking, so even if you thought some boiled potatoes water had nutrients in it, due to the heat destroyng/denaturing the food, yes, your body will receive less nutrition than if you ate the food raw/whole.

  • waterbaby12347waterbaby12347 Raw Newbie

    Come on, are you kidding me??? I'm sorry but some begin but don't finish with their analogies...

    Most people are like sheep, if one does it then others follow regardless of true happenstance, which explains why so many people cook their meals... We didn't do it until after the discovery of "fire"... Interesting don't you think???

    Yes if you eat cooked food you will continue to live your life but disease is in your future, esp if eating SAD...

    Those of us who eat "raw" continue to live our lives but our future will be disease free...

    Now your next question "which is worse", microwave, boiling, steaming or baking and broiling... Isn't it obvious, all are promoting a less than healthy meal due to the effect on our future, so we need to look at the big picture...

    Digestion is easy if we chew our whole foods completely into a liquid or smoothie consistency... All foods grow containing their own digestive enzymes... Because we don't kill them with heat by cooking, then digestion occurs without added work from the body, if properly masticated while mixing with our saliva...

    Edit~ Blend up those extras and freeze, you didn't mention what your extras are but last yr, I had a surplus of cucumbers... I put them in the blender, poured into ice cube trays and froze it... Stored in bags in the freezer and then add two cucumber cubes into my veggie smoothie... So easy and I didn't have to purchase inferior quality from the grocery store... I am doing the same this yr with my leafy greens... Also you can consider to dehydrate at a low temp...

    Hope I have been of some help, if not I'm sure there are others on GR that will be... smile

  • waterbaby12347waterbaby12347 Raw Newbie

    naturalkandy~ Unless things have changed, microwaves don't heat or put out radioactivity... The radio waves that are emitted from the micron tube cause the moisture within the food item to bombard each other creating heat.. So the food item cooks itself from the inside out, so to speak... The plastic containers or wrap some use to hold or cover those food items while microwaving is another huge source source of toxins...

  • Microwaving is probably the worst thing you could do for your body (besides the absolute worst such as drugs or something). When I imagine microwaved foods, all I can think of is radiation; electromagnetic waves literally killing the enzymes and flavonoids thus causing cancer! Please research about the dangers of microwave cooking as it is extremely detrimental to our health, which is why it was banned in Russia.

    I haven't had an appetite for cooked veggies in months because they look 'dead' on my plate. They lose their vibrant color and flavor. When you put your finger into a pot of boiling water, your body immediately reacts so that you don't injure yourself. So why would you want to cook your veggies in high temperature?

    I believe that freezing can't work out for some things such as lettuce or celery because once thawed out, they end up getting soggy. But many people use freezing as a method of preserving. I personally don't use my freezer because I never really have a reason to freeze anything. But when you freeze something, the enzymes, vitamins, and minerals come back alive once thawed out.

    I've seen something on the discovery chanel where these tiny frogs literally freeze themselves in the winter to hibernate. Once spring comes around, their heartbeats kick back and they hop around again.

  • waterbaby12347waterbaby12347 Raw Newbie

    lulushka~ Point well taken and I too agree with you that there are more factors involved, I just didn't take the time to address them as I was only comparing cook vs raw food items... My statement is bold as that is what I believe, based on my personal research... I apologize for not taking all points into view... Am receiving 50 lashes with a wet noodle... LOL

    ("My family eat rice and veggies for dinner everyday, and snack on nuts and fruit, though they are not raw foodists, their cooked diet is nevertheless relatively healthy. I just don't think it's very nice to say to someone that they are going to get a disease, while they themselves will live long disease-free lives.")

    Keep in mind those cooked veggies and rice are rendered dead and rice is one of the highest uses for pesticides, so the body also has to deal with all those added toxins unless it is organic and then there is the grain thing to consider... The diseases I refer could be high blood pressure, acid reflux, diabetes, Alzheimers, migraines, arthritis to name a few...

    So many variables makes it difficult to know how to compare, therefore "raw organic" makes our lives easier as well as easier on our bodies... Remember the less time our bodies spend cleaning up toxic waste daily, the more time it has to heal or prevent disease... Which was my original point, that I did a poor job of expressing...

    Thanks for bring this to my attention... smile

    Here is a link for a highly nutritional weed, we may not have considered eating, I know I had wondered, can't wait to try it tomorrow...

    http://www.learningherbs.com/news_issue_34.html

  • waterbaby12347waterbaby12347 Raw Newbie

    Deal!!! smile

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