• Food
  • Family
  • Beauty & Health
  • Style
  • Great Women
  • Events/Win
  • Domestic Diva Awards 2022
  • Food
    • Eating Out
    • Cooking Tips
    • Festive Food
    • Asian Recipes
    • Food
    • Celebrity Recipes
    • Dessert Recipes
    • Healthy Recipes
    • Quick & Easy Recipes
    • Western Recipes
  • Family
    • Family
    • Save Money
    • Parenting
    • Sex & Marriage
    • Travel
  • Beauty & Health
    • Beauty & Health
    • Skincare
    • Makeup
    • Hair
    • Awards
    • Diet & Nutrition
    • Fitness
    • Wellness
  • Style
  • Great Women
    • Career
    • Great Women of Our Time
    • Real Life
  • Entertainment
  • EVENTS/WIN
  • #SchoolForLife
  • Hair Awards
  • Great Escape
  • Explore Singapore
  • Also available at:
Privacy Menu
SPH Media

Copyright © 2023 SPH Media Limited. Co. Regn. No. 202120748H. All rights reserved.

  • Food
  • Family
  • Beauty & Health
  • Style
  • Great Women
  • Events/Win

Beauty & Health

5 Surprising Health Benefits Of Eating Leftovers

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
Diet & Nutrition

5 Surprising Health Benefits Of Eating Leftovers

August 29, 2019

5 Surprising Health Benefits Of Eating Leftovers

Cooked too much and now you’ve got lots of leftovers with no idea what to do with them? Think twice before tossing them in the bin, though! You could be wasting food that delivers some significant health benefits, thanks to chemical changes that occur during the cooking, cooling and reheating process.

Contrary to popular belief, reheating food doesn’t automatically mean you’re killing the food’s nutrients. In some cases, it may even enhance their health benefits, not to mention help you save money and the environment too.

WATCH THIS VIDEO TOO

How To Save Money By Making Leftovers Last

Three tips to store, reheat and use leftovers:

• STORE leftovers in the fridge as soon as the food stops steaming, but never leave it sitting on the bench for longer than two hours. If it’s a large amount of food, store it in a couple of shallow containers rather than one larger one, to bring the food’s temperature down as quickly as possible. Eat leftovers within two or three days.

• REHEAT leftovers until they’re hot right through. You can also use a meat thermometer to ensure food is at least 75 C in the centre. And don’t cool and reheat leftovers more than once.

• RESEARCH recipes that you can use your leftovers in, because a common reason why people waste leftovers is not knowing what to do with them. Get inspired with our recipes, plus our tips and ideas here!

Without further ado, here are five foods that are actually better to eat as leftovers, and the surprising health benefits they offer:

READ MORE:
How To Save Money By Making Leftovers Last
Clever Ways To Recycle Food Scraps At Home And Save Money
5 Ways To Use Leftover Cake

Text: Bauersyndication.com.au & Elizabeth Liew

https://www.womensweekly.com.sg/gallery/beauty-and-health/diet-and-nutrition/health-benefits-of-eating-leftovers-rice-pasta-carrots/
5 Surprising Health Benefits Of Eating Leftovers
1. Leftover rice contains fewer kilojoules
image

When you eat rice that’s been boiled with a little bit of oil when cooked, you absorb 50 per cent fewer of its kilojoules, compared to eating freshly cooked rice. It’s because both the oil and the cooling process change the structure of the rice’s starch, making it more resistant to the body’s digestive enzymes.

Make it work: Cook the rice with a teaspoon of coconut oil (per half cup of rice) and refrigerate it for at least 12 hours, say researchers, who are yet to work out whether other oils create the same effect. And you don’t have to eat the rice cold – reheating it doesn’t alter the kilojoule-lowering properties.

Plus, day-old rice is great for whipping up delicious fried rice! Freshly-cooked rice that’s warm and moist may turn your fried rice dish soggy, whereas rice that’s been sitting in the fridge overnight has enough time to dry out just enough for a good, chewy texture. Try our best fried rice recipes here!

2. Leftover potatoes can improve immunity
image

Cooked and left to cool, potatoes become a good source of resistant starch. Resistant starch is fermented in the large intestine, which changes it into the short-chain fatty acids that promote a healthy bowel – and healthy gut bacteria is closely linked to good immune function.

As well as giving your immune system a boost, resistant starch could be a helpful tool for diabetics because of its ability to improve insulin sensitivity and lower blood sugar levels.

Make it work: Rather than reheating leftover potatoes, it’s best to eat them cold in a salad, because chilled potatoes contain more resistant starch than chilled-and-reheated ones. Try these potato salad recipes (ignore step 1 if you’re using leftover potatoes):  Ultimate Potato Salad, Smoked Salmon and Potato Salad.

3. Leftover carrots can help in cancer prevention
image

Not only does the cooking process immediately increase a carrot’s levels of cancer-fighting antioxidants by 34 per cent, those levels keep rising for a few days afterwards. So eat them as leftovers and they’ll be even better for you. And the cooking method doesn’t matter – the antioxidants in carrots will rise regardless of whether you microwave, bake or boil them.

Make it work: If you’re going to boil the carrots when you cook them for the first time, leave them whole and chop them later. They’ll contain 25 per cent more falcarinol,a compound with anti-cancer properties, than carrots that are chopped before boiling. Try these yummy carrot recipes that your kids will love too.

 

4. Leftover pasta sauce can lower your stroke risk
image

When tomato-based sauces are cooked and then exposed to heat a second time, lycopene, the antioxidant tomatoes contain, is restructured in a way that makes it easier to absorb – and people with high levels of lycopene in their blood are 55 per cent less likely to experience a stroke. The researchers behind the finding say it’s because lycopene reduces inflammation and blood clot risk, which play a role in stroke risk.

Make it work: Add a dash of olive oil to the pasta sauce when you reheat it – the oil combined with the heat is what alters the shape of the lycopene molecules.

READ MORE: 8 Easy At-Home Health Checks That Can Save Your Life

5. Leftover pasta can protect you from diabetes
image

Eat it after it’s been cooked, cooled and reheated and your blood sugar levels will only rise half as high post-meal, compared to when you eat pasta immediately after cooking it. And that matters, because keeping blood glucose levels in check is one way to minimise your risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

What’s the difference between freshly cooked and reheated pasta? Like leftover rice and potatoes, the starch in reheated pasta is more resistant to digestion, so it creates less of a blood sugar surge once you’ve eaten it.

Make it work: Choose wholegrain pasta to boost the benefit, after research linked a bigger wholegrain intake with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes. And remember that “saucy” pasta dishes store and reheat better than plain, cooked pasta, so think lasagne and olive oil or tomato-based penne and spaghetti dishes.

READ MORE:
8 Delicious Ways To Use Your Leftover Christmas Ham
10 Clever Ways To Use Up All Your Leftover Oranges Before They Go Bad
10 Recipes For Pumpkin Leftovers From Halloween

  • TAGS:
  • cancer
  • Carrots
  • diabetes
  • Diet
  • health tips
  • healthy eating
  • immune system
  • immunity
  • Leftovers
  • pasta
  • Pasta sauce
  • Potatoes
  • Rice
  • stroke
SHARE THIS ON

What’s Hot

Diet & Nutrition

Forget Fad Diets, Here’s How To Manage...

Diet & Nutrition

Going From 92 To 61kg: How She Reached H...

Diet & Nutrition

7 Diabetes Myths And Truths Your Family ...

Diet & Nutrition

How To Banish Brain Fog And Regain Your ...

Diet & Nutrition

How To Start (And Maintain) Your 2023 Fi...

Diet & Nutrition

What Is The DASH Diet And Why Should You...

Diet & Nutrition

The No-Nonsense Guide To Reading Food Labels

Diet & Nutrition

What You Need To Know About Going Pescet...

Diet & Nutrition

The Power Of Protein And Why It's Import...

Diet & Nutrition

Eat A Healthy Rainbow Diet With These Su...

Editor’s Picks
  • Diet & Nutrition Forget Fad Diets, Here’s How To Manage Your Health And Weight For Life
  • Diet & Nutrition Going From 92 To 61kg: How She Reached Her Weight Goal With Help Of A Friend ...
  • Beauty & Health What It's Like To Be Diagnosed With Type 1 Diabetes At Only 8 Years-Old
  • Diet & Nutrition 7 Diabetes Myths And Truths Your Family Needs To Know
  • Diet & Nutrition How To Banish Brain Fog And Regain Your Focus
  • Diet & Nutrition How To Start (And Maintain) Your 2023 Fitness Journey
Don't Miss Out Ever Again!
Tips & tricks to stay sane + win invites to our events!

By signing up, you indicate that you have read and agreed with our Privacy Statement
Footer Menu
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Conditions of Access
  • PDPA
  • Privacy Policy
?>">
SPH Magazine

Copyright © 2023 SPH Media Limited. Co. Regn. No. 202120748H. All rights reserved.