The Benefits of Steaming Vegetables

Steam cooking has been popular for a long time and used for thousands of years. It started from Chinese, African and Indian cuisines and is now used worldwide. Not only is it the quickest and healthiest way to prepare food, but also a method that allows the steamed products’ taste, shape, juice and color to remain intact. Most vegetables are delicate and when subjected to hard boiling, may lose their nutrients and health benefits. Here are some of the reasons why steaming vegetables is the right option:

MAINTAINS THE FOOD’S STRUCTURE:

This form of cooking keeps vegetables from turning into a puree or mash, and utterly distorting its shape and structure but at the same time maintaining its original taste. So, if you’re going for a presentable vegetable delicacy, make steam cooking your friend.

RETAINS VITAMINS AND MINERALS:
Many of the vegetables’ nutrients are lost when prepared through harsh methods like boiling or deep frying. Steaming ensures that vitamins, such as vitamin B, riboflavin, niacin, B12, thiamine, biotin, vitamin C, and pantothenic acid as well as minerals such as phosphorous, calcium, potassium, and zinc are preserved.

DOES NOT REQUIRE OIL:

Since the vegetables are steamed instead of fried, our meals become relatively healthy, and intact with nutrients.

KEEPS THE KITCHEN CLEAN:

No smoke, no oil, cleaning up is easy.

EASIER TO DIGEST:

Since steamed vegetables are softer, they are easier to digest. Since they are easily digested by your system, the nutrients they contain are more easily absorbed by the body. Apart from that, they cause fewer indigestion problems and do not give you that bloated feeling afterward you usually get from eating fried vegetables.

FLAVORFUL:
Steamed vegetables are cooked just right. They are neither overcooked nor undercooked. This makes them so flavorful that you’ll want to munch on these vegetables more and more. This is great since vegetables are good sources of nutrients. The more you eat, the better. Although raw vegetables are more nutritious, many people do not think they taste good (except for those used in salad).

LITTLE OR NO FAT:
As discussed above, steaming vegetables does not require oil. This means you can enjoy low level or non-fat vegetables. Most vegetables do not consist of fat, but if you want to sprinkle some oil onto your steamed vegetables, you can do so using some olive oil. Olive oil is an unsaturated fat that does not contain bad cholesterol. Steaming vegetables can lower the risk of high cholesterol levels, along with other health problems such as and heart diseases and high blood pressure level.

It is important to remember that steaming vegetables does not work every time. It is ideal for spinach, broccoli, corn, asparagus, carrots, cauliflower, beans, bok choy, Chinese cabbage and other green leafy vegetables. For other vegetables, like tomatoes, for example, it would be better to stir-fry or roast them in the oven. This is because the lycopene in tomatoes that prevents diabetes, prostate cancer and osteoporosis is more easily absorbed by the body when tomatoes are cooked thoroughly or processed.

Apart from raw vegetables, steamed vegetables are the healthiest choice. Make sure you consume organically grown vegetables so you can be assured of locked-in nutrients that are free from synthetic substances that can harm your body.