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Add to FavoritesUnless you own a greenhouse or some other means of growing indoor vegetables then you will have to look at an alternative means of acquiring fresh produce throughout the cooler months of the year. You can take a trot off to the local grocery store and purchase your fresh produce there but that means that you have to go shopping at least twice a week to keep your produce in A-grade shape. The other alternative you have is to keep frozen vegetables in your freezer, once frozen they are always as fresh as the day they were packaged on, and patiently wait for you to add them into your supper menu. You never have to force yourself to eat spinach for three suppers in a row because it is going to go bad if you don't.
So are the vegetables from your freezer just as nutritious as the fresh ones on your local grocery store shelf? You can count on commercially prepared frozen vegetables providing you with an almost equal amount of nutrients that their fresh cousins would. While minute amounts of Vitamin C and Thiamin are lost during the blanching process that prepares the vegetables for freezing, this is a very small amount and does not drastically affect the overall nutritional content of frozen vegetables. Most vitamins actually keep very well in frozen form, and frozen vegetables containing 'Carotene' actually contain increased amounts of this nutrient due the vegetable being protected in freezer bags from exposure to light. Note: Carotene is diminished in light so traveling to market and storage on grocery shelves decreases it's content within fresh produce. Frozen peas actually contain approximately 60% more Carotene than fresh peas.
Another factor to consider in your choice of frozen over fresh is exactly how long the product has been off the vine! Some vegetables are picked early and ripen 'in route' to the grocery store. Because they are picked early to give them that little extra shelf life time, they are also not given the time to develop all the nutritional value that they would otherwise have been able to if they had been allowed to ripen on the plant, and which your frozen vegetable may have actually been able to.
Vitamin C, some B vitamins, as well as Thiamin may also be sensitive to the trials involved in transportation to, and storage within, your local grocery store. So it all sort of comes down to knowing and trusting your food sources. Both frozen and fresh vegetables when picked have basically an equal nutritional value. If you know that the produce that arrives at your local grocery store is fresh off the vine that morning, or the night before, then you may want to stick to your bi-weekly trips to the local grocery store to pick out your vegetables for the week. But if you trust commercially frozen brand name vegetables to provide you with a quality vegetable product, then it will be conveniently waiting in your freezer, whenever you have a hankering to pull it out. Either fresh or frozen vegetable product will provide you with all the nutrients that your body needs from them so long as you remember to consume at least seven to ten servings of fruits or vegetables per day.
Tips to keep in mind:
Over time nutritional values in frozen vegetables do reduce so it is recommended that frozen vegetables be consumed within six months.
Check your grades of vegetables as your best quality vegetable will be 'US Fancy', than 'U.S. no.1' followed by 'U.S. no.2'. Your higher quality vegetable will generally also have a higher nutritional value.
Know your food sources.
Sources:
http://health.msn.co m/dietfitness/articl epage.aspx?cp-docume ntid=100171934
http://www.nutrition australia.org/Food_F acts/FAQ/frozen_fres hveg_faq.asp
Learn more about this author, Ladymermaid.
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Did you ever wonder where your child got those allergies? Where the cancer you were recently diagnosed with, came from? How about that newly developed hormone or neurological condition? Maybe it's something you ate!
Health is a big issue today and more and more people are eating more vegetables. Fresh vegetables are always healthier than frozen. For one thing, they contain more fiber and don't contain many of the dangerous chemicals that are used in commercial frozen food processing. The worst chemicals being pesticides like DDT and Deildren, which have been banned in some places, replaced by others just as dangerous. It's sickening how much the food industry puts profit ahead of human life and health. And the FDA approves of it!
Preservatives like: Propyl Gallate, BHA and BHT, (Banned in England), Sodium Nitrate are in your frozen foods and many of these pesticides and other chemicals can harm the your nervous system and cause brain damage, chromosome damage, disrupt your hormones, cause and irritate allergies, even cancer. These chemicals are known as "Probable Human Carcinogens" and "Hidden Carcinogens". (And we wonder why we have more diseases on our planet than ever before.)
Imported food is even worse! Toxic Chemicals that are illegal in the United States are not necessarily illegal in other countries, yet many of us are ingesting t every day in frozen foods.
Companies use these chemicals to lengthen the shelf life of many foods, give them a brighter color so they'll look more appetizing and for enhanced flavoring; all at the expense of our health. (Why should they care? They are making money hand-over-fist when we buy this garbage.)
Artificial colorings can add to Hyperactivity in children, impaired learning and visual functions, even nerve damage.
Brominated Vegetable Oil has been linked to ulcers, intestinal ulcers, cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, birth defects, growth problems, and suppressed immune function. While Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils can cause cancer, elevated cholesterol, heart disease, arteriosclerosis, and depressed immune function.
The FDA does not ban nitrates because they prevent botulism, yet they form cancer-causing agents in our stomach and can cause death.
MSG can cause nervous system and productive disorders, high-blood pressure, and allergies, yet is often used in infants formula, milk, candy, chewing gum, even in our Prescription medications.
Olestra, (Olean), causes gastrointestinal irritation and reduces fat-soluble vitamins in our bodies.
Potassium Bromate can cause kidney and nervous system disorders.
Sulfites, (allergens), destroy vitamin B1; can cause asthma, anaphylactic shock, even death.
Further, frozen vegetables sometimes sit in store freezers for weeks which will deplete whatever nutrients are left after being processed with these chemicals. They are often packaged in plastic, another "carcinogen" and petroleum product which can allow toxins to leach into the foods.
So anytime you can, grow your own vegetables and fruits or buy Organic. You'll ward off a host of diseases and medical conditions and no doubt live a longer, more fulfilled life.
Learn more about this author, M. L. Kiser.
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