Healthy Vegetable
Some Facts About the Healthy Vegetable
By now someone has probably told you that you need to eat healthy. Vegetable and fruit servings are supposed to be a large part of a healthy diet. In fact, at least five servings a day are recommended by the USDA Food Pyramid (mypyramid.gov), which most nutritionists and educators now use as the basis of their nutrition plans. Most nutrition experts recommend even more, in the seven to thirteen serving range.
But what is a healthy vegetable? There are a lot of vegetables out there, literally dozens, and some have large amounts of carbohydrates or fat, and some do not. Others have many vitamins and minerals while some have only a few or none at all. So, how do you choose a healthy vegetable and how do you add it to a healthy diet?
Here are some facts that can help you decide what is a healthy vegetable and what is not. Most vegetables are low fat and have fewer calories than other foods. You will never find cholesterol in any vegetable. However, you can take a healthy vegetable and make it high fat by the method you use to cook it. For example, an onion has very few calories and no fat, but should you fry onions or make onion rings cooked in oil, you have taken a healthy vegetable and made it unhealthy.
The same theory applies to overdoing the butter or sauces with vegetables. While no one would advise you to never ever have butter or margarine again--we do need some fats in out diet, after all--the amount you add to your vegetables can have very real effects in terms of adding on fat and calories.
Beyond having low fat and low calories, a healthy vegetable also is one that is full of nutrients. Vegetables are often referred to as being nutrient dense. When choosing vegetables, look for ones that have vitamins C, A and E, dietary fiber, folic acid (folate), and potassium. Although potatoes have a good amount of potassium, many dieticians advise against even putting potatoes on a list of vegetables. Because of their high carbohydrate content, they are better thought of in the pasta category.
Potassium actually is good for your blood pressure like vitamin C is good for your immune system. Tomatoes are a good source of potassium as are spinach and beet greens. Some high potassium beans include soybeans, lima beans, white beans, along with lentils and split peas.
Choosing a healthy vegetable high in dietary fiber is also a good practice. That’s because dietary fiber does a lot more than just act as roughage to keep our bowels regular. Vegetables with dietary fiber help lower cholesterol and lower your risk of heart disease. The ones with the highest fiber are avocados, tomatoes, artichokes, lima beans, and peas. Folate can be found in asparagus and cooked spinach. Vegetables rich in vitamins include carrots, greens (mustard, turnip, kale), peppers, brussel sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower.
It is not hard to add a healthy vegetable to your diet. If this is a problem area, try out some new ones to add variety. Mypyramid.gov suggests you go for bright colors--orange, red, yellow, purple--the more vegetable colors you have on your plate, the healthier the meal is going to be.