Raw Fruit and Vegetable Intolerance
By WLR Dietitian
Q I need to lose about 1 stone but find it difficult as I have an
intolerance to raw fruit and most raw vegetables, except for lettuce,
red onion and cucumber. I can however, eat cooked fruit and veg. Can you
recommend any substitutes that will give me the same nutrients as those
provided by raw fruit and veg?
A You don’t mention who diagnosed you with an intolerance to raw
fruit and veg but I suggest that if it wasn’t your GP or a hospital
specialist, you get it checked out by a health professional. While
many companies offer allergy and intolerance testing, often the
methods they employ are not medically proven with the result that
customers inappropriately cut out certain foods from their diet. If
however your condition has been diagnosed by your GP, you should
follow his or her advice.
Including plenty of fruit and veg in your
diet can benefit your health in many ways, which is why nutrition
experts recommend we all eat
five portions a
day. The good news is that all fruit and vegetables count
towards this, including cooked veg and baked or stewed fruit.
Consequently, you shouldn’t have any trouble reaching five a day.
The main nutrients you should be concerned about are the
water-soluble B group vitamins and vitamin C, levels of which are
reduced by the effects of cooking. Fortunately, there’s plenty you can do to retain
these nutrients. Start by cooking vegetables for as short a time as
possible. Steaming, microwaving or stir frying are the best methods.
As the name
suggests, water-soluble vitamins tend to leach into water so
choosing a cooking method that doesn’t use water helps prevent this.
If you must boil vegetables, then don’t add any salt and use the water to
make stock or sauces – that way you don’t just throw
vitamin-enriched water down the sink. It’s also important to keep
your vegetables in large chunks to prevent vitamin loss, although by
doing this you don’t want to have to cook them for longer.
Finally,
it’s an old-fashioned practice but some people still add a pinch of
bicarbonate of soda to vegetables to help them keep their colour.
This destroys any vitamin C present so don’t do it.
By eating a wide
range of foods and looking after the vitamins in those fruit and veg
you do eat, it should be easy enough for you to meet your
health requirements but to be on the safe side, you might like to consider
taking a multivitamin supplement each day.
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