Eat Your Veggies; Here's How

Chomping on a raw carrot may give you the keen eyesight of a cartoon rabbit, but boiling the vegetable first is a better way to release its nutrients, scientists say. The New York Times looks at a variety of cooking methods and finds the goodness of the good stuff on your dinner plate may depend on the approach the chef takes.

• Because it's water soluble, vitamin C flies out of canned veggies, cooked spinach, and even frozen cherries.
• Steamed or boiled broccoli is worse than unappetizing: It loses far more vitamin C than the microwaved version.
• The body absorbs certain nutrients better when avocados or full-fat salad dressing accompanies skinnier veggies; fat helps "unlock" lutein, lycopene, and beta carotene.

(More vegetables stories.)