Nutrient Values: Raw Vs Cooked Weights (Nutrition 101, DiTuro Productions, LLC)

Hi, this is Daniel DiTuro. Several viewers have commented why I used raw weights for animal foods in my vitamin and mineral videos. They either believe I'm recommending eating raw animal foods or they live on a diet of prepared foods. If your diet is 100% prepared foods, it may have basic nutrition information. With restaurant foods, it's anyone's guess what vitamins and minerals are in their food. Most home cooks start with raw ingredients, whether it's plant or animal foods. Nutrition values are different for raw versus cooked foods. Dried pasta nutrition is based on dry weight. Overcooked pasta absorbs more water but does not significantly change its nutrients. Unlike dried pasta and beans, most foods release water during cooking. Instead of adding water and weight, water loss reduces the food's weight. High-fat foods also lose fat and fat-soluble vitamins during cooking. Restaurant menus list pre-cooked steak weights. The final weight depends on how long it's cooked. By using raw weight, it doesn't matter how the food is prepared. Vitamin and mineral values will change but in most cases, the change is negligible. The concept of cooking by weight is foreign to most Americans since they live in a world of cups. If they did use weight, many would discover their diet provides more food and nutrients than they need. Like this steak that's nearly two 4-ounce servings and serving sizes are based on raw, not cooked, weights. Calculating this meal's nutrition is easier using raw, not cooked, weights. Please leave a comment if you have any questions about this video. Thank you for watching and healthy eating.