Chapter 1: All About Vegetables and Overall Health Benefits
【Chapter 1: All About Vegetables and Overall Health Benefits】
Are you eating enough vegetables?
Vegetables.
There're tons of vegetables on our planet and these are some of the most important ingredients for vegans and vegetarians to create vegan dishes which potentially can be incredibly delicious.
Although most of people know that eating vegetables on a daily basis is healthy since they're sources of vitamins and minerals (which is true), what exactly do vegetables do in our body? Can anybody name some health benefits?
One more question.
Are you cooking your vegetables in an effective way to get as much nutrients as possible?
Since this is a huge topic that is really hard to explan everything about vegetables, I will break it down to pieces from basic information to each vegetable characteristics from nutritional aspects, in different articles.
First, it's all about fundamentals of vegetables that you should know about.
I do want you both vegans and non vegans to read till the end if you don't really know what they do for us. Hopefully it helps you get an idea and try adding more vegetables in your diet.
GREEN/YELLOW VEGETABLES VS OTHER VEGETABLES
Vegetables are classified in 2 types: Green/Yellow Vegetables, and Light Colored Vegetables.
They're all vegetables and look similar, but are slightly different in their nutritional characteristics.
Green/Yellow Vegetables are dark color vegetables and considered to contain more micronutrients than other vegetables, and to have many health benefits. Hence, it's recommended to consume more green and yellow vegetables than others, ideally more than 60% of daily consumption of vegetables from green and yellow vegetables.
Green/Yellow Vegetables
spinach, kale, mustard leaves, red bell peppers, green peppers, tomatoes( botanically fruit, but I would include as vegetables here), carrots, Brussels Sprouts
Light Colored Vegetables
lettuce, cabbage, chinese cabbage, corn, cucumber, onion, eggplant
Maybe some of you are confused why eggplant and cucumber are in the category of light color vegetables. Look closely at their inner part. Their skin is beautifully dark purple or green just like green and yellow vegetables, but the inner part is not. It's almost all white which means they relatively contain less nutrients. That being said, it doesn't mean that you don't have to eat light color vegetables. You should eat them on a daily basis because they also contain small amount of micronutrients and moderate amount of fiber so that you're expected to get those nutrients, I would say as supporters. Not only does eating a variety of vegetables make you have fun and your dishs even brighter, but also it does balance out the overall intake of nutrients. For example, when you eat some vegetables with lack of iron and others high in iron, you can still get iron from "others". However if you only eat some low or zero in iron, you wouldn't be able to get iron after all. That's why I highly recommend you eat a variety of vegetables, instead of specific ones.
WHAT ARE THE MAIN NUTRIENTS CONTAINED IN GREEN/YELLOW VEGETABLES?
Vitamins, minerals and fiber!
These are the top 3 categories of micronutrients that most green and yellow vegetbales contain, which most people probably already know.
HIGH NUTRIENTS IN GREEN AND YELLOW VEGETABLES
1. Vitamin A 6. Choline
2. Vitamin B2 7. Iron
3. Vitamin B6 8. Calcium
4. Vitamin C 9. Magnesium
5. Folate 10. Potassium
In terms of calcium, so many people misunderstand that we can only obtain calcium from dairy products which may cause heart diseases, obese, ovarian cancer and prostate cancer due to high fat levels, high cholesterol levels, growth hormones and anti-biotics injected to cows. On the other hand, vegetables, especially green/yellow vegetables also contain high amount of calcium, such as spinach, collards, Brussels Sprouts, kale and Swiss chard. Unlike cow's milk, plants have way more beneficial effects.
From what I've studied and as being vegan, you don't need cow's milk for many reasons including health benefits and animal protection.
Vitamins are amazing micronutrients that promote our health by reducing and protecting from free-radical damages as antioxidants, boosting immune system, regenerating new cells and tissues which improve our wound healing, and much more!
Adequate intake of potasssium regulates Na/K inbalances which plays a role in blood circulation. It helps reduce the blood pressure and water retention. Also it reduces the risks of osteoporosis and kidney stones.
WHAT ARE THE HEALTH BENEFITS?
Due to the high contents of nutrients in green/yellow vegetables, the vegetables play a huge role in maintaining our body. Especially, some studies proved that consumption of green/yellow vegetables is linked to lowering risks of heart diseases and cancers. Not only do green/yellow vegetables have potential benefits to prevent from cancers and cardiovascular diseases, but also there're more to it throughout our body.
- Reduce risk of cardiovascular diseases (heart attack, stroke)
- Reduce blood pressure
- Reduce risk of cancers
- Decrease mental symptoms (depression)
- Prevent cataract formation
- Reduce inflammation (skin, brain, joints)
To prevent from potential health problems with no or less consumption of vegetables, I swear to god highly recommend adding enough vegetables in a diet. I would say at least 500g or more of a wide variety of vegetables a day is preferable, both cooked and non-cooked.
That is it for now :)
Next chapter will be looking more closely at 'red vegetables' that you want to add into your daily meal!
Stay tuned!!!
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me anytime!
Thank you,
-piggyinkitchen-
References:
- Dagfinn A, Edward G, (2017) Fruit and vegetable intake and the risk of cardiovascular disease, total cancer and all-cause mortality-a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective studies, International Journal of Epidemiology, Volume 46, Issue 3, Pages 1029–1056, https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyw319
- Guangwen T, Xiu-fang G, (1991) Green and yellow vegetables can maintain body stores of vitamin A in Chinese children, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 70, Issue 6, Pages 1069–1076, https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/70.6.1069
- Van D, Mary A S, Overview of the health benefits of fruit and vegetable consumption for the dietetics professional, Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Volume 100, Issue 12, 1511 - 1521
- University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, https://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/IR/00/00/26/45/00001/he93700.pdf
- USDA Agricultural Research Service, https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/169228/nutrients
- USDA Agricultural Research Service, https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/168462/nutrients
- Tanaka M, Hashimoto K (2019), Impact of consuming green and yellow vegetables on the depressive symptoms of junior and senior high school students in Japan, PLoS ONE 14(2): e0211323, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0211323
