Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

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http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2011/12/08/why-calorie-counts-are-wrong-cooked-food-provides-a-lot-more-energy/
So it seems like if you're trying to make your Paleo dollar stretch, it would be a good idea to cook your expensive grass fed steaks, etc a bit past raw/rare to get the most out of it. If you're trying to lose weight, eating raw foods would be a good idea. I prefer the taste of rare/ medium rare steak myself but now I won't be upset if it comes closer to the medium spectrum. Obviously, you don't want to overcook anything to avoid nutrient loss.
What are your thoughts?

flag	asked Dec 8 2011 at 18:25 Stall 364●2●7

coprophagous · Answer 1 · 2011-12-08 18:46:04Z UTC

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cooking meat adds accesible calories and ruduces nutrition, because everything other than meat that i consume is raw i say go for it and cook the meat.

answered Dec 8 2011 at 18:46

coprophagous
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I think it depends on the food whether cooking adds or reduces nutrition. Humans aren't good at getting nutrition from some foods raw while cooking destroys nutrients in others. – Nance Dec 8 2011 at 19:03

for example cooking tomatoes releases more lycopene than eating them raw. – carne Dec 8 2011 at 19:41

Erica · Answer 2 · 2011-12-08 19:54:30Z UTC

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I think it's more that when you cook something it reduces in size, so if you're having more cook foods you'll consume more. For example, 100g uncooked spinach would make a nice big salad, but if you cook it down as a side you'd use double or triple as much because it shrinks down to nothing. Not that calories in spinach matter, just using it as an example.

answered Dec 8 2011 at 19:54

Erica
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While that may be true, I don't think it was the point of the article. I think their point was that cooking unlocks / pre digests food in such a way that when our system gets it, the calories are absorbed more readily. – Stall Dec 9 2011 at 12:46

Cooking adds calories to your meals!

2 Answers