The way you prepare your food and how you pair it with other foods, may be the key to getting the most nutrients from the food you are already eating.

1. Combine iron with vitamin C

Foods like spinach that are high in iron, contain an important element for your body. Unfortunately though, even when a food is rich in iron, your body can’t always absorb all of it. Adding in something like lemon, which is high in vitamin C, helps your body absorb the iron more effectively.

2. Chop or mince your garlic

There are often nutrients in food that are stored in bonds. Crushing, chopping or mincing your garlic breaks those bonds and releases the nutrients that otherwise wouldn’t come out. Allow it to sit for about 15 minutes for the maximum effect.

3. Add black pepper to turmeric/curry

Turmeric and similar spices contain a nutrient called curcumin, which has anti-inflammatory qualities as well as potential to prevent heart disease and cancer. However, it is extremely hard for our body to absorb curcumin. Adding black pepper will easily aid the absorption and maximize the health benefits of these spices.

4. Have some of your veggies cooked as well

Cooking your vegetables makes it a lot easier for your body to digest the food but more

importantly, cooking certain foods can release bound nutrients therefore exponentially increasing its nutritional value. Some of the common vegetables included in this category are carrots, tomatoes, mushrooms, and spinach.

5. Add citrus to green tea

Green tea has antioxidants called catechin, which have many health benefits (including weight loss according to some studies.) Citrus helps the absorption of catechins, so adding a bit of lemon to your tea might be super beneficial for you. Keep in mind though that boiling water can damage these antioxidants, so let the boiled water sit for a few minutes before adding the tea.

6. Mix your yogurt

Instead of spilling out the liquid sitting on the top of your yogurt, mix it in. That watery part is called whey and is the most nutritious part of your yogurt. It is actually a byproduct of cheese and extremely rich in protein, calcium, vitamin D and probiotics. Since the benefits of whey have been discovered, it has been commercialized as a powder and distributed to athletes around the world.

7. Cut your own fruit or eat it whole

Time is of importance when it comes to fruit. The longer you expose fruit to air and light the more it diminishes its vitamins. For example; after 6 days, cut up pineapple and kiwi lose about 10% of their vitamin C. Also, vitamin C is carried in liquid so note how much of the juice you are losing when cutting up fruit.

I hope this helps you get the most out of some of the foods you’re already eating.

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