Quick and Dirty Tips Podcasts

Episode Transcript

Getting More Nutrition from Vegetables
Episode 3: August 07, 2008

Hello there! This is Monica Reinagel and you're listening to The Nutrition Diva: Quick and Dirty Tips for Eating Well and Feeling Fabulous. Today's Quick and Dirty Nutrition Tip is that certain vitamins need to be consumed with a little bit of fat in order to be well-absorbed.

What could be more nutritious than a bunch of raw vegetables? A bunch of raw vegetables with some guacamole to dip them in, that's what. You see, most vegetables are fat-free. That's what makes them so popular with dieters. You can eat piles and piles of carrots, celery, cauliflower, broccoli, and peppers without consuming any fat or many calories.

But you'll actually get more nutrition out of those vegetables if you eat them with a little fat. That's because many of the most valuable nutrients in vegetables are what we call fat-soluble (or lipid-soluble) vitamins. These include vitamin A, which protects your eyesight, vitamin K, which builds healthy bones and keeps your heart healthy, as well as beta carotene, lycopene, and all the carotenoids, which fight free radicals and ward off cancer.

These nutrients don't contain any fat themselves. But in order to be absorbed into your cells, where they can do you some good, they need to hitch a ride on a fat molecule.

Isn't this the greatest news you've gotten all day? Eating your spinach sauteed in a bit of olive oil and garlic or dipping your carrot sticks in peanut butter is actually much better for you than eating them plain. A study published in the Journal of Nutrition reported that when researchers added avocado to a salad, the subjects absorbed up to 15 times more fat-soluble nutrients than those who ate the plain salad. (Now that's the sort of medical research I want to do: the kind that involves guacamole!)

And now, for the small print...

Although any type of fat will make fat-soluble vitamins more absorbable, it's best to go with healthy fats, like those found in olives, olive oil, nuts, nut oils, and avocados, instead of saturated fats like those found in cheese and butter.

And, of course, you don't want to overdo it, especially if you're watching your weight. Calories from fats--even healthy fats--can add up quickly. If you're not careful, you can turn a healthy, low-calorie meal or snack into a real diet-buster. In terms of nutrient absorption, it only takes a little bit of fat to get the job done. A couple tablespoons of guacamole or peanut butter with your raw vegetable snack, or a couple teaspoons of olive oil on your salad or cooked greens is all you need.

The fat and the vegetables also don't have to be on your fork at the same time. If anything else that you're eating in the same meal contains some fat, you're already covered. If not, pass the guacamole!

This is Monica Reinagel, the Nutrition Diva, with your quick and dirty tips for eating well and feeling fabulous. Visit nutritiondiva.quickanddirtytips.com for a transcript of this episode, along with a link to the journal study I mentioned. If you have a nutrition question for me, send an e-mail to nutrition@quickanddirtytips.com or leave me a voice mail at 206-203-1438. Or, send me a tweet on Twitter! You'll find me at twitter.com/nutritiondiva.

RESOURCES:

The Journal of Nutrition "Salsa study"

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Comments (3) for Getting More Nutrition from Vegetables | Subscribe to Comment

Omorose Panya Says:
8/19/2009 8:02:09 AM

Thank you for this podcast! I get tired of the "avoid fat like the plague!" "nutrition" tips that are simply bogus. It's okay to avoid bad (manufactured) fats at all costs but (natural) fats are something the body needs and should be well aquainted with. I would advise that people be aware of the ingredients in their peanut butter, tho'. Stray away from the kinds with hydrogenated oils.

anonaMoose Says:
3/2/2009 2:42:17 PM

soak nuts 2 days in water, get rid of water and spread out to dry at simple room temp. get rid of excess puddles of moisture; don't stack nuts on themselves, and they'll all dry at the same speed, (especially if you flip them all over after the first couple hours of drying, allowing the undersides to dry a bit too) The first two days the nuts expand, swell, come to enzyme active life, and shed from 'acidic' into the acid/alkaline balanced 'super healing' realms. 2 full days soaked, 2 full days room temp. dried since no 2 rooms will be the same temp's, try plates in all the different rooms, and one plate lower towards the floor; one plate about counter height; and another higher up...and do this in different rooms...and what you're looking for is this : I have found (for me) that the greatest speed of drying, is accomplished in the area, where the large nuts (almonds, brazilnuts, pecans in the shell; walnuts in the shell; hazilnuts split in half/after their soak, etc.) where the large nuts dry back to the exact softness I like after exactly 2 days to find this out, you have to put plates of them in these few different places, and as they're drying back, to simply keep sampling them frequent and often...and what I've found works for me, is when the nut no longer 'crumbles' to my bite, but now my teeth simply 'glide' through the rich oily enzyme rich nut meat A rich oily fat that is not only great for its flavors and textures, but one that too helps clean out our arteries...oils that are great for your heart mind and soul Tiny (or softer)seed, such as Sunflower, pistachio, cashew , only need a 5 to 7 hr soak, and generally a 5 to 9 hour dry Soak sunflower 6 hours (dried back or not) blend up in 'just enough water' with a tablespoon or 2 of olive oil; fresh garlic cloves (one to 3) and a healthy pinch of large moist crystals of SeaSalt, and you'll have your newest most fantastic recipe for "Live SunFlower Hummus/Spread" And, when your done making ANY soup, after taking the soup off the heat, by simply adding a healthy 2 to 3 dollops of this to the soup, "You'll never turn back" : )

VeggieTart Says:
9/30/2008 11:57:00 AM

Also, pair your iron-rich veggies, such as leafy greens, with something rich in vitamin C to increase iron absorption. Me, if I'm dipping my carrots in anything, it's hummus.