Ask a Dietitian
"Diana, just a quick heads up to let you know we are still using your cookbook and the guys will often be heard saying what would Diana say about this or that....really good feed back... I made your potato salad and the oriental coleslaw on Sat. for a family luncheon and had rave reviews so thanks again."
BC Hydro
Does Microwaving reduce Nutrition?
As seen on BCTV January 16/01
The short answer is no. Actually, cooking food in a microwave is one of the better ways to keep as much food value as possible in your veggies, but to see why, let’s have a look at how the microwave works.
A microwave oven is basically a box into which microwaves, a type of radio wave, are pumped. The microwaves shake molecules of water making them move and hence producing heat. Any item containing water will get warm. Basically you are cooking the food in its’ own water. This is of great benefit because you don’t need to submerge the food into a big pot of water into which all the water soluble vitamins can leach out. The other benefit is that the temperature is not going to go above the boiling point of water, and this will help preserve nutrients, which are damaged by heat. You can of course zap a lot of the food value out of anything by cooking it long enough. The downside to low cooking temperatures is that you can’t brown foods as you can in a conventional oven. However, microwaving is a very efficient way of heating food because you don’t need to preheat the air inside the oven before you cook a food as you do in a conventional oven. Another benefit is that you don’t need to use fat to prevent foods from sticking. Cooking food in a microwave is a safe and healthy method of food preparation along with steaming, baking and roasting.
Watch for the Eating for Energy segment every Tuesday on BCTV’s Noon News Hour!