Underrated Secrets of Boiled Veggies!

Ever wondered how your favorite actors, cricketers, and football players keep themselves fit? Well, the secret is boiled vegetables.

For instance, Alia Bhatt eats boiled veggies to maintain her figure and health. 

As per ABP News, Alia Bhatt’s lunch includes boiled veggies and chappatis. Despite being the busiest actor, she never compromises on her health.  

Talking about Virat Kohli, we all know how strict he is about his diet, and eating boiled veggies is one of them. 

When your favorite players & actors are following this diet, why can’t you?

Boiled veggies are said to be very nutritious and good for health. But that’s not it!

Many more aspects of boiled veggies hold, and we might be unaware of them. As per Ayurvedic beliefs, boiled veggies are preferred for their ease of digestion and better absorption by the body.   

Have you ever thought that boiled veggies prevent chronic diseases like cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes?

Well, that's true.

Boiled veggies are said to be a good choice to include in our diet for their easily digestible properties, availability of certain nutrients, and help in the weight loss journey.

Let’s get into more details about how boiled veggies prevent chronic diseases, how they affect our health, and how we can turn these boring veggies into something more interesting.

Boiled veggies offer various health benefits because of their high nutritional content, which contains vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber, and bioactive substances. 

The World Health Organization also recommends taking 400-600 grams of boiled veggies per day to prevent nutritional deficiencies and support overall health.

🥗 Vitamins and Minerals: Boiled veggies are rich in vitamin C, vitamin A, and folate, along with minerals like potassium, magnesium, and calcium that maintain our metabolism, reduce any risk of birth abnormalities, and improve cardiovascular health.

🥗 Dietary Fiber: Boiled veggies possess high fiber content that improves gastrointestinal health and helps prevent any digestive issues and constipation issues.

🥗 Chronic Diseases: Regular intake of boiled veggies helps lower the risk of chronic diseases like cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, kidney stones, etc., due to their antioxidant properties that also help in blood circulation. According to Kibr (2022), boiled veggies consist of antioxidants that help your body against radical damage and support the body's detoxification process.

🥗 Keeps skin healthy: Boiling veggies maintains more nutrients in your food than other cooking methods. These nutrients are necessary for your body to function properly. When your body is healthy, you can see it through your healthy and beautiful skin. 

Even though boiled veggies work great for our health, it is also important to understand that boiling the veggies too much can remove various nutrients, minerals, and antioxidant properties.

As per studies, boiling can result in a 40-68% loss of folates and a 44-51% loss of vitamin C, depending on the veggies and cooking time. For eg. Boiling broccoli and spinach loses 20-30% of their lutein and β-carotene content, but steaming maintains their nutritional properties. 

Whereas boiling vegetables like carrots, sweet potatoes, etc., increases their nutritional value. 

So, how do you understand the correct measure of boiling veggies?

To understand the correct measure for boiling veggies, factors such as veggie type, size, and texture are a must to consider. Let’s understand it in more detail. 

Veggies Type

Green leafy veggies like spinach, kale, etc., are easy to boil compared to solid veggies like potatoes, carrots, etc. 

It is important to understand the time difference between their boiling points. 

Size

Size does play a major role when boiling veggies. For example, small, soft, and thin veggies will cook faster than large and thick veggies. 

Boiling Time

It is important to understand the boiling time of your veggies. Each veggie, whether leafy or solid, has a different boiling time. 

For example:

🥬 Green leafy veggies like kale, bok choy, and cabbage require 3-5 minutes to boil

🫛 Firm veggies like beans, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts, and peas require 8-10 minutes to boil

🥕 Hard veggies like carrots, pumpkin, turnips, and sweet potatoes require 12-15 minutes to boil.

🥔 Starchy veggies like potatoes, swedes, etc., require 18-20 minutes to boil. 

Boiled veggies tend to have more nutritional properties, texture, and flavor when boiled for the right time. It retains the flavor, nutrients, and texture. Make sure to follow the right time while boiling veggies. 

You can also check if the veggies are boiled or not by using a fork or a knife. Insert the fork or knife in the veggies to check they are boiled properly and not mushy. 

Pro Tip: After boiling, immediately drain the cooked water and keep your boiled veggies in ice water. Ice water will stop the cooking process and retain the natural color and texture, enhance the flavor, and maintain the quality. 

Now that you know the advantages of boiled veggies, it’s time for a very interesting part.

How to make boiled veggies less boring?

Boiled veggies are boring, but to make them more interesting, the following are certain elements that you can add to enhance the taste:

✅ Herbs and spices: You can include some flavorful herbs and spices like rosemary, thyme, garlic, parsley, cinnamon, chili powder, etc., to enhance the taste and make it less bland.

✅ Citrus juice: Squeeze some lemon juice or lime juice to make it a refreshing taste, giving your taste buds some more flavors.

✅ Salad dressing: Olive oil, vinegar, mustard, etc., are the best-known salad dressings. Then, why not for your boiled veggies? You can include that too to enhance the texture.

✅ Ginger & Garlic: You can add sliced or diced ginger or garlic too. They are highly nutritious and will help make it more tasty.

Conclusion

Boiled veggies play a vital role in your overall health, but eating boiled veggies in excess amounts can lead to certain digestive issues, weight imbalance, dehydration due to excess fiber intake, kidney stones, etc. 

Thus, it is always recommended to consult a proper specialist who understands your dietary needs.

To get a consultation from qualified specialists, visit L&B Clinics.

In L&B Clinics, specialists provide you with the right diet by determining your body's nutrition needs, metabolism, etc., along with regular health assessments.

Book a consultation with our experts to get a personalized diet plan tailored just for you.