The leafy green is packed with nutrients, but you'll absorb more calcium and iron if you eat it cooked.
The reason: Spinach is loaded with oxalic acid, which blocks the absorption of iron and calcium but breaks down under high temperatures.
A cup of cooked white mushrooms has about twice as much muscle-building potassium,
heart-healthy niacin, immune-boosting zinc, and bone-strengthening magnesium as a cup of raw ones.
Cooking ignites this veggie's cancer-fighting carotenoids, the nutrient responsible for its orange hue.
Pan frying caused carotenoid levels to dip by 13 percent.
A study in the International Journal of Food Science & Technology found that cooking these stalks raised the level of six nutrients,
including cancer-fighting antioxidants, by more than 16 percent.
With tomatoes, whether they're baked, fried, or even puréed into spaghetti sauce,
heat increases a phytochemical, lycopene, that has been linked to lower rates of cancer and heart disease.
When raw, these crucifers, as their class is called, are packed with glucosinolates,
which can convert to variety of cancer-fighting compounds in your body.