10 healthy kitchen nutrition hacks

Some vegetables are better eaten raw, including broccoli, watercress and other cruciferous veg. When these are heated, an important enzyme is damaged and the potency of anti-cancer compounds, called glucosinolates, is reduced.

If you can, try to eat these veg raw in a salad, or lightly steamed to retain their vitamin C, iron and chlorophyll content. The same applies to kale – cook lightly or enjoy raw by adding to a smoothie, green juice or pesto – and add a squeeze of lemon juice to boost your iron and calcium uptake.

Vegetables that benefit from cooking include carrots, asparagus and tomatoes. Cooking makes it easier for our bodies to benefit from their protective antioxidants; for example, ferulic acid from asparagus and beta-carotene – which we convert to vitamin A – from carrots. When you cook tomatoes into a simple sauce, it helps break down the plant cell walls, so we can better absorb a protective compound called lycopene.

All these nutrients help safeguard our cells from environmental damage, may protect us from certain cancers and are heart-friendly.

2. Peel perfect

Do you peel out of habit or preference? Removing the peel of fruit and vegetables may mean you are removing one of the most nutrient-rich parts. That said, some peels are hard to clean, inedible or exposed to pesticides.

Take aubergine as an example: its skin is rich in protective antioxidants, while the green skin of cucumbers is packed with the mineral silicon that we need for healthy hair and nails. Similarly, courgette skins are rich in lutein and zeaxanthin – carotenoids that promote eye health.

3. Make more of quinoa, buckwheat, nuts and seeds

Pre-soaking or ‘activating’ these foods makes them easier to digest, and helps us absorb more of their nutrients. This is because nuts, seeds and pseudo-cereals, as well as beans and pulses, have naturally occurring compounds that reduce our ability to absorb and access their goodness. These compounds include phytic acid, lectins, oxalates, saponins and tannins.

Some nuts and seeds don’t need pre-soaking – these include Brazil nuts, macadamias, pine nuts, hemp and pistachios. Cashews only need a short time, about 2-3 hours, whereas beans and pulses need much longer – typically 12 hours or overnight. Pseudo-cereals, including amaranth, buckwheat and quinoa, typically benefit from the addition of a little acid to the soaking water, such as lemon juice or apple cider vinegar.

How to ‘activate’

Put in a glass or ceramic bowl and top up with double the volume of cold, filtered water. Cover and leave at room temperature for 8-12 hours, or overnight, then drain and rinse before use. If you plan to use later, simply cover and store for up to three days in the fridge, rinsing again before use.

Discover how to cook buckwheat.

4. Go late with garlic

Avoid adding garlic at the start of a recipe. To get more out of this nutritional powerhouse, add shortly before you finish cooking. Garlic is less potent if heated for long periods, because this reduces the amount of health-promoting allicin.

Garlic also benefits from sitting for 5-10 minutes before use. Allicin is only formed once the garlic is cut, chopped, minced or pressed. As they are part of the same family, onions are also best eaten raw or lightly cooked.

5. Fabulous fats

After decades out in the cold, it’s time to embrace fat and recognise its value in our diets. Certain nutrients like the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K, and plant nutrients, like beta-carotene and lycopene, rely on the fat and oils in our diet to help us absorb them.

Although eating too much fat can be unhealthy, there are certain types of fat we must get from our diet because they’re essential to health. Without some fat or oils in our diets, we can’t get the most from green leaves, like spinach, and brightly coloured fruit and vegetables, including tomatoes, apricots and sweet potato.

Read more about low-fat diets and find out how much fat you should eat each day.

6. Don’t forget frozen

At certain times of the year, it’s worth considering frozen produce. Commercially produced fruit and veg are frozen quickly after picking, which means they retain more nutrients than some supposedly ‘fresh’ options making them comparable or even higher in vitamin content.

If you grow your own – freeze in bags during the peak of the season. You could make a mirepoix – the classic base mixture combines onion, leeks, carrot and celery, and is a great shortcut when you need to make a soup, stew or sauce.

7. Season simply

Swap shop-bought dressings, seasonings and sauces, which are typically filled with refined oils, sugar and salt, for fresh, simple ingredients like herbs (fresh or dried), citrus juice, salt, pepper, garlic, chilli and other spices.

Check out our expert guide on elevating your meals with spices.

8. Boost gut health

Include fermented foods like yogurt, kefir or miso in your diet to reap the benefits to your gut. Try replacing mayo with any of these in salad dressings and marinades.

9. Perfect portions

Measuring cups can help when it comes to getting your portion right for ingredients like pasta (60-100g dry weight), rice (50-75g dry weight) and oats (30-40g). This will stop you overeating the recommended healthy portion.

It’s easy to visualise portions:

Carbs like cereal/rice/pasta/potato

• Portion size: your clenched fist
• Include one portion at each meal and ensure it fills no more than one quarter of your plate

Protein like meat/poultry/fish/tofu/pulses

• Portion size: palm of your hand
• Aim to have one portion at each meal – enough to fill one quarter of your plate

Butter/spreads/nut butter / syrups such as honey

• Portion size: the tip of your thumb
• Eat no more than two or three times a day

Fill the remainder of your plate with non-starchy vegetables such as leafy greens and salad.

Check out our tried and tested measuring cups

10. Snack savvy

Snacks can be part of a healthy diet, the secret is to stick to whole, unprocessed foods and check your snacking is in response to hunger cues rather than eating out of boredom or stress.

Some of our favourite snacks include dates dipped in nut butter or whipped into a healthy dip, and don’t forget dark, high cocoa chocolate (over 70% cocoa solids) – choose a product with minimal added sugar and enjoy one or two small squares only.

Check out these nutritionist-approved healthy snacks

Enjoyed this? Now try:

Quick kitchen hacks
Budget healthy recipes
Top 5 health benefits of frozen fruit and veg
Quick and healthy recipes
Make your freezer work for you

Do you have any nutrition tips or tricks? Leave a comment below.

This article was reviewed on 21 May 2024 by Kerry Torrens.

Kerry Torrens BSc. (Hons) PgCert MBANT is a registered nutritionist with a post graduate diploma in Personalised Nutrition & Nutritional Therapy. She is a member of the British Association for Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine (BANT) and a member of the Guild of Food Writers. Over the last 15 years she has been a contributing author to a number of nutritional and cookery publications including BBC Good Food. Find her on Instagram at @kerry_torrens_nutrition_

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