When trying to lose weight healthily, it’s imperative to eat a well-balanced diet powered by nutrients found in fruits and vegetables. With that said, there are some ways to cook veggies that are healthier than others, and we checked in with health, nutrition and weight loss experts to learn more. Read on for tips, suggestions and insight from Josh Schlottman, CSCS, certified personal trainer and nutritionist, and Lisa Richards, registered nutritionist and creator of The Candida Diet.
Roasting Vegetables
"Roasting your vegetables is the healthiest and easiest way to cook them," Schlottman says, when it comes to healthily preparing veggies for weight loss. "I’ve found as a personal trainer that the easier you can make eating healthy, then the more likely you’ll end up doing it," he explains. Schlottman adds that "the harder and more complicated you make cooking your veggies," then the "less likely you are" to keep it up over time.
"You’re able to cook up a lot of vegetables while quickly preparing yourself for a handful of days of ready-to-eat veggies," he continues. "You can conveniently add a handful of already roasted vegetables to the plates you’re eating the rest of the day." He adds that you can also "roast up vegetables" that aren’t in their freshest, salad-ready state.
"All you have to do is cut up the vegetables in about the same size so they’ll end up cooking at the same pace," he advises. Schlottman suggests then "sprinkling some avocado oil over the veggies" and also adding some salt and pepper. "Then, just cook until you can use a fork to easily prick the veggies," he recommends.
Richards agrees, and points out that vegetables "can be cooked and maintain their nutrients and health through other means than frying." There are a few reasons, she says, why frying vegetables is so much "less healthy than other possible cooking methods," like roasting them. One of the primary concerns, Richards says, is "the amount of fat you're introducing to a relatively low fat food naturally."
This fat equates to an "increase in calories, at 9 calories per gram," which she says can greatly impact the possibility of healthy weight loss. "Heart health and dangerous weight gain become a concern for those taking in excess dietary fat," Richards concludes. Even if healthy fats are chosen, these are often "high in omega-6 fatty acids, which can be inflammatory and damaging" if not balanced with omega-3 fats in the diet. With that said, roasting seems to be the way to go!
