The 9 Most Common Kitchen Mistakes even healthy women make

Page 1 | 2 | 3

...and why they're robbing your food of nutrients.

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 the week seems like a no-fail way to get your five a day. After all, if those carrots, greens, apples, and berries are around, you'll eat more of them and therefore get more nutrients, right? Wrong. "The vitamins and minerals in fruits and vegetables begin to diminish the moment they're harvested," says Geri Brewster, R.D., a wellness consultant at Northern Westchester Hospital 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 percent of its lutein (an antioxidant associated with 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 and heart disease) within 10 days, according to a study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. "You're better off buying 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, and 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 building blocks of protein) and vitamins A, C, D, and E, are also affected. And because lowfat and nonfat milk varieties are thinner than whole milk, light can penetrate them more easily. "This process, known as photooxidation, can change the flavor of the milk and create disease-causing free radicals," says Susan Duncan, Ph.D., a food scientist at Virginia Tech. Since grain products (especially whole grains) are also high in riboflavin, they too are susceptible to this breakdown of nutrients and production of free radicals. Duncan recommends avoiding the practice of storing dry goods like pasta, rice, and cereals in clear containers on your countertop. Instead, keep them in their original boxes or in opaque containers and stash them in your kitchen cabinets, where they'll be shielded from light.