The 9 Most Common Kitchen Mistakes
Even Healthy Women Make

WebMD Feature from "Shape" Magazine

By Amanda Pressner

There’s something empowering about hitting
the supermarket to shop for your week’s meals.
Rather than putting yourself at the mercy of the
local Chinese take-out restaurant or succumbing
to the lure of the drive-through, you’re taking
dinner—and your waistline—into your own hands.
“Eating out less and cooking more may be one
of the most effective things you can do to keep
fat and calories in check,” says Cheryl Forberg,
R.D., author of Stop the Clock! Cooking. “Plus,
building your diet around produce, whole grains,
beans, and lean protein practically guarantees
you’ll reach your recommended targets for most
vitamins and minerals.” But while we may be
tossing the freshest, most wholesome foods into
our carts, many of us are storing and preparing
them in ways that rob them (and our bodies) of
the very nutrients we’re seeking. Nutritionists and
food-safety experts point to nine typical kitchen
blunders that negatively impact the quality of our
diets. Fortunately, you can sidestep all of them
easily. Follow this advice to make your next meal
healthier.

MISTAKE #1

You’re overloading on produce
Sure, making one big grocery run at the start
of week seems like a no-fail way to get your
five a day. After all, if those carrots, greens,
apples, & berries are around, you’ll eat more
of them & therefore get more nutrients, right?
Wrong. “The vitamins & minerals in fruits and
veggies begin to diminish the moment they’re
harvested,” says Geri Brewster, a wellness
consultant at Northern Westchester Hosp. in
Mt. Kisco, New York. That means the longer
you store produce, the fewer nutrients it will
contain. After about a week in the fridge, for
example, spinach retains just half of its folate
and around 60 % of its lutein (an antioxidant
associated w/ healthy eyes), concludes a study
in the Journal of Food Science. Broccoli loses
about 62 percent of its flavonoids (antioxidant
compounds that help ward off cancer & heart
disease) within 10 days, according to a study
in the Journal of Agricultural & Food Chemistry.
“Yer better off buyin' smaller batches at least
twice a week,” says Brewster. If you can’t shop
every few days, pick up frozen produce. These
fruits and veggies are harvested at their peak
and are flash-frozen immediately. Because the
produce isn’t exposed to oxygen, the nutrients
stay stable for a year, according to researchers
at the University of California, Davis. Just be
sure to avoid frozen products packed in sauces
or syrups. These additions can mean extra
calories from fat or sugar, & sometimes they’re
high in sodium as well.

MISTAKE #2

You’re stashing foods in see-through containers
If you’re still buying your milk in clear plastic jugs,
consider switching to cardboard cartons. Milk is
rich in the B vitamin riboflavin; when exposed to
light, a chemical reaction is kicked off that
reduces the vitamin’s potency, according to
researchers from Ghent University in Belgium.
Other nutrients, such as amino acids (the build'n
blocks of protein) and vitamins A, C, D, & E,
are also affected. And because lowfat & nonfat
milk varieties are thinner than whole milk, light
can penetrate them more easily. “This process,
known as photo-oxidation, can change da flavor
of the milk and create disease-causing free
radicals,” says Susan Duncan, Ph.D., a food
scientist at Virginia Tech. Since grain products
(esp. whole grains) are also high in riboflavin,
they too are susceptible to this breakdown of
nutrients & production of free radicals. Duncan
recommends avoidin' da practice of storing dry
goods like pasta, rice, and cereals in clear
containers on your countertop. Instead, keep'em
in their original boxes or in opaque containers
and stash them in your kitchen cabinets, where
they’ll be shielded from light.

MISTAKE #3

You’re too quick to cook your garlic
Legend has it that these pungent little bulbs can
ward off vampires, but science shows that if you
cook them correctly, they may have the power to
fight off an even more frightening villain: cancer.
“Chop, slice, or crush your cloves, then set them
aside for at least 10 minutes before sautéing,”
says John Milner, Ph.D., chief of the nutritional
science research group at the National Cancer
Institute in Rockville, Maryland. “Breaking up
garlic triggers an enzymatic reaction that releases
a healthy compound called allyl sulfur; waiting to
cook garlic allows enough time for the full amount
of the compound to form.”

MISTAKE #4

The only time you eat avocados is in guacamole
Adding this green fruit to salads & sandwiches
is an easy way to raise your nutritional bar.
Avocados are exceptionally rich in folate,
potassium, vitamin E, and fiber. It’s true that
they’re also high in fat, but it’s the heart-healthy
monounsaturated kind. And half an avocado
has just 153 calories. One novel way to work
them into your diet is to use them as a fat
substitute in baking. Many of us have been
using applesauce or puréed prunes in place
of butter & oil in brownie & cookie recipes
for years. Researchers at Hunter College in
New York City wanted to see if avocado could
work in the same way w/out affecting the taste.
They replaced half of the butter in an oatmeal
cookie recipe with puréed avocado. Not only
did this swap cut the total fat count by 35 %
(avocados have fewer fat grams per tbsp than
butter or oil), it also made the resulting treats
softer, chewier, and less likely to crumble than
cookies made according to the original recipe.
If you’re still wary of using such a nontraditional
ingredient in sweets, try adding it to savory
baked items, such as quick breads & muffins.

MISTAKE #5

You skimp on seasonings
Herbs and spices not only enhance the flavor
of your cooking without adding fat or sodium,
many of these fragrant ingredients also protect
you from food poisoning. After testing 20
common seasonings against five strains of
bacteria (including E. coli, staphylococcus,
and salmonella), researchers at the University
of Hong Kong found that the higher the antiox-
idant value of the spice, the greater its ability
to inhibit bacterial activity. Cloves, cinnamon
sticks, and oregano were the most effective
at fighting off these food-borne pathogens. A
separate study published in the Journal of
Agricultural and Food Chemistry shows that
rosemary, thyme, nutmeg, and bay leaves are
also antioxidant-rich. Of course, you can’t
ignore standard food safety practices, but
adding half a teaspoon of herbs or spices to
salads, vegetables, and meats can give you
extra peace of mind and boost your intake
of disease-fighting antioxidants.

MISTAKE #6

You’re a serial peeler
Most of the antioxidants & polyphenols in
produce are located very close to the surface
of the skin or in the skin itself. A study pub-
lished in the journal Nutrition Research found
that most fruit peels exhibited 2 to 27 times
more antioxidant activity than the pulp of the
fruit. “Many of us remove the skins from egg-
plant, bell peppers, peaches, apples, and
nectarines while preparing recipes, but we’re
really just tossing away nutrients and fiber,”
says nutritionist Forberg. She recommends
gently scrubbing potatoes and carrots rather
than removing their skin, & using a vegetable
peeler or sharp knife to pare away as thin a
layer as possible from fruits and veggies that
must be peeled.

MISTAKE #7

You’re simmering away vitamins and minerals
Boiling may seem like a simple, no-fuss way
to prepare vegetables without adding oil, but
this cooking method can cause up to 90 % of
a food’s nutrients to leech out, says Karen
Collins, a nutrition advisor to the American
Institute for Cancer Research in Wash, D.C.

“Minerals like potassium and water-soluble
vitamins like B and C end up getting tossed
out with the water,” she says. To keep these
essentials from draining away during the
cooking process, try steaming (use a minimal
amount of water with a steamer basket), micro-
waving, or stir-frying. A study from the Univ.
of Essex in the U.K. showed that when certain
veggies were prepared using these techniques,
most of the nutrients they contained were spared.
And stir-frying scores even more points when
you’re cooking dark green or orange veggies.
These are rich in beta-carotene, & the oil you
use in stir-frying them can increase the amount
of the anti-antioxidant you absorb by up to 63
percent, according to a study published in the
journal Molecular Nutrition & Food Research.
You don’t need to use a lot of oil; even just a
tablespoon will do.

MISTAKE #8

You don’t wash all your produce ere eating it
Most of us remember to rinse plums & berries
before noshing on them, but when was the
last time you doused a banana, orange,
cantaloupe, or mango with water? It may
seem strange to wash peel-and-eat produce,
but harmful bacteria lingering on the surface
could be transferred to your hands or even to
the inside of the fruit when you cut into it. To
clean produce, simply run each piece under
the tap and gently scrub. “Using your hands
to rub fruits like orangesbananas&peaches
under water is sufficient,” says Ruth Frechman,
R.D., a dietitian in Burbank, California, and a
spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Assn.
When you’re done, dry the items with a clean
cloth or paper towel. It’s important to wash
your hands with soap and warm water for at
least 20 seconds before & after you handle
the items to further reduce the spread of
bacteria. Frechman also suggests throwing
out the outer leaves of greens like cabbage
and lettuce before washing, as they’ve been
handled the most and can have the highest
levels of bacterial contamination.

MISTAKE #9

You’re not pairing foods properly
Many of us think about getting enough iron
only when we feel lethargic or fatigued. But
we should pay attention to our iron intake
every day, before symptoms occur. Our bodies
absorb about 15 to 35 percent of heme iron
(found in meats and seafood), but just 2 to 20
percent of non-heme iron (from beans, whole-
grain cereal, tofu, and dark, leafy greens).
We can maximize how much iron we take
in by pairing the latter group with vitamin C–
rich foods and beverages, such as citrus
fruits and juices, tomatoes, hot and sweet
peppers, strawberries, and melons. On the
other hand, drinking tea or coffee at meals
can inhibit how much iron we absorb by up
to 60 percent, says Marla Reicks, R.D., a
professor of nutrition at the University of
Minnesota in St. Paul. That’s because these
beverages contain compounds called poly-
phenols that bind to the iron. Wait until you’ve
completely finished your meal before putting
the kettle on to boil.
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