To cook or not to cook: Foods that are best served hot

Yes, we know we must eat a daily ration of vegetables. A lot of which we tend to (over)cook or debate whether they should be eaten raw.

There are certain foods that are easier to stomach cooked not only because they minimise disease but because they become easier to digest, tastier, and everyone, including children, can eat more of them. A list of veggie dishes best served hot include:

Spinach and kale Have you ever seen what happens to spinach or kale when it catches heat? It absolutely shrinks. Filled with folate, calcium, iron, magnesium and antioxidants spinach is way yummier especially when shallow fried with coconut oil, a little salt and served with freshly ground black pepper. It is also easier to squeeze in entire handfuls of it on your plate, upping the amount of healthy greens you get to eat in a day. To double the pow, start off with kale, and then add spinach halfway through for a mix of Kenya's most popular vegetables. The latter is great for lowering cholesterol levels.

Carrots Hard, crunchy and sometimes tasteless, carrots are rich in Vitamin A. They are great for vision, which we have been told all our lives, as well as promoting healthy skin. Recent studies show carrot juice may have anti-cancer properties especially for colon cancer.

But did you know steaming carrots, and by that I mean enough to maintain a bit of a softer crunch as opposed to a soggy, baby food mess, you increase the amount of beta carotene that the body can absorb?

Tomatoes They are said to be the sexiest food - for men, mainly because they are good for the prostate. Rich in Vitamins A, C and K, folate, iron, potassium, biotin, zinc, magnesium, chromium, Vitamins B1, B3, B5, B6 and B7, tomatoes expel far more nutrients when cooked than when eaten raw.

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Men are in fact encouraged to drink a pint of cooked tomato juice per day. Tomatoes also lower the risk of breast cancer, help maintain bone health and healthy skin. P.S: always use the tomato skin.