Photo: Courtesy Of WALMART.
While microwaving that day old pizza might turn it into a droopy, unappealing slice, it might not be affecting its nutritional value all that much. (You know, as much nutritional value as pizza has in the first place.) We often hear that nuking our foods decreases the nutritional value, but the truth might actually be the opposite: It might actually destroy fewer nutrients than traditional cooking. i09 reports that "because less water tends to be used when microwaving vegetables, nutrients don't leach out as much."
Ultimately, all cooking degrades the nutrients in our foods. While some foods require cooking to make them palatable, the more we cook, the more the vitamins and other nutrients in foods begin to break down. So, the least amount of heat you need to apply to any food — especially to veggies — is what you should use.
Certain vitamins, vitamin B12 for example, are converted to inactive forms by extreme heat. So, don't nuke the hell out of your leftover lamb chop — you'll get a lot less useful B12.
The best solution to keeping your foods healthy and delicious? Lightly cook (steam, if possible) or microwave for a short period of time. But, the (sometimes) lazy ladies among us can breathe a sigh of relief. Microwaving our food isn't turning it into a nutrition-less mess after all. (i09)