Veggies with no vitamins

[undergroundpanther]

magine the surprise of going online and discovering that the vitamin and mineral content of vegetables has drastically dropped.

That’s what happened to nutritionist, Alex Jack, when he went to check out the latest US Department of Agriculture food tables. The stunning revelation came after Jack compared recently published nutrient values with an old USDA handbook he had lying around. Some of the differences in vitamin and mineral content were enormous-a 50% drop in the amount of calcium in broccoli, for example. Watercress down 88% in iron content; cauliflower down 40% in vitamin C content-all since 1975.



http://www.soilandhealth.org/06clipfile/0601.LEMag/LE%20Magazine%2C%20March%202001%20-%20Report%20Vegetables%20Without%20Vitamins.htm

[aquart]

1. Caused by...?

[WindRavenX]

2. boiling and steaming

Raw veggies are always best, but a lot of people dislike them.

I eat raw baby carrots by the bagfull :9

[alarimer]

3. some are good raw

Carrots, peas even (I used to eat them fresh from the vine) but a LOT (like broccoli) really taste like trees or something if they are not cooked. We just overcook them I think.

[bammertheblue]

4. I do not like

raw carrots. I hate the taste. I like them cooked. My mom is just the opposite- loves them raw, hates them cooked.
I love raw peas and broccoli though, but I prefer cauliflower cooked.
Does anyone eat raw corn????? I just thought of that. Weird.

[pansypoo53219]

7. i saw somewhere

that cooked carrots are actually better than raw.

[bammertheblue]

8. Hurray!

Good news for me.
I read in several magazines that the nutritional values of frozen/canned veggies are the same as fresh because of the techniques they use. I hope this is true. it's also good news for those of us on a budget! (I think it's ridiculous how healthy food is more expensive than crap food).

[Historic NY]

16. Raw sweet corn on a hot summer day is refreshing....

especially if your out in the hot sun w/o some water. Fresh right off the stalk.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

5. mmmm. Those Are Good. I don't eat many veggies, but those are addictive!

My favorite candy in the world is Cherry Tomatoes though.

[Deja Q]

13. Steaming is still far better than microwaving which literally nukes it all

[WindRavenX]

14. oh yeah

My mum still does it though...

Still, I like raw stuff-- raw peppers are great.

[GoneOffShore]

6. Monocropping

and growing varieties that are great for transporting but don't taste good, have lower nutritional value and look good.

(Possible flame bait, but hey, feel free)
My wife and I now only eat organic veggies and try to find local farmers to buy from. Yes, it's a damn sight more expensive, and we don't get tomatoes in the winter, but we're healthier because of it. And the food tastes better. We also try to buy local meat, grass fed if possible for beef and lamb, pastured pork, and free range, organic chickens. (We have no kids, we both work, and no loans to pay off).

We also look for heirloom varieties, don't eat things out of season - no strawberries in the winter, or corn in May. We do the "Buy Fresh, Buy Local" thing and are part of a CSA. We figured out years ago that the veg you get in the supermarket is pretty crappy. Won't buy bagged carrots cause they taste like orange flavored cardboard.

If you want an interesting article of food, look for this months The Art of Eating and the story on the fruit stand in Roseland, Florida, Robert is Here.

"If you like to look at farmland, you have to eat the landscape."

[LunaC]

11. Soil depletion

Non-organic farming leaches the soil of its nutrients.

[MisterP]

9. are we talking about Toby Keith again?!

[Orangeone]

10. The Soil

I heard that it was caused by the soil being depleted. Intensive farming in the same place depletes the soil of nutrients.

[LunaC]

12. Organic farming is the remedy n/t

[Historic NY]

15. genetic engineering might be the cause.........

beside overuse of land, poor crop rotation. When I was growing up we rarely reused seeds from the previous year (unless it was exceptional)and then only a small amount.

<snip>

Phyllis E. Johnson did. Johnson (who is head of the Beltsville area office), suggested to Organic Gardening that the nutrient drain should be put in context. According to her, the 78% decrease in calcium content of corn is not significant because no one eats corn for calcium. She further explains that the problem may not even exist at all; that the apparent nutrient dips could be due to the testing procedures. For example, “changes in the public’s perception of what the edible portion is may determine what parts have been analyzed over time.” In other words, back when the old food tables were made up, people may have been eating the cobb too, so they got more nutrients.

<snip>

Do you remember eating corn cobbs? Where did she get that looney idea? We are humans not animals. I do remember being told of a CERTAIN USE for the cobbs and one wouldn't have been eating them.

[upi402]

17. I eat organic if at all possible, have for decades.

Archer Daniels Midland can go to the end of the line.
Funny that now many chain stores offer organic.
Farming practices and pesticide doses from Mexico and elsewhere should make us all eat organic.

I decided years ago that if a buddy offered me $1 to eat two grains of pesticide that I would never do it. So I wont eat it in my food (systemics).

[Historic NY]

18. We used to have real big gardens....actually truck farm

that my uncle would plant and sell to local markets and restaurants. We mostly used organic fertilizers, fish meal for corn and he used to dust for certain bugs or worms. I remember the days of trucking in manure (ah the bouquet). Tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, zucchini, beans,cucumbers, corn, fresh Italian herbs. We now only grow for family, last year was a bit dismal given the weather, lots of beans, zucchini, my broccoli went to seed.