Because one of the biggest nutrition mistakes I see has nothing to do with what people are eating. It’s how they’re preparing it.
The right food, prepared the wrong way, can lose the very compounds that make it worth eating in the first place.
Here are six simple fixes that change everything.
- BROCCOLI: Chop it. Then walk away.
When you cut broccoli, it triggers the formation of sulforaphane, one of the most studied anti-inflammatory compounds in food science.
Research shows it can block cancer cell growth, reduce oxidative stress, and even cross the blood-brain barrier to protect your brain.
But sulforaphane needs about 40 minutes to fully form after the cell walls are broken.
Chop your broccoli and throw it straight into the pan? The heat destroys the enzyme before the sulforaphane ever activates.
The fix? Chop first. Prep everything else. Cook it last.
- GARLIC: Crush it. Wait 10 minutes.
Garlic’s most potent compound, allicin, only forms when the cell walls are crushed and the enzyme alliinase is exposed to air.
Cook it immediately and the heat destroys the enzyme before allicin can form.
But crush or chop it and wait just 10 minutes? Those 10 minutes are the difference between flavouring and genuine medicine.
Allicin is a broad-spectrum antimicrobial that fights harmful bacteria, supports liver detox, and reduces key inflammatory markers.
- TOMATOES: Cook them. Add fat.
Unlike most vegetables, tomatoes become more nutritious when cooked.
Heat breaks down the cell walls and significantly increases the bioavailability of lycopene, a powerful antioxidant linked to heart and brain health.
But lycopene is fat-soluble. Without a drizzle of olive oil or a few slices of avocado, your body can barely absorb it.
- TURMERIC: Always add black pepper.
Your body absorbs almost none of the curcumin in turmeric on its own.
But adding black pepper increases absorption by up to 2,000%.
The piperine in black pepper blocks your liver from breaking curcumin down too quickly. A generous pinch is all it takes. Adding a healthy fat like coconut milk or olive oil boosts it even further.
This is why traditional golden milk recipes have always included pepper and fat. They figured it out long before the clinical trials caught up.
- MUSHROOMS: Put them in the sun.
Mushrooms are the only non-animal food that can produce vitamin D.
Place them gill-side up in direct sunlight for 15 to 30 minutes before cooking and they convert ergosterol into vitamin D2, just like your skin does.
Any variety works. Even store-bought white buttons.
- RICE, PASTA, POTATOES & OATS: Cook them and then cool them.
When starchy foods cool down after cooking, some of the digestible starch converts into resistant starch, a prebiotic fiber that your gut bacteria ferment into butyrate and other short-chain fatty acids.
The best part? Resistant starch largely survives gentle reheating.
So cooking a batch of rice or potatoes, refrigerating them, and reheating the next day gives you the same meal with bonus prebiotic benefits.
Your gut bacteria get fed without you changing a single ingredient.
For oats specifically, soaking them overnight also allows the beta-glucan fiber to fully hydrate, maximising its cholesterol-lowering and prebiotic effects.
None of these take more than a minute of extra effort. Most take zero.
They’re just tiny shifts in timing and preparation that unlock compounds your body and your gut bacteria are designed to use.
Your food is already powerful. It just needs you to prepare it in a way that lets it do its job.
Yours for better health, naturally
Sarah Otto
Nutritionist (Master of Human Nutrition)