While the choice of foods is important, how they are stored and prepared is just as important to preserve their vitamin content. A few simple, but essential steps …
The place of fresh fruits and vegetables in the nutritional balance of the athlete is essential to cover vitamin intake, even during intensive training.

Preserving fruits and vegetables
Storing food, even in a cool place, is deleterious, but has only a minor influence compared to other vitamin depletion factors.

The preparation
Peeling fruits and vegetables removes some of the vitamins. Recognize that this loss is often inevitable! However, it will not be a mistake to consume the skin of the fruit in some cases, after having washed it well (apple, pear, etc.).

The cooking
The vitamin content of food is particularly sensitive to cooking.

Only the pressure cooker makes it possible to reduce the cooking time, and therefore deteriorates the vitamins the least. Conversely, vegetable dishes simmered for several tens of minutes (ratatouille for example) have a significant deterioration in their vitamins.

Hence the importance of the daily ration of raw vegetables, which constitutes an essential vitamin contribution, particularly rich, since the vegetable is eaten raw, retaining almost all of its nutritional value.

Sensitivity to light
Vitamins are also particularly sensitive to light. One of the best examples is fruit juices stored in glass bottles, which contain very little vitamin, most of which is not destroyed by UV radiation. 100% pure juice should be preferred, packaged in cardboard (Tétra Brique) or plastic bottles, to isolate the fruit juice from the harmful influences of light.

Other enemies of vitamins
Some drugs that are sometimes common, such as some oral contraceptives, gastric bandages … can interfere with the absorption of vitamins. Finally, even though they are rarely found in the sports world, tobacco and alcohol destroy vitamins B and C.