Raw or cooked: how to eat vegetables to make the most of their benefits?

Generally, many recommend eating vegetables raw in order to make the most of their nutritional value, which decreases after cooking. Should we therefore favor the raw product over a cooked product? The nutritionist doctor Jean-Michel Cohen was interested in the subject via an Instagram video. Here is his response.

As Jean Michel Cohen explains, in recent years there has been a certain craze for raw cuisine. We have seen certain food trends emerge such as raw food diets or even raw food which highlight fresh and raw foods. This sparked real enthusiasm, particularly on social networks. Raw food, for example, which prohibits any cooking above 47.8°C, has been very popular with stars like Demi Moore or Drew Barrymore. This ultimately had a direct impact on the diets of many consumers.

The goal of these dietary practices is to retain and benefit from all the virtues of fruits and vegetables. Indeed, this type of trend has been seen “especially vegetables, supposedly because they provide more vitamins and minerals” underlines Jean-Michel Cohen.
So should we turn to raw vegetables rather than cooked vegetables?

The doctor recognizes that when cooking vegetables, we lose between 30 to 40% of the value of the vitamins, not too much of the minerals. However, “When you eat enough of it, the vitamin level may have dropped, but between raw and cooked, there wouldn’t be much of a difference”. In reality, it’s all a question of quantity. However, we generally consume larger quantities of cooked vegetables than raw ones, which therefore does not pose a real problem if the latter lose a little vitamin after cooking.

In addition, cooked vegetables have the advantage of being digestible well. You should therefore not deprive yourself of it.

The best is to alternate as the doctor concludes: “Given the quantities of food consumed each day, you can vary your pleasures and not be afraid to eat cooked vegetables.”