probiotics and cooking

[Bethie]

This is probably a dumb question but oh well. So probiotics in foods are live bacteria that are good for your digestive system. Does that mean that if you use those foods in cooking, you’ll kill off the benefits? Is the same thing true with things like raw honey, where it hasn’t been pasteurized? If I cook that, will it cook out the “raw” benefits?

[M-Stark334]

That's not a stupid question at all Bethie. Actually, I'm pretty sure that if you cook a food that has probiotics you will actually kill off the benefits of the good bacteria. You're not supposed to heat up yogurt for this reason.

[Charlotte]

Oh my gosh that's such a good question Bethie! I never would have thought of that. I guess it could be killed off it was cooked because it's bacteria. I wonder if there are other foods that lose their nutritional value when they're heated up...

[Speeddemon]

You can kill the benefits of many foods when you cook them, Bethie. In addition to killing the probiotics you can also remove some of the best quality of raw honey. So if you want all the health goodies from these products, eat them in their natural state. If you want to cook honey, buy the pasteurized stuff they sell in the store. The same goes for foods like sauerkraut. The stuff that's been preserved and sold in stores doesn't offer you the same benefits as the natural stuff you can buy at health food stores because all the good probiotics have been boiled out of it to preserve it.

[PamelaPoison]

Wow I feel really stupid. I've probably ruined a lot of the foods I've been buying to try to be a bit of a health nut (ok I eat junk food but the occasional temporary 5 minute health nut ha ha ha). I guess I should pay more attention to what I'm doing and I should start eating more raw stuff.

[Tony1968]

Wow I feel really stupid. I've probably ruined a lot of the foods I've been buying to try to be a bit of a health nut (ok I eat junk food but the occasional temporary 5 minute health nut ha ha ha). I guess I should pay more attention to what I'm doing and I should start eating more raw stuff.

Yeah, you and me both PamelaPoison haha. Geeze. Just when you think that you're doing good things for yourself you can cook something nutritious the wrong way and zap the health out of it. Why is it so hard to eat healthy? I think healthy foods should always keep their nutrition no matter how you prepare them.

[KittyKatt]

so does this mean that there really is something to the raw diet? I used to make fun of people who believed in that

[suzieQ]

so does this mean that there really is something to the raw diet? I used to make fun of people who believed in that

I think you might be right KittyKatt. Maybe fresh raw stuff is better for us, Meat and things that will make you very sick if you ate them raw aside, Is cooking anything better for you than eating it raw? I mean I've even heard that when you cook vegetables you cook the nutrients out of them. Like if you boil them, the nutrition ends up in the water they've been boiled in...which we typically dump down the sink....this is all so confusing!

[Bethie]

Thanks everybody! I'll make sure to not cook off probiotics.

Good question about the raw food diet. I'm pretty sure that there are some foods that are more nutritious cooked and some that are more nutritious raw. I think the solution there is to lightly steam them so you don't pour off the dissolved nutrients, like SuzyQ said. So you steam it long enough to soften it but you don't actually boil it to the mushy point.

[Speeddemon]

You know Bethie...I think we should probably include probiotics in those awesome snacks were making for weight loss. We're seriously going to be rich when we get that business going haha!

[enviroTodd]

It's much better for you to eat probiotics in natural foods instead of taking it in supplements. all too often, supplements are not designed properly and they put a lot of bacteria into your gut but your stomach acids just kill them off. You need to find the right ones and be very careful if you use them in supplements. In cooking, it's the best way to do it as long as you eat them raw. Even foods that have more nutrition when cooked still shouldn't be cooked to oblivion. They just need to be softened . If you cook them too much you break down helpful enzymes.