Are there any benefits to raw vegetables?

[Sugarcoat]

There’s this woman I follow named Tiffany who has a kind of meal called the “Tiffany plate” which has gained some popularity. It varies but usually consists of a sausage, mustard and cottage cheese, raw or pickled veggies like broccoli, hearts of palm, radish, asparagus, brussel sprouts etc and fruit/berries .

I haven’t tried it yet but I could see myself trying it. If you like the taste, it’s actually quite  convenient since it requires no cooking except the meat.

It got me thinking though if it’s healthy to eat all the veggies raw. Are there any benefits to it? I googled and it gave me a variety of answers. Some say for example to not eat raw cruciferous vegetables while others say it’s okay. 
 

Example of the Tiffany plate:

Also while I’m at it I might point out that at the end she drank electrolytes. I thought it was only for extreme exercise, sweating and if you’re fasting, but I’ve seen some people drink it on the regular. Is there any benefit to that? 

Edited Saturday at 10:46 PM by Sugarcoat

[Yimpa]

Health nut plate:

 

I'm gunna make the world's healthiest soup now 

Edited Saturday at 10:50 PM by Yimpa

[Sugarcoat]

1 minute ago, Yimpa said:

Health nut plate:

 

That looks so healthy. I wonder what he would think about it today.

[cistanche_enjoyer]

Raw vegetables are very hard to break down and digest. Yet popular raw food movements have us convinced that raw vegetables are the most nutritious thing on the planet (I remember thinking so! And smashing those raw veggie platters at parties, thinking I was having a great low calorie snack 🤦🏻‍♀️) 

When it comes to nutrient-dense food, we must remember the difference between nutrient content vs. nutrient bioavailability. 

A food may contain some amount of nutrients, but how much of those nutrients are we actually able to absorb in our digestive tract?

When it comes to raw vegetables, there are two potential problems.

The first is anti-nutrients, which are naturally occurring compounds that can reduce the absorption of some nutrients.

The second is raw vegetables are just really hard to break down and digest.

Remember high school biology class where we discussed the difference between plant and animal cells?

For many vegetables, some of the important nutrients are contained within those tough cell walls.

So, when thinking about the best food for humans, we must consider those tough cell walls. 

Cooking vegetables can improve digestion by breaking down or pre-digesting those tough fibers in the cell walls & the anti-nutrients.

Which not only reduces the digestive burden in your gut, but also improves nutrient availability.

Here are just 2 examples of how cooking vegetables improves some of the nutrient availability:  

1. Raw cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, collard greens, kale, Brussel sprouts, etc.) contain goitrogens which can inhibit the thyroid’s utilization and uptake of iodine. Thus, eating a lot of these raw veggies can suppress thyroid function, leading to a slower metabolism and impaired hormone production. However, cooking cruciferous vegetables significantly reduces levels of goitrogens.

2. Raw spinach is loaded with oxalic acid, an anti-nutrient that blocks the absorption of calcium and zinc. Oxalates are broken down under high temps when veggies are cooked.

Yes, you will lose some of the Vitamin C and B Vitamins since these are water soluble nutrients. But Vitamin C is an easy nutrient to get from fruit, and B vitamins are high in liver and animal products.

Plus, if you are making a soup or stew, the water-soluble vitamins and minerals are leached into the broth/soup, which you consume in the end. 

[Sugarcoat]

18 minutes ago, cistanche_enjoyer said:

Raw vegetables are very hard to break down and digest. Yet popular raw food movements have us convinced that raw vegetables are the most nutritious thing on the planet (I remember thinking so! And smashing those raw veggie platters at parties, thinking I was having a great low calorie snack 🤦🏻‍♀️) 

When it comes to nutrient-dense food, we must remember the difference between nutrient content vs. nutrient bioavailability. 

A food may contain some amount of nutrients, but how much of those nutrients are we actually able to absorb in our digestive tract?

When it comes to raw vegetables, there are two potential problems.

The first is anti-nutrients, which are naturally occurring compounds that can reduce the absorption of some nutrients.

The second is raw vegetables are just really hard to break down and digest.

Remember high school biology class where we discussed the difference between plant and animal cells?

For many vegetables, some of the important nutrients are contained within those tough cell walls.

So, when thinking about the best food for humans, we must consider those tough cell walls. 

Cooking vegetables can improve digestion by breaking down or pre-digesting those tough fibers in the cell walls & the anti-nutrients.

Which not only reduces the digestive burden in your gut, but also improves nutrient availability.

Here are just 2 examples of how cooking vegetables improves some of the nutrient availability:  

1. Raw cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, collard greens, kale, Brussel sprouts, etc.) contain goitrogens which can inhibit the thyroid’s utilization and uptake of iodine. Thus, eating a lot of these raw veggies can suppress thyroid function, leading to a slower metabolism and impaired hormone production. However, cooking cruciferous vegetables significantly reduces levels of goitrogens.

2. Raw spinach is loaded with oxalic acid, an anti-nutrient that blocks the absorption of calcium and zinc. Oxalates are broken down under high temps when veggies are cooked.

Yes, you will lose some of the Vitamin C and B Vitamins since these are water soluble nutrients. But Vitamin C is an easy nutrient to get from fruit, and B vitamins are high in liver and animal products.

Plus, if you are making a soup or stew, the water-soluble vitamins and minerals are leached into the broth/soup, which you consume in the end. 

Thanks for the elaborate answer! So yes some raw veggies are not ideal. Good thing I enjoy cooking

[Schizophonia]

16 hours ago, Sugarcoat said:

That looks so healthy. I wonder what he would think about it today.

My frenchy heart seeing Leo toss his olive oil into his still boiling soup of random vegetables. 

[Schizophonia]

16 hours ago, Sugarcoat said:

That looks so healthy. I wonder what he would think about it today.

The last time i heard it talking about food he said he was basically on carnivore diet, because of his health problems. 

 

Edited Sunday at 03:28 PM by Schizophonia

[Sugarcoat]

4 minutes ago, Schizophonia said:

My frenchy heart seeing Leo toss his olive oil into his still boiling soup of random vegetables. 

What’s the issue?

Edited Sunday at 03:31 PM by Sugarcoat

[Sugarcoat]

3 minutes ago, Schizophonia said:

The last time i heard it talking about food he said he was basically on carnivore diet, because of his health problems. 

 

I’ve heard he was on it short term

[Princess Arabia]

16 hours ago, Yimpa said:

Health nut plate:

 

I'm gunna make the world's healthiest soup now 

Nothing sexier than a skinny scrawny man in the kitchen making a salad with nutritious raw vegetables topped with over-fried organic pasture-raised chicken puss. Yummy!!! 😆 

[Princess Arabia]

There are benefits to raw and cooked; depending on the vegetable. @cistanche_enjoyerreally broke that down well. 

[Schizophonia]

7 minutes ago, Sugarcoat said:

What’s the issue?

It doesn't taste good, olive oil must eventually be put at the end. 

And his choice of vegetables was inconsistent.

Caricatured explanatory hand sign of Italian or southern french.*

[Schizophonia]

9 minutes ago, Sugarcoat said:

I’ve heard he was on it short term

Idk, maybe you could ask him.  

[Sugarcoat]

24 minutes ago, Princess Arabia said:

There are benefits to raw and cooked; depending on the vegetable. @cistanche_enjoyerreally broke that down well. 

Yea it varies

[Sugarcoat]

20 minutes ago, Schizophonia said:

It doesn't taste good, olive oil must eventually be put at the end. 

And his choice of vegetables was inconsistent.

Caricatured explanatory hand sign of Italian or southern french.*

Ok

[Michael569]

The best way to eat vegetables is the one the helps you eat them consistently:) steamed, baked, boiled, fresh.. doesn't matter.

Nutritionally wise there are some differences in terms of availability and absorption but if you eat them in sufficient amounts, none of it matters. 

Personally I'm biggest fan of soups and stews rather than salads but to each their own.

[UnbornTao]

Not sure, probably. I wouldn't eat raw broccoli or similar. But for example raw carrots and red bell peppers are quite good in my opinion -- as a snack or in a salad. Definitely better than cookies health-wise.

 

Edited Monday at 02:26 PM by UnbornTao

[Sugarcoat]

5 hours ago, Michael569 said:

The best way to eat vegetables is the one the helps you eat them consistently:) steamed, baked, boiled, fresh.. doesn't matter.

Nutritionally wise there are some differences in terms of availability and absorption but if you eat them in sufficient amounts, none of it matters. 

Personally I'm biggest fan of soups and stews rather than salads but to each their own.

Good to hear

[Sugarcoat]

15 minutes ago, UnbornTao said:

Not sure, probably. I wouldn't eat raw broccoli or similar. But for example raw carrots and red bell peppers are quite good in my opinion -- as a snack or in a salad. Definitely better than cookies health-wise.

 

Yea some veggies are more common to eat raw and maybe that has some science behind it. 
 

Lol the connected video 

Edited Monday at 02:41 PM by Sugarcoat

[PsychedelicEagle]

The irony of the video is using raw veggies while adding heavily processed foods like sausage, full of preservative like nitrites.

Shaking the perspective a bit, shouldn't we instead ask: what are there benefits to cooking?
1,500,000+ animal species in nature eat only raw food; 1 eats cooked food.
Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and many other cooking toxins are well-documented in the literature.

@cistanche_enjoyer brings up relevant points about anti-nutrients and nutrient availability. One con of breaking down fiber by cooking is increasing the glycemix index of food (not a problem for veggies having a low caloric density, of course). Also, by cooking fiber, we make it less available to our gut microbiome. It's a balance. Only eating cooked food is more likely to starve the healthy bacteria in our gut, which is already in fragile circumstances for the average person.

The cooking method as well as the food you cook matter. Avoid high temperatures, especially combined with dry heating methods, that will tend to form the highest concentration of AGEs (especially for food high in fat and protein, like meat). Prefer cooking methods that preserve nutrient content like steaming when possible. And, when possible (for the right foods), eat raw.

The idea of eating raw food is not to try to eat anything raw, but to favor the foods that we evolved to eat: the ones we find naturally tasty: fruits, some veggies, nuts. Not all veggies are tasty and the fact that our body notices that is a hint that perhaps it should not be our main source of nutrients.