Pressure Cooked Veggies is the New Old School Way!

Introduction

Pressure cooked veggies for a short time captures more vitamins and minerals than other methods and provides an incredible pathway to absorb nutrients for those experiencing absorption issues. This article will explore how steamed or pressure cooked veggies can provide an easy way to get the vitamins and minerals you need. For many of us, our routine consists of balancing day-to-day tasks with cooking. Luckily, there are new methods for cooking vegetables that help you optimize your intake and absorption with less hassle.

The average pressure cooker uses a combination of atmospheric and internal pressure to increase the boiling point of water from 100 degrees Celsius to 121 degrees Celsius. This process, called super-heating, extracts more vitamins and minerals from food than other cooking methods because it helps the food retain its natural flavors and nutrients. In addition, pressure cooking keeps food warm for a long time as opposed to other cooking methods that lose heat quickly after being taken off the stove.

This brings new meaning and hope to “eat your veggies” for many who may have stumbled upon this article! I personally got away from eating vegetables with the exception of forcing down a bag of microwaveable broccoli or peas on occasion. Nasty taste and a literal effort to take in until I did my research recently.

The Sad Truth of Americans Disdain for Vegetables

According to a recent report released by the National Fruit and Vegetable Alliance, only 4 percent of Americans meet their daily required consumption of veggies! The National Fruit and Vegetable Alliance’s 2015 Report Card has given the marketing of vegetables an F grade while the consumption of vegetables among kids has received a D grade.  I guess nearly everyone else hates their vegetables too! Reasons given were attributed to the scattered schedules of family members and the decline of meal preparedness options with one item meals often the default.

I also attribute the decline to the many low carb diet variables and their popularity for weight loss. I have used a version of what came out in the 80s called the Atkins diet for many years, on and off. They do allow small amounts of veggies and no fruit in most low carb or keto diets and it took me years to figure out that my health suffered from this restriction. The keto proponents swear that people simply do not require carbs to function and convert to fat burning ketones.

This is partially true but it is nature’s way of survival and not optimal! If you do not need energy or strength, keto might work for you, otherwise, carbs provide so many nutrients and the better burning glucose for strength and energy. I am no longer a low or no carb proponent except for those with autoimmune issues and then it would only be for a month to six weeks and a mono type low carb diet. The phyto-nutrients, vitamins and minerals in pressure cooked veggies are far too important to pass up and you will lose weight because of the fiber and bulk with less calories.

Too Much Bother and Not Enough Taste

Other than restaurant meals on rare occasions or preparing food when the kids were growing up, I have consumed far less veggies to the point of almost nonexistence. A week ago, I was thinking about how I could get more vegetables in my diet without the hassle of preparation and clean up as my mind was heading toward getting back into juicing.

I gave my deluxe juicer to my son a few years ago after growing tired of the prep and clean up. He got good use of it as I did for years but suspect he also got burned out on the time and clean up by now. The time and cleanup is a deal breaker as the saying goes.

My mother always cooked old fashioned European meals that were boiled and the vegetables tasted so good. We had cooked veggies with every meal and I never complained. The quality of produce was of course much better fifty plus years ago and the seasoning and mix was just plain tasty. One of her specialties was corned beef and cabbage with carrots, onions and potatoes boiled and simmered to perfection!

Fast forward half a century and we have less nutritious meals, lacking in vegetables, with no time or energy to prepare them. Bottom line, the vegetable has become the red-haired step child and it’s not fair. So, what should we do?

pressure cooked to perfection

Hamilton Beach Digital Programmable Rice and Slow Cooker & Food Steamer, 20 Cups Cooked (10 Cups Uncooked), 14 Pre-Programmed Settings for Sear Saute, Hot Cereal, Soup, Nonstick Pot, Stainless Steel

We Desperately Require the Nutrients from Pressure Cooked Veggies

Being a polymorphic gene mutated creature, MTHFR sufferer, I, like millions of others have nutrient absorption issues and in spite of supplementing like crazy, still have sub clinical levels of some vitamins and minerals. This got me to thinking about how good my mother’s cooked veggies tasted and how they might possibly be more nutritious in the pressure cooked or steamed state.

I ran across the usual eat your veggies sites with nothing inspiring or new until I hit Dr. Wilson’s website! The list of reasons and benefits from his site is below and to say it is extensive, would be a huge understatement! Wow, wow! I got very excited and motivated and ran out and bought a Farberware 7 in 1 pressure cooker and a bunch of veggies! It took just a few minutes to read the instructions and I was ready to go!

Within literally ten minutes from start to finish to cleanup, the entire process was accomplished! I had cut up carrots, onions, peppers and mushrooms in a cup or so of water and added a little apple cider vinegar and salt. Simple and surprisingly tasty! Such delicate flavors that I have been missing since mommy cooked for me as a child! So good, easy and fast! Just what single men and women are looking for! I think we have found a winner in pressure cooked veggies, so read on about all the benefits and get on board!

Excerpted from Dr. Wilson’s Pressure Cooked Veggies diet

REASONS TO FOLLOW THE COOKED VEGGIES DIET:

BIOCHEMICAL REASONS:

• High in calcium and magnesium.  I find that everyone needs more calcium and more magnesium in their diet.  This diet provides a lot of these essential minerals.  They help rebuild the bones, and activate thousands of enzymes in the body.  Calcium and magnesium are also vital for the health of the heart and the arteries.

• High in fiber.  Even though the vegetables are cooked, they still contain a lot of fiber that most people need today.  It helps with constipation, toxic metal removal, toxic chemical removal, and restoration of the intestinal tract. 

I like this so much more than juicing as you get the fiber and fill up easier with less calories!

• Plenty of fiber is also essential for the functioning of the Peyer’s patches, which are important lymph glands located along the small intestine.  Read Peyer’s Paches for more on this important subject.

• High in folate and TMG for methyl groups.  This is a more technical subject.  However, the cooked vegetable diet is very high in methyl groups that are critical for the removal of toxins by the liver.  Methyl groups are also essential for brain activity, health of the DNA, protein synthesis, and much more.  For more on this topic, read Methylation on this website.

Another fabulous discovery for MTHFR gene mutation sufferers! Natural methylation from tasty pressure cooked veggies!

• High in bioavailable iron.  Cooked dark greens, in particular, but also many other cooked veggies, contain a special form of iron.  It can replace a toxic form of iron that many people have in their bodies that I call “amigo iron”, which is an iron oxide.  To read more about this important subject, read The Amigos- Iron, Manganese And Aluminum.

This pressure cooked veggies method just gets better and better!

• Low in ferments.  Fermented foods are all the rage today.  However, many of them are not healthful foods.  Particularly avoid kombucha tea and fermented grains.  These contain aldehydes that are toxic for the liver. While some miso, sauerkraut, yogurt and kefir are allowed on the diet, do not eat too much of these foods.  For more on this subject, read Fermented Foods.

• Moderate in protein.  Protein is a building food, but it is also a more acid-forming food and it can be a “clogging” food.  This diet contains animal protein, which is very important to eat, I find.  Vegetable proteins are not as high quality.  Animal foods are also more yang in macrobiotic terminology, and this is very desirable.  The diet is moderate in protein, but not high and not too low.

• Very low in sugars or simple carbohydrates.  This is important today for many reasons.  Sugars are too yin.  They also upset the blood sugar and promote yeast overgrowth in the intestines and elsewhere.  Most people do not handle sugars well, and eat too many of them.  Read Sugar Addiction and the three other articles about sugar on this site for much more on the effects of sweets, sugary diets or fruity diets.

It’s Always About the Taste that Keeps You Coming Back!

• A flavorful diet.  Vegetables are among the most varied foods in terms of flavors, although some are subtle.  In part, this is due to their Phyto-chemicals such as DIM, I3C, TMG and hundreds of others. If you are one who “does not like vegetables” it is usually because your taste buds are desensitized by eating too much salt or sweets.  As you remove the sweets from your diet, you will come to appreciate the varied flavors of the vegetable kingdom.

• Extremely high in trace minerals.  This is probably the most important reason for this pressure cooked veggies diet.  Most people are mineral-starved today!  It is one of the most common problems on our planet.  It is due to our agricultural methods, eating refined foods, stress and other factors. Vegetables must be cooked well to obtain all the minerals that are locked inside the tough vegetable fibers.  This is why the diet does not include raw salads.

Hallelujah! This was the reason of my search into pressure cooked veggies and landed me at Dr. Wilson’s site. I have found it very difficult to get proper absorption of supplemental minerals and have tried virtually all the delivery systems in the hopes of finding the best. I am so excited to see my results but after only a few days steaming my veggies, I feel more energy!

• Moderate in copper and zinc.  These minerals, in bioavailable forms, are very needed by most people.  This diet provides excellent forms of them, better than one can get from mineral supplements and other sources.

Pressure Cooked Veggies Keeps the Nutrients and Kills the Phytates

• Low in phytates and phosphorus.  Phosphorus is a fiery and stimulating mineral.  This diet is low in phosphorus compounds purposely, as it is designed to be a non-stimulating diet.  A diet high in phosphorus is one with a lot of meat and perhaps a lot of dairy products such as eggs and cheese.

• High in bioavailable sulfur.  The diet is rich in sulphury vegetables, which includes cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, radishes, turnips and some other vegetables.  This is helpful for heavy metal detoxification in the liver, and for cleansing and supporting the body, in general.  Sulfur also antagonizes copper and is needed for the health of all connective tissue.

The rage has been NAC, MSM and other sulfur producing compounds for health, longevity and immunity. Who knew that pressure cooked veggies made sulfur bioavailable?!

• Moderate in amino acids (nitrogen foods).  Amino acids are very important, but too much is stimulating, once again.  Animal proteins such as meat and eggs provide an excellent balance of the amino acids.

• High in omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D.  This is found in this diet in the sardines, grass-fed or pasture-raised meats, a little raw dairy, and even in some green vegetables.  If one chooses not to eat sardines, then one must supplement the omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D for optimum health.

• Very high in chlorophyll and several other important plant phytochemicals.  These substances help prevent most diseases, and can also help balance the body chemistry, restore the gut, improve the immune response and much more.

• Low in toxic chemicals and in toxic potassium found in all fruits today.  Much of our food supply is laced with over 3000 chemicals, many of which are of questionable safety.  All fruit today is high in a toxic form of potassium.  It is absorbed from the N-P-K or superphosphate fertilizers used on most fruit orchards, even organic fruit orchards. Eating a diet free of toxic chemicals is an important topic in nutritional balancing science. 

Pressure Cooked Veggies Maintain Essential Trace Minerals

• Very high in the ultra-trace minerals.  An ultra-trace mineral is one that is vital for our bodies, but needed in only very small amounts.  This diet of cooked vegetables is high in these vital minerals that are missing from many refined foods today.

• A weight loss diet.  This is very helpful for millions of people.   One will feel very full on the diet due to all the fiber and all the nutrients it contains.  Everyone who follows it sooner or later reports weight loss, without a need for exercise or cutting back on the quantity of food.  In fact, eating at least three meals daily is important to obtain enough nutrition, we find.  If you want more than three meals, have another meal rather than snack all day.

• No liquids with meals.  Beverages mixed with food dilutes the digestive juices and seriously compromises digestion.  This diet suggests having your water up to ten minutes before a meal, or at least one hour after meals. Also, do not eat a lot of soup.  It mixes too much water with the food. You can puree the vegetables, however, using a hand blender, as this does not require adding more water.

Low Oxidation Food

• A low to moderate combustion diet.  This simply means that the diet is high in mineral foods such as vegetables.  It is also somewhat lower in the fuel foods such as grains, beans, and even fat, although the fast oxidizer version is higher in fats and oil. This is somewhat like running an engine lean, meaning using less fuel and more air in the engine.  It forces the engine to run more efficiently, there is more complete burning of the fuel, and it actually cleans up the engine to some degree.

• Not a “solar diet”.  Solar foods are those that are most exposed to the sun.  These include fruits, first, and animal foods such as meats, eggs and dairy.  Vegetable leaves and stems are in the sun, but they are next to the earth and often partly shaded.  Roots, of course, receive no sunlight.  The sun may impart to foods certain etheric energies that are not as desirable today as they are upward-moving currents of energy.

Check with the Dr. on this as he will assuredly have the breakdown and rationale of how this works

Dr. Wilson’s website, https://www.drlwilson.com/

High Phytochemical – Low Estrogen Diet

• A very “colorful” diet.  This means that the cooked vegetables provide a lot of the colorful and wonderful phytochemicals such as the carotenoids, lycopene, lutein, zeaxanthins and many others. These amazing chemicals are what give vegetables their bright colors – reds, oranges, yellows, blues, and greens.  Besides being anti-oxidants, they are often powerful anti-inflammatory substances and assist detoxification of heavy metals and toxic chemicals.

• Low in estrogens.  This is very important today, since we are besieged with estrogen-mimicking toxins and foods that raise or contain estrogens, leading to cancers and other problems.  An example of such a food, and one to avoid, are the soy foods.  For much more on this, read Estrogens As Yin Toxins on this site.

• High in anti-oxidants.  According to Susan Southon, PhD, head of the micronutrient section, Institute of Food Research, Norwich, England: “Cooking breaks up plant vegetable cells, allowing a greater release of carotenoids and possibly other antioxidants, sometimes as much as five times more than if eaten raw.” – reported in Bottom Line Personal, Vol. 8, #1, January, 2000.

• It is a non-stimulating, parasympathetic diet.  This is important for healing and for balancing the autonomic nervous system.  The diet tends to move subtle energy downward through the body, a very important aspect of healing.  For more on this topic, please read Down Energy And Healing on this site.

Cooked Veggies Provides Mental & Emotional Stability

• It is a face-your-issues and face-your-traumas diet. By moving energy downward and deeply nourishing the body, this diet helps bring up mental and emotional issues that need healing.  This may sound unusual, but feedback from our clients supports this idea. The opposite would be more of an “escapist” diet.  This usually means a diet with a lot of stimulants or a lot of meat or sugar.

• Temperate climate diet.  Some diets are difficult to follow for people living in certain climates.  Eating a lot of fruit, for example, can make one cold.  Eating too much meat can overheat the body.  The cooked vegetable diet is somewhere in the middle.

• It is a very cleansing diet.  Many people today want to go on a “cleanse” or a detoxification program.  I tell them that the cooked vegetable diet is absolutely the best for this purpose.  It contains many foods and nutrients that assist all of the elimination or detoxification organs of the body such as the liver, kidneys, intestines, lungs and skin. The problem with most all so-called cleansing diets or detox diets is they are incomplete and deficient in nutrients.  They are okay for a week, but deep cleansing of the body takes much longer.  One must avoid deficient diets if you will stay with it more than a week or two, in particular, help oxygenate the body, and help it burn off toxins.

Esoteric Reasons to Follow

• A grounding and centering diet.  Vegetables grow on or near the ground.  While it may seem odd, this causes the vegetables to contain certain energies that tend to relate to grounded electrical energy and grounded thinking and functioning.

• It is a conserving diet, not a weaning diet (a lot of dairy) or an ethereal diet (fruit).  These are more subtle qualities about foods that are interesting and sometimes helpful to know.

• It is a labor-involving diet.  That is, it requires cooking or food preparation, compared with a diet or more fruit, more dairy or more bread, which do not require as much preparation. Some do not like this aspect of the diet, saying they do not have time to buy and cook their vegetables.  However, one effect of this diet is to stop binge eating, impulsive eating, and overeating by forcing one to plan meals and cook their food.  This may help a person to stabilize the mind and organize one’s life better.

COMMENT From this article’s author:

I disagree with the good Dr. Wilson regarding the preparation of vegetables as a labor-intensive endeavor. Since purchasing a multi-purpose high pressure steam cooker, the task of preparation takes very little time and effort. I can cut up a few carrots, onions, mushrooms and peppers and pour in some rice or quinoa with a couple of cups of water and press a button. Less than ten minutes later, I have enough food for a couple of meals or the entire day if I wish. Clean-up is very easy with the removable pot; I just rinse and wipe and I’m done! It is so much easier than juicing or conventional cooking and it turns out to be more nutritious!

• It is a chewing diet.  That is, one must chew the food.  This tends to slow eating, relax a person, and avoid bingeing, impulse eating and over-eating.

• A subtle flavors diet.  Vegetables are probably the most flavorful foods, but the flavors are subtle. The diet avoids foods that overwhelm the senses such as sugars and hot spices.  The delicate flavors then tend to come through.

• A very easily digested diet.  This is important because most people have very weak digestion.  Unlike what many people think, a diet with smoothies, for example, is not easy to handle as it has too much water and often very poor food combinations.

HAIR ANALYSIS-RELATED REASONS

• The diet tends to raise the hair sodium and potassium levels, and the sodium/potassium ratio somewhat.  This is an excellent effect of the diet.  In contrast, raw food and fruit-based diets lower the sodium/potassium ratio. Raising the sodium/potassium ratio allows the body to remove more toxic metals and to replace them with the vital alkaline reserve minerals.

• It is a stay-out-of-four lows-diet.  Four lows is an exhaustion hair mineral pattern.  Pressure cooked veggies does not contain stimulants or irritants that can push a person into a four lows hair analysis pattern.  Instead, it is extremely nourishing and gentle on the body

It’s apparent that he is saying that this diet is beneficial to hair and for detox purposes in addition to alkalizing the ph of the body but the four lows diet will need your additional research as this author cannot explain within this article. It appears to use a quadrant system in evaluating certain states of the body.

I suggest that you delve into this more on Dr. Wilson’s website, drlwilson.com

ILLNESS-RELATED REASONS:

• In terms of fighting disease, this diet is helpful for many common health conditions

• Anti-yeast diet.  The reason is it is very low in sugars and low in fermented foods.

• An anti-osteoporosis diet.  It is rich in bioavailable calcium and other minerals needed for the bones.  This is especially important for women who are in or who are approaching menopause.

• It is an anti-diabetic diet.  This is due to its low sugar content and high trace element content.

• Anti-heart disease diet.  It is a low-stress, low-stimulant and very nourishing diet.  It also contains a lot of the minerals and phyto-nutrients needed for the heart such as calcium, magnesium, potassium and anti-oxidants.

• It is an anti-parasitic diet.  This is because of its high fiber content and the phyto-nutrients it contains.  Parasites thrive on high-sugar diets and junk food diets.

• Anti-obesity diet.  Everyone loses weight if they follow this diet properly.  Vigorous exercise is not required, and just tends to slow down one’s progress.  One can also eat plenty and not feel hungry.

• It is an anti-infective diet.  Bacteria and viruses thrive on higher-sugar diets and higher-protein diets.  The minerals in the diet also strengthen the immune response and help the body fight off all infections.  Cooking also kills most bacteria and parasites that can live on food. 

• Anti-cancer diet.  Its high content of green and cruciferous vegetables contain dozens of nutrients that assist the immune response and may have other anti-cancer effects.

• Helpful for many organs and systems.  The diet is definitely helpful for the digestive organs, the pancreas, the liver, the skin, the cardiovascular system, the reproductive system, and the nervous system.

DEVELOPMENTAL REASONS:

• Tends to move subtle energy downward from the head to the feet.  This is due to its high cooked vegetable content, and its lack of stimulants and irritants.

• Promotes development.  This is a fabulous benefit of this diet, and this diet alone, to the best of my knowledge.  Development is a unique process by which a person’s body becomes healthier, extending life and leading to a more disease-free life. Reasons why this diet promotes development are its high content of selenium in foods such as blue corn, sardines, kelp, sea salt, and lamb.  These foods promote development.  It is also due to its ability to move energy downward through the body.

• Low in toxic products that would impede development.  Eating too much meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and dairy products slows development.  This diet contains the proper amount of these animal-based products.

• Detoxifying diet. This also promotes development and is absolutely required today for most people.

• Extremely alkaline-forming.  The reason is it is rich in the alkaline reserve minerals.  These include zinc, manganese, selenium, silicon, chromium and others.  Most people’s bodies are too acidic at the tissue level, no matter what their urine and saliva pH reads. Replenishing the alkaline reserve minerals is the true way to alkalinize the body at the deepest level.  
• Alkaline water, sodium bicarbonate therapy and other superficial means are temporary only.  Also, it is not true that a diet rich in fruit is more alkaline forming than a cooked vegetable-based diet because the vegetable-based diet contains much more of the alkaline reserve minerals.

Pressure Cooked Veggies Summary

Kudos to Dr. Wilson! He isn’t pushing a vegan lifestyle and is totally on board with meat for protein! I think that in spite of the nearly endless benefits he has listed, if the process was a pain like juicing or other intensive meal preps, I would not be so excited. In about ten minutes, I can prepare an entire day’s cooked veggies and keep them simmering on the heat mode for hours or scoop out and put in Tupperware.

Being lazy, I leave the cooker on heat mode and graze on the concoction throughout the day. It’s so simple and delicious! It could not be easier, and I have already cut back on other foods I was overeating. I can see only good things ahead and will report back. Give it a try if you are like me and most and try pressure cooked veggies!