We start from the opinion that cooked foods are largely healthy thanks to the fact that you manage to eliminate many bacteria , but can also trigger adverse effects for our body and an emblematic case is the carrots , when you cook or boil them you are pre-digesting them, managing to separate the sugars and make them more affordable. In this way, blood glucose levels would be rising rapidly with the consequent consequences for both healthy people and diabetics .
Properties of raw carrots
Without a doubt, the most outstanding contributions of the carrot to the human organism are the antioxidants , that is why carrots owe their characteristic color to pigments called beta carotenes that also contain vitamin properties , which allows the body to transform them into vitamin A and be excellent for eyesight, skin, fertility and the proper creation of bone mass.
Regarding minerals, raw carrots stand out for their excellent contributions of phosphorus, calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium and iodine. As well as huge amounts of many other vitamins such as the B complex, vitamin E, vitamin C and folic acid ideal for women in a state of pregnancy .
Properties of boiled or cooked carrots
When you manage to cook or boil carrots, they definitely do not lose properties, moreover, they manage to increase the levels of advantages and benefits when consuming them cooked. The problem is that when they are cooked, their carbohydrates are hydrolyzed into smaller sugar chains , in this way you can digest them much more efficiently and in a shorter way, ensuring that their carbohydrates are assimilated more quickly.
To preserve the maximum nutritional quality and the contributions of cooked carrots, you should boil them in the least aggressive way, by short cooking or steaming, always trying to leave them al dente to avoid overcooking them.
This evidently reflects a problem in terms of blood sugar or glucose levels that I will explain in detail later. Likewise, beta-carotenes are much easier to assimilate when cooked than raw and they also manage to lower the calorie intake, so about 100 grams of raw carrots provide about 40 calories while cooked only provide 35 calories.
They also work wonders as soothing inflammatory processes and digestive problems thanks to the fact that they maintain a repairing and softening effect on the mucous membranes found on the walls of the digestive system , effectively repairing all the intestinal flora.
A matter of glycemic index
When you manage to cook the carrots, a pre-digestion process begins, in this process all their sugars are separated , making them much more accessible. Then the body takes care of an easy and fast absorption. Which triggers a rapid rise in blood glucose . These types of foods, including carrots, are called high glycemic index.
How to measure this glycemic index
It is nothing more than the speed of assimilation of a carbohydrate (in this case sugar) by our body. In other words, the increase in blood sugar that this food will cause you.
- A high glycemic index will be over 70
- A medium glycemic index will be between 55 and 69
- A low glycemic index will be between 0 and 54
For this reason, cooked carrots maintain a glycemic index of 85 which is obviously in the high range, while raw carrots maintain a glycemic index of 30 being in the low range.
Therein lies the greatest danger of consuming cooked carrots, it is simply a matter of appreciation in terms of the sugar levels in your blood and that although it will not be fatal it can cause adverse effects even in healthy people and that obviously must be handled with extreme caution for those who suffer from some type of diabetes or who have insulin problems . But in general , carrots, like berries, are antioxidants by nature and are able to counteract the effects of harmful free radicals.
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