[miss_elisha]

Does the nutritional value of foods change according to what cooking method you use?

Wait... I know it does in certain cases, like vegetables lose vitamins when you boil them (the vitamins go into the water), deep frying anything adds scads of fat, grilling allows fat to drip away from meats, etc. But part of my brain sees those as external factors--the veggies have the water sucking out the nutrients, the deep frying is soaking things in oil, and grilling melts the fat so it can separate and drip away.

But what if there are no external factors?

For example, I love eggs, and my favorite way to eat them is fried and dippy. But generally frying is considered to be bad for you. I've always assumed that was because frying typically means "with oil." But what if that's not the case?
I guess my question is, if I fry my eggs with little to no oil (which I do), is the fried egg any worse for me than eating a poached or boiled egg?

The egg is just the most obvious example to me, but my question is more general. Does frying (or any other cooking method, for that matter) change the chemical makeup of food to make it better or worse? Are certain methods of cooking preferable for certain foods, or are there certain cooking methods we should avoid for certain foods?

~Elisha

[LLV]

Originally Posted by miss_elisha

I guess my question is, if I fry my eggs with little to no oil (which I do), is the fried egg any worse for me than eating a poached or boiled egg?

Nope

Get yourself a really good nonstick pan (if you don't have one already) and instead of using any oil at all, spray the pan with fat-free cooking spray. Then when you break your egg in, spray the top of the egg with just a tad more. Use that to fry your egg instead of oil.

Fried egg with no added fat

[miss_elisha]

Thanks for the response!

That's what I usually do with my eggs, and it's not like I eat them every day. I usually eat egg beaters to avoid the cholesterol, but sometimes I just need to dip my toast in something. And I did invest in some very good non-stick cookwear. Seriously, I can't even get burnt cheese to stick to it (if I can even get it to burn in the first place)!

I've just never bothered to think about how cooking methods can alter the nutritional value of food, with the exception of adding oils and so forth.

Glad to know I'm not doing unintentional damage!

~Elisha