You Should Be Eating These Vegetables

This is a community service announcement – you should be eating your vegetables. Jokes aside, today’s post is nothing more than a timely reminder to think about your current diet and whether or not it has enough vegetable content in it. I don’t think I need to remind you of the benefits vegetables have. However, I will give you a list of vegetables you should try and eat if you haven’t in a while.

Tomatoes

When you talk to a nutritionist about tomatoes, it is likely they will bring up this chemical known as lycopene. Although this is not essential to your body, studies have shown a negative association between tomato consumption and some types of cancers. This compound can also reduce cholesterol levels and combats unnecessary inflammation.

Beetroot

We move from the red to the purple. Beetroot is truly an acquired taste – you either like it or hate it. And some people can learn to like it. And it stains horribly if it gets on your clothes. However, it does have plenty of vitamins and minerals, one of which is Folic acid, which is known for stimulating red blood cells and preventing anaemia.

Onion

Alright, not just onion, but other members of the onion family such as garlic, leek and spring onions. Some people wouldn’t even consider them vegetables due to the technicalities of definition. Nevertheless, members of the onion family contain antioxidants and sulphur compounds, which are good at combating cancer, or so they say.

Pumpkin

In the western culture, we have been socialised to associate pumpkins with Halloween, even in countries where it was traditionally not celebrated, like Australia. However, pumpkins aren’t just good for carving to make funny faces. They actually contain plenty of Vitamin A. This not only boosts your immune system, but strengthens your tissue and bones. So why not add some to your diet?

Cruciferous Vegetables

This is a very broad category of vegetables which include cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage and brussel sprouts – you know, the type which you actively tried to avoid as a child. However, the fact remains that like other items on this list, these vegetables contain plenty of antioxidants, which is always a good thing.

Spinach

In the same way that we associate pumpkins with Halloween, we also often associate spinach with Popeye the sailor. Unfortunately, spinach does not contain as much iron as the cartoon leads us to believe. However, it does contains plenty of vitamins such as A and K, as well as Folic acid, which can only be good for your body.

Capsicum

If you ask a biochemist or food scientist about capsicum, one of the first things they will tell you is that it is full of Ascorbic acid, which to us normal people, translates as Vitamin C. And yes the levels are almost as high as in oranges. This is especially so for the red variety, although the yellow and green varieties do not lag behind by much.

Radish

This one is often missing from lists of vegetables to consume, and this is such a pity. You may or may not know this, but radish has really little calories, which technically means that you can indulge in it more. Needless to say, it also does not contain any fat. Apart form fibre and water, they also contain a lot of Vitamins B6 and C, as well as trace elements such as calcium, potassium, magnesium and folate.

I hope this reminder has come at a good time and will stimulate you into action. It is absolutely normal for us to get absorbed into the grind of life so much that we sometimes forget to do what is right, which in the opinion of this blog, is also what is healthy.

Mark

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