Food Facts

Cooking With Fibre

You don't have to alter your cooking methods much at all because fibre foods are not difficult to prepare or present but there are some points to watch.  For years we've been told that the goodness of potato lies just below the skin,  now we know the skin itself has a part to play in healthy eating schemes and the same principle applies to other vegetables.  Eat them in their natural condition (well, scrub them first!!!) so that the skins encourage us to chew and the dietary fibre isn't tossed into the bin!

When cooking vegetables:
Where possible eat fruit and vegetables raw.  If you do cook, don't over-cook.  Place vegetables in a saucepan, turn on the heat and add boiling water, this is the best way of making sure the nutrients aren't lost.  Using  just enough water to cover is the general rule and save it for stock as it contains water soluble minerals and vitamins.  Don't add soda, salt or sugar to your vegetables when cooking them, all can cause vitamins and minerals to leech out or destroy them altogether.  Add sprigs of fresh herbs if you want added flavour.  If you have to peel fruit and vegetables use a swivel headed peeler that only removes the surface, a knife wastes too much of the food. 
Scrubbed and grated potato peelings (if you HAVE to remove them) make an excellent soup thickener.  (Never, of course the green skins)  Don't remove the seeds from tomatoes, as along with the skin this is where the fibre is.

Fibre is a natural constituent of a healthy diet that is high in fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and grains.  Fibre is calorie-free because it is not digested by the body and just passes through without being absorbed.  There is little doubt that a diet high in fibre is satisfying.  A pound of carrots will fill you up a good deal more than two sweet biscuits.

Dietary fibre helps teeth too, as today more teeth are lost through gum disease than tooth decay and gum disease is caused by soft, low fibre diets which allows plaque to form and then supplies it with sugar which causes it to thicken and eventually break through the tooth's protective enamel.  The chewing and lack of sugar in a fibre rich regime will give your gums the massage they need.  Children need that fibre-rich chewing right from the start of teething to strengthen the gums.  If we don't make an effort to stop the rot, the next stage of evolution could be children born without teeth  after all, they aren't any use if the diet is soft and refined.  When using beans in your diet it helps if you add a peeled onion or a few parsley stalks (not the green, that can be biter with long cooking) a bay leaf, a stalk or two of celery - all will add extra flavour.

To test whether beans are cooked remove a couple and blow on them, they're ready if the skins burst.
 
XML Sitemap