Veg prepping = fewer nutrients?

TheSunAndTheRainfall

Some nights when I get in from work, I'm exhausted. If I've got a fridge full of vegetables for a meal (eg. stir-fry), slicing and dicing a load of things is the last thing I want to do. So I typically get all the prep done earlier on in the day, or the day before. Works well for me.

I'm just curious how this affects the nutritional benefits. Do most vegetables lose any significant amount over time from being chopped, sliced etc?

tcunbeliever

As far as I know raw is all the same, chopped or not. It won't keep as long chopped, but I do not believe vegetables begin to lose any nutritional value until heat is applied to them.

NovusDies

I believe they do lose nutrients but I have no idea if it would qualify as significant. Unless your doctor has told you that you are nutrient deficient in some way keeping your life easy and more sustainable is always going to trump nutritional losses in vegetables from how they are prepped in advance or cooked.

In some cases it would probably be most optimal to go to a garden and eat the vegetable without ever picking it. I think if we eat a varied diet our bodies are designed well enough not to need the absolute best nutrient values we can get.

TheSunAndTheRainfall

NovusDies wrote: »

Unless your doctor has told you that you are nutrient deficient in some way keeping your life easy and more sustainable is always going to trump nutritional losses in vegetables from how they are prepped in advance or cooked.

Thanks for that. I'm of a similar mindset - better to get them down you, full stop. I just wondered what the degree of nutrient loss was, but I suppose that's more dependent on how they're cooked.

lynn_glenmont

They're losing nutrients sitting around even if they're not chopped. I don't know what the exact rate of loss in either situation is, but I would operate on the belief that if prepping makes you more likely to eat them sooner -- or more likely to eat them at all before they go bad -- you should go with it.