by Elaina Marcotte

Created on: September 17, 2008

Canned vegetables are not as healthy as fresh ones, but fresh from the grocery store may not necessarily mean fresh either.

The most vitamin and nutrient packed option for vegetables would be fresh from a garden, grown in nutrient rich soil. If the vegetables are grown in poor quality soil to start with they will already be lacking. The best way of getting all of these vitamins into your body would be raw consumption within the day or a few days after harvest.

The canning process includes the vegetables being subjected to extensive heating. During this time many vitamins and nutrients are leached out and end up in the water used for processing, not very beneficial unless you are making soup, and so all of the important stuff ends up being poured down the drain. Also canned vegetables include preservatives, sugars, and salt, all things which are not so great for our bodies. But one vegetable that does do better canned would be tomatoes. Canned tomatoes have more lycopene than fresh ones, and that is extremely beneficial as it is believed that lycopene is protective against heart disease and certain types of cancer.

Vegetables fresh from the grocery store may be coming from other countries, which take days to arrive before they end up at home in your refrigerator. Another problem with these vegetables are the early harvest so they do not rot before you recieve them, which means they may not contain their full potentional of vitamins and nutrients either. Some vegetables such as spinach and green beans when left to sit in your refrigerator can lose up to 75% of their vitamin C after one week. Fresh vegetables are often waxed to improve appearance, adding to the list of things that we as humans do not need to be ingesting.

We live in a high paced world, most people do not have the space or time to grow their own vegetables, so in ending we must rely on what is available to us. Point to be made here is gobble up fresh produce sooner than later so that you get as much of the vitamins and nutrients as you possibly can. Purchase local produce if you have the option, also shop for it more than once a week to ensure you always have the freshest possible in your home. Try eating your vegetables raw more often as that is the best way to get everything out of them, but if that is not your prefence, just aim to cook them a little less, enjoy their texture, mush equals the least amount of good stuff unless you are drinking the water they are cooked in. Perhaps try steaming, it is quick and easy and very aesthetically pleasing as the vegetables keep their beautiful bright colors. Finally, eat your vegetables, fresh or canned our bodies need them and something is better than nothing, and no matter what you will get the fibre from them which is also very important to stay healthy.

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