Eat Your Vegetables
Consider vegetables as an important part of each meal. Including a spinach and tomato omelet at breakfast; a large salad of lettuces, carrots, cucumbers, and onions at lunch; and some lightly cooked mixed vegetables with dinner can easily provide you with adequate intake. Even a favorite like meat loaf can be made so that up to half of it is vegetable content; add chopped onions, red or yellow bell peppers, zucchini, fresh parsley, and garlic.
Vegetables, such as lightly steamed greens, are quick and easy to prepare and are tasty. Depending on the season and markets you shop, produce such as kale, mustard greens, rapini, Swiss chard, collards, and common spinach are also some of the most nutritious. These bitter leafy vegetables are full of valuable phytonutrients, as well as a host of vitamins and minerals. Greens can be served as a delicious bed for just about any protein food from beef to fish, or steamed and served with a little butter or extra virgin olive oil and sea salt as a side dish. Also add these and others to homemade soups, with leeks, white or yellow onions, mushrooms, or red and yellow peppers.
It is also important to eat a variety of vegetables because they contain varying amounts of specific nutrients. For instance, a serving of leaf lettuce supplies a high amount of beta-carotene but only a small amount of vitamin C, while a serving of brussels sprouts contains high levels of vitamin C with a small amount of beta-carotene.
One of the easiest ways to ensure that you eat enough vegetable variety is to choose them in a rainbow of colors. Carrots and winter squash, which are orange, are high in beta-carotene, which is converted by the body to vitamin A. Many green vegetables are high in vitamin C—a serving of broccoli, for example. In addition to orange and green vegetables, consider purple eggplant and cabbage; red peppers; white, green, and red onions; white cauliflower; yellow summer squash; brown mushrooms; and many others. Each of these colorful vegetables contains its own unique set of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients.
