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In our last blog post, we shared some kitchen tips that can help elevate your meal prep game, and advice on asking the right questions when ordering meals. This time, we’re diving into the science of cooking—how different methods impact nutrient retention and which ones are best for fueling performance. How an athlete’s food is cooked is just as important as what’s in the meal itself. and we’re here to tell you why!
While there are a handful of vegetables that can be nutritionally beneficial when they’re consumed raw, most vegetables benefit from a light cook to bring out flavor and enhance nutrient absorption into the body. This is especially important for athlete nutrition, as the essential vitamins, minerals and proteins found in vegetables are key in preventing injury and lowering inflammation.
Want to get the most nutrients out of your veggies? Follow this simple method to lock in essential vitamins like C, K, E, and A.
When proteins are cooked, they undergo a process called denaturation – a process in which proteins lose their natural structure in application of heat, acids or other factors. This process changes protein molecules, but makes them more digestible and easier to absorb. The trick is to understand how long to cook your proteins. Undercooking can delay the denaturation process and make proteins harder to digest—-overcooking can produce Advanced Glycation End (AGE’s), compounds linked to inflammation and chronic diseases.
Cooking smart ensures proteins remain both nutritious and delicious—perfect for athletes who consume them in large portions!
How starches are prepared matters just as much as the type you choose. The key? Boosting resistant starches (RS). These special starches aren’t digested in the small intestine but instead in the gut to balance blood sugar and promote healthy gut flora (beneficial bacteria). RS starches reduce inflammation, speed up post-workout recovery, and lower the gut’s glycemic index. Starches that require cooking and cooling to produce RS are rice, potatoes, yams, oats, barley, and pastas. There are some foods that naturally produce RS, and do not need to be cooked and cooled to achieve production. Those are nuts, seeds, beans, legumes, whole grains, unripe bananas and plantains.
This method is ideal for meal prepping at home or when using team catering on the road. A best practice that should be used by caterers is to par-cook and cool starches at least a day before the meal is delivered. For athletes, this will produce a huge benefit to promote better performance and recovery—all from a simple cooking and cooling method!
Across all food types, there is one cooking method culprit that creates the highest loss of nutrients: boiling. Whether it’s protein, starches or vegetables, the majority of essential nutrients are lost in the cooking water. Boiling is great when preparing a soup or stew, since the cooking water is used as part of the base of the dish, but for other types of consumption, avoid boiling when possible. Steaming, simmering, baking, roasting and grilling are all superior cooking methods to boiling for nutrient preservation.
At Pivot, our goal is to arm sports teams with essential cooking and nutritional knowledge to simplify decisions and elevate meal plans for athletes. Food is fuel, and the way it’s prepared can either enhance or deplete its nutritional value. We recognize the vital role sports dietitians, strength and conditioning staff and other performance roles play in optimizing an athlete’s ability to play at their best, and we’re here to support that mission.
Subscribe to our blog and receive notifications when new content is released and keep current with trending food topics, meal prep secrets, kitchen tips and much more—as a resource that can help lead your team to a WIN!
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