By Tammy Lakatos Shames, RD & Lyssie Lakatos, RD

Want to obtain the most nutrition out of your meals? Incorporate fresh ingredients and pay attention to how they are

prepped. There are a variety of ways to cook certain foods that can make them more flavorful while maintaining high nutritional levels.

To boost the flavor and nutritional value in our meals, we are constantly on the lookout for the freshest foods.more Our go-to ingredients are wholesome foods like fresh vegetables and lean proteins like Eggland's Best eggs, which are packed with more vitamins to help us feel great. We also prepare our meals in ways that capture the most nutrients from our fresh ingredients.

Here are a few simple tips on ways to maximize the nutritional benefits for certain foods:

• Keep the golden nugget: Yellow is the new black when it comes to the egg. The majority of vitamins and nutrients of an egg are found in the yolk. Keep in mind that some eggs contain more nutrients than others such as Eggland's Best eggs, which provide four times more vitamin D, double the omega-3s and ten times the vitamin E when compared to ordinary eggs. When it comes to taste, there's nothing like the flavor of freshness. In fact, a recent study from The Journal of Applied Poultry Researchconfirmed that the hen feed and processing production of Eggland's Best eggs make them the leader in egg freshness.
• Goodbye to boiling, hello to steaming: Boiling your vegetables is a surefire way to lose nutrients. The water soluble vitamins like vitamin C and folate will leach into the water instead of going into your body. If eating raw vegetables isn't for you, try steaming them to retain nutrients. By steaming, you'll also get tender, crispy and flavorful veggies.
• Keep the peel: The skin of fruits and vegetables like apples, potatoes and cucumbers are packed with nutrients and fiber. By peeling the skins of these fruits and vegetables, you are also peeling away valuable nutrients. Some foods, such as potatoes, provide even more fiber in their skin than in the whole item. And, when it comes to flavor, the crispy skins are often the best part!