Guess what today is??? It’s National Eat Your Vegetables Day! This falls right in the middle of National Eat Your Fruits and Vegetables Month and it highlights the importance of adding veggies to your diet on a daily basis. According to www.healthline.com here’s the list of the most nutrient dense vegetables (these are the vegetables that are loaded with nutrition that provide an enormous amount of anti-inflammatory benefits) : spinach, carrots, broccoli, garlic, brussels sprouts, kale, green peas, Swiss chard, beets, asparagus, red cabbage, sweet potatoes, collard greens and cauliflower. If you go to the Healthline website, you can read in detail about the benefits of each vegetable.
A few interesting facts about vegetables and vegetable consumption:
China, as a country, eats the most vegetables in the world – 555 million TONS in 2020!
In the United States, Vermont is the state that consumes the most vegetables, Louisiana eats the least
90% of Americans, overall, DO NOT consume the daily recommended amount of vegetables
In the United States, tomatoes are eaten more than any other fruit or vegetable (the tomato is a fruit)
The strawberry isn’t a berry – it’s actually part of a flower
The avocado, on the other hand, is a berry and is sometimes called an alligator pear
Garlic loses a lot of it’s nutrition when it’s cooked but if you chop or mince fresh garlic and leave it for about 10-15 minutes before cooking, it retains much of it’s nutrition!
So what’s the right amount of daily vegetables for you? Easy. Half your dinner plate should be a salad or vegetables. The other half split between a good protein(fish, chicken, lean pork, occasional beef) and a starch (grains, rice, whole wheat pasta). Here’s a good visual below:
I’ve posted two new recipes on the Food is Medicine page. Take a look and try them. They are very easy and pack a lot of flavor into a simple dish. Let me know what you think!
Be well,
Barbara