I know fresh is best..... BUT..

ican♥and♥iwill

If I'm staying UNDER my recommended sodium intake and drinking enough water, then how bad are canned vegetables?? I also eat a lot of frozen, but they aren't as sodium packed.

As I said, I know fresh is best. I'm not arguing that. I'd prefer fresh, but clearly there's a convenience in storing and keeping canned and frozen vegetables.

I feel like choosing veggies is a good choice, but I don't want the fact that they're canned to completely destroy my good intentions.

cbnorris

If you are going to eat canned veggies, rinse them first and it should reduce the sodium.

foxxybrown

They have low sodium canned vegetables also. Or try the frozen steamers.

PixieGoddess

Fresh IS best, and after that frozen b/c the process retains more of the healthy stuff like vitamins, minerals,etc, then canned. But if it's a matter of eating canned or not at all (or a reduced amount), eat your veggies however you can!! I personally keep as much frozen as I can and only buy fresh when I have specific intentions for it because I don't seem to eat enough of it fast enough before it spoils.

erickirb

Other than the sodium levels, canned veggies are also lacking a lot of the nutrients that naturally occur in them. Frozen is much better as they are frozen when they are fresh and retain most of the nutrients.

StephanieCanene

As previously stated... frozen is also great and sometimes better. Vegetables are picked at the peak of freshness and frozen which than retains all those healthy components! How long have the vegetables been sitting around in the produce section of the grocery store? Frozen is convenient and not that bad... hey, you're eating vegetables some people aren't! You're doing great.

KarenECunningham

I personally do not care for any canned vegetables except corn which I love. I have a small red colander with a handle that comes in handy for rinsing canned foods. I do keep canned beans stocked up so I know what you mean about canned items having more sodium. I rinse the beans as well. Fresh baby carrots keep a long time and could be an addition to your canned vegetables. It sounds like you are conscious of your sodium intake so you should be fine. I agree that fresh is best and then frozen is next but you could do a combination for convenience and storage.:flowerforyou:

paddlemom

As previously stated... frozen is also great and sometimes better. Vegetables are picked at the peak of freshness and frozen which than retains all those healthy components! How long have the vegetables been sitting around in the produce section of the grocery store? Frozen is convenient and not that bad... hey, you're eating vegetables some people aren't! You're doing great.

You read my mind....Local fresh is best, if you can get it just picked! But for out of season veggies and fruits that are picked and then shipped long distances, many of the vitamins are deteriorating during shipping, or in the case of fruits, not allowed to develop because they are picked underripe. There is fundamentally no nutritional difference between fresh and frozen vegetables, so don't feel guilty about using them. Personally I avoid canned because they lack flavour, are over cooked and full of sodium...
BTW some veggies, such as carrots are better cooked because they are too hardy raw for us to digest all the nutrients out of them in their raw state (yumminess notwithstanding!!!) and some - again, carrots are a good example, need a little fat with them to get the benefit of fat soluble nutrients like Vitamin A.
In summary, all veggies are good , but if you are getting more detailed in trying to get the most out of them, you might want to research your favorites to see what nutrients they have and how to get the most out of them.