Does hot water destroy the vitamins and mineral content

Rebekah108

New Member
Hello everyone!

This is my first post- am really looking forward to posting here and enjoying the synergy between us all.

Im on exante packs- Im doing 2 packs per day plus one meal. Ive been doing this two weeks now and so far so good- losses have been steady, 4lbs first week and am coming to the close of the second week.

My mum is also on the diet- so we are good support for each other- she was on lighter life and lost 3 stone and then put it all back on. So this time we decided to do exante and incorperate alot more exercise. Plus she's doing 3 packs plus a meal.

I digress- back to my question- Im wondering does boiling water straight from the kettle destroy the vitamins and mineral content in the packs? I'm having hot shakes as I like the comfort of the warm drink. Obviously with the soups its boiling water- but I read somewhere that boiling water destroys vitamin content.

Can someone please advise me.:confused:

Ps- One of the things that has completely revolutionised my thinking is drinking 3-4 litres of squash. (I can't drink just plain.) It's very diluted. It does say dont drink squash in exante rules but im thinking long term and this is a habit now for life for me. Who knew that drinking so much water would transform you.
 
Last edited:
HI AND WELCOME

I really think you should stay away from the squash if you can....it depends on what sort of meal you are adding also as to wether you want to be in fat burning mode or not.
Why not try sparkling water.
Hot drinks are ok as long as the water is not boiling....i have mine just hot enough to eat...if it is soup without waiting for them to cool down.

I hope you don't mind me asking....how much weight do you want to lose?
:welcome2:

Shaz x
 
Hiya everyone

I have nearly a full months packs for sale on ebay

only 5 been taken out of box.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hiya everyone

I have nearly a full months packs for sale on ebay

only 5 been taken out of box.

Contact Exante as I belive they do refunds if you are not happy.

We do not allow the selling of diets on our forum.
 
Hi Shaz,

Thanks for the speedy reply. I never ever drink carbonated drinks. Regarding the squash- here's how I do it- I take an empty robbinsons squash bottle put an inch of pure cordial in it and then fill it with a litre of water- and I do that 3 times a day. I enjoy it- and am at a loss as to why this would be harmful to my diet. Please could you tell me? The other drink I have is tea.

I take your point about boiling water and shall now do it hot. The meal I tend to have in the evening- is 400 calories- so by my figures I'm consuming 800 claories a day. Which is fine. My mums on 1000 pd. Evening meals tend to be samon and salad or rivettas and canned tuna with salad. Or a plate of lightly steamed veg and rivettas. Neither my mum nor myself eat meat- so protein has to come from fish or soya/quorn products. So the meals we have are something we have always eaten.

Both my mum and I have 3 stone to loose. Hope this helps.
 
I have practically everything hot. Given that a large proportion of their products are designed to be made with hot water, I really don't think it's an issue.

However I generally make everything up with 100ml cold, and 300ml hot from kettle. Hot enough, without having to wait for the damn thing to cool down, as you're meant to consume within 15 minutes of making.

The squash is not a good idea, especially if it has citric acid in it.
 
The squash I have is either robbinsons apple or highjuice apple. Blackcurrent/summerfruits flavour too. I stay away from orange/lemon for the citric reasons stated. Do you think this would be ok? I am not a fan of bubbles- so carbonation isnt an option.
At work it's tea or peppermint tea.
 
@ Shaz. I did write a reply- but the moderators are checking it before it becomes visable. (I think because the thread was getting hijacked by sales adverts). Just so you dont think im being rude in not answering.
 
Well, if water is really a no-go, you'll have to see how *you* react to it. If your losses are poor, you feel regularly hungry because it's blunting ketosis or similar, you may need to reconsider your options.
 
Have you checked the sugar and carb levels in this squash? Carbs can be high in diet products and could knock you out of ketosis.
 
Heat and oxidation destroy vitamin C, and others, too. If you're going to use boiled water, let it cool to the point of little or no steam coming off it--before mixing. (The steam is evidence of active, rapid oxidation of the water.)
 
Last edited:
The squash I have is either robbinsons apple or highjuice apple. Blackcurrent/summerfruits flavour too. I stay away from orange/lemon for the citric reasons stated. Do you think this would be ok? I am not a fan of bubbles- so carbonation isnt an option.
At work it's tea or peppermint tea.

Hi sorry,

just seen message....like Miss D said....i think you will have to see what your weight loss is like. Is it important for you to stay in Ketosis or not?

Shaz x
 
The steam is evidence of active, rapid oxidation of the water.

I beg to differ, ol' bean.

You can't see steam (H20 in gaseous state). Hot water gives off water vapour, which is simply evidence of water in slightly different state. As are clouds.

'Oxidation', by definition, describes a process whereby there is a change in the chemical formula. Water changing state from solid to liquid to gas remains H20, and doesn't gain oxygen, electrons, or anything else tangible - it only gains a few hundred joules. Water regularly causes oxidation (after this winter I've got ferric oxide all over my motorcycle), but I fail to see how water itself can be 'oxidised' any further than it is already, by the process described.

Now then, you may have a point over 100 deg C+ temperatures, but sadly my faith is shaken by the very basic misunderstanding in school textbook science.

I suppose chlorophyll oxygenates the blood too... ;)
 
I suppose chlorophyll oxygenates the blood too... ;)

Haha - good old chlorophyll...
 
Aw, now, Miss D....Just because I didn't go all bookish in my response doesn't mean I misunderstand school textbook science. (Being an engineer, I'm pretty sure that I grasp science.) Everything on earth is in a constant state of breakdown or compensation. Yes, even powder in a packet or tub. Still, water does oxidize things "more" or "faster" than simple air because water is 33.3% oxygen and the part of the atmosphere that we breathe (in which some amount water is always present, even in the desert) is generally between 12% and 20%. The very anti-oxidant nature of vitamin C means that it breaks down when confronted with oxygen.

Oh, and then there's the fact that C is one of the water-soluble vitamins, so it breaks down in water, too.

The 100+C temps, well, that's a different issue entirely. For that, I refer you to food science faculty at Auburn University:
"The reason you could not find a simple one temperature to answer your question is that there is no one temperature that will apply to all foods and cooking processes. The destruction of the vitamin is dependent on the food or source of the vitamin. Nature has put many things in the food to protect the food from losing the vitamin.

Take for instance an orange. As long as you keep the orange intact with the skin you will keep most of the vitamin. But as the fruit ripens and the cell walls start to break down the vitamin is gradually destroyed. This happens less rapidly if the orange is keep refrigerated. This is partly due to the fact that the cell wall destruction is slowed down, so the two work together. Also another factor is the pH of the food or the source of the vitamin. Vitamin C or Ascorbic Acid is a weak acid and is more stable (not destroyed as rapidly) if it is in this environment. Like the orange. There are many acids in addition to ascorbic acid in the orange. This helps to keep the vitamin from being destroyed.

Therefore, temperature is only one factor that will result in the destruction of Vitamin C. There are others, like oxidation. After you cut the orange the cut part is now exposed to oxygen. Oxygen causes the destruction of the vitamin C. After a short period of time the vitamin in the orange will be destroyed without any change in temperature.

Now let us put them all together into a food. Like oranges. We squeeze the juice from the orange. This starts the destruction of vitamin. We know from research studies that this actually results in a greater loss than the short time high temperature exposure from the pasteurization used by most juice companies. If the juice is exposed to a lower temperature for a long time you will actually destroy more of the vitamin C than if you flash pasteurize short time high temperature. So the temperature is not as important as some of the other factors that you need to control in cooking foods. We know that cooking food in small amounts of water is less destructive to the vitamin than in large amounts because the vitamin is water soluble.

One more example: Potatoes are a very good source of vitamin C. But most of our potatoes are eaten as french fries. These potatoes are cooked at a very high temperature. But because they are not in a water solution (FAT) the vitamin is not destroyed as rapidly as if you boiled them in water to have mashed potatoes. In one medium potato that is peeled and boiled you will get about 10 milligrams of vitamin C . If you take this same potato and French Fry it you will receive about 15 milligrams.

Vitamins are very interesting. There is a lot more to it than you think. Also if you take the vitamin out of the food source altogether and place it in a vitamin pill the vitamin is very easily destroyed. So if you take vitamin pills and have had a bottle on your counter you may not have any of the vitamin C left in the bottle if it has been there for a long time."
 
now now you two, you didn't properly reference you quotes!!! tututututut not bookish at all are you really
 
Last edited:
Hey, wasn't arguing the vitamin point - just that steam, which isn't steam, was in itself 'proof' of oxidation.

This site is so full of dodgy science (which only serves to confound people who take it as gospel) that all expanded explanations can only be good, and should be positively encouraged.

So back to the vitamin point (which I could deconstruct a bit, but won't as I'm busy this evening) - if assorted vitamins are destroyed by varying and inconsistent levels of heat and oxidisaton, and by the simple action of taking them out of the natural substance and putting them in a pill/VLCD renders some or all them practically useless, what do you (constructively and practically) suggest we do about it, particularly in the context of the diet we're discussing on this forum?

And no, most of my potatoes are not eaten as French Fries. I only wish they were ;)
 
Last edited:
Point of order










It not French fries

it's chips


;-)
 
Back
Top