Cooking vegetables

so are the few foods that become healthier when you cook them rather than eating them raw?

It depends on how you mean "healthier"

I'm a believer that cooking your food in NO way adds anything to your food. It doesn't improve it one bit. Now whether or not it takes something away, that is a subject of debate.

Tomato sauces and other cooked tomato products supposedly contain more lycopene than raw tomatoes.

Some harder, starchier veggies, like carrots, may be more easily digested when cooked.

On the other hand, cooking destroys enzymes, which help in digestion, so maybe that traditional knowledge isn't correct?

Whether it's healthier cooked or not it's still healthier than a big chunk of cow flesh

Kathryn made some good points.

Although there are different kinds of enzymes(I believe),

some help with digestion and some dont..

as long as your body is stocked full of enzymes you shouldn't have

to worry about eating cooked veggies every once in awhile,

but this is really why raw foods are so great.

Your enzyme stores gradually decline as you age; & eating raw helps

reverse that.

The only foods I know of that are supposedly "healthier" when cooked,

are tomatoes(like tomato sauce), it helps the lycopene become more

readily available to the body, as were with raw tomatoes it is not.

And also steaming broccoli is suppose to be very good.

& Steaming veggies is probably the best way to go if you're going to

consume any of them cooked.

Also, When eating raw produce always remember to chew thoroughly, it

helps make the enzymes & nutrients more available to the body,

as well as aid in digestion : )

ahrr, sadly I can only tell you what i've read and heard, I am not an expert. But the general theme seems to be that cooking above a certain temperature does harm the nutritional value of basically all food... that could be wrong like I said, but that's what I read everywhere.

Interestingly (uninterestingly) I have also read that some foods which apparently are more easily digestible after cooking, actually can just be grated / blended / finely chopped to make them just as easily digestible.

Also I also read a lot that steaming is the best way to go. I have recently been eating steamed vegetables, and they taste great at least, I can't testify their nutritional content.