Is “Fresh” the “Best”?
Real World Nutrition Podcast Episode 3: Fresh, Frozen, or Canned?
Sometimes you will hear that “fresh is best,” referring to fruits and vegetables. When I tell people to eat more fruits and vegetables, I say that I encourage various colors regardless of fresh, frozen, or canned.
FRESH
The original “fast food,” fresh fruits and vegetables are among our most convenient foods today. Most of the time, they come in their edible wrapper (with some exceptions) and need virtually no preparation. Wash and eat or peel and eat. How convenient are apples, tomatoes, grapes, snap peas, peaches, kumquats, berries, cherries, and baby carrots? Others need a bit more preparation.
Fresh fruits and vegetables taste best when they are perfectly ripe and at room temperature. However, unless you have picked them yourself or know the person who picked them, there are two drawbacks to fresh. In many cases, the harvest of fresh produce happens before it is completely ripe, and the nutrients start to breakdown once that occurs. There isn’t a way to know how long it has been at the market/store – even if it is organic.
Don’t think that fresh doesn’t have any nutrients; fresh fruits and vegetables are great, and everyone should eat them daily.
FROZEN
Frozen fruit and vegetables are most often picked at their peak of ripeness, blanched (placed quickly in boiling water) to kill bacteria, and flash frozen. Frozen produce is what I call “suspended in time,” meaning that the nutrients aren’t doing anything at this point; they are just hanging out in their cryogenic storage, not breaking down, waiting for you to eat them.
I frequently recommend frozen fruits and vegetables – without added syrup and sauces – since they are pretty good for you and can hang in the freezer whenever you need them. Steam them, add them to soups and stews, run water over them and add them to salads. I love keeping several varieties in my freezer to make sure I have veggies with our meals or fruit for my smoothies.
CANNED
Canned fruits and vegetables are the most processed, but this isn’t always a bad thing. Like frozen produce, foods are blanched before canning (this is familiar to you if you, your mother, or grandmother ever canned). There are added syrups or juice (with the fruit) or sodium (with vegetables) in many cases.
If you choose to use canned products, I recommend that you:
1Choose low sodium or no added salt vegetables or fruit in its juice (or light syrup).
Drain the fluid the produce came in.
Rinse the produce to get rid of the excess sodium. Evidence suggests that this reduces sodium by 20-40%.
No matter which types you choose, fresh, frozen, canned, or a variety of these, try to get at least five and closer to nine servings of fruits and vegetables every day.
