Vegetable nutrition facts

Vegetables, like fruits, are low in calories and fats but contain good amounts of vitamins and minerals. All the Green-Yellow-Orange vegetables are rich sources of calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, beta-carotene,

vitamin B-complex, vitamin-C, vitamin-A, and vitamin K.

As in fruits, vegetables too are home for many antioxidants. These health benefiting phyto-chemical
compounds firstly; help protect the human body from oxidant stress, diseases, and cancers, and secondly; help the body develop the capacity to fight against these by boosting immunity.

How much vegetables should be in our daily diet?

Eat at least 5-7 servings of fresh vegetables every day. Federal dietary guidelines now recommends at least nine servings of vegetable nutrition and fruit nutritions per day. Seasonal vegetables should be encouraged. Bring variety in the choice of vegetables in your everyday diet. Yellow and orange color vegetables are rich in Vitamin-A, a, ß carotenes, zea-xanthins and crypto-xanthins, whereas dark-green vegetables are a good source of minerals and phenolic, flavonoid as well as anthocyanin anti-oxidants.

Selection of vegetables

Whenever possible, go for organic farm vegetables to get maximum health benefits. They are not very expensive if you can find them from the nearby local farm owners. Organic verities tend to be smaller but have rich flavor, possess some good concentration of vitamins, minerals and loaded with numerous health benefiting anti-oxidants.
How to use vegetables?

First thing you need to do soon after shopping your choice of vegetables is to wash them thoroughly, especially green leafy vegetables. Rinse in salt water for few minutes, and gently swish in cool water until you are satisfied with cleanliness. This way, you ensure them free from dirt, sand and any residual chemical sprays.

Use them early while fresh because, firstly, certain vegetables have very short shelf life and secondly, the health benefiting properties of a vegetable declines with time. However, if you need to store them, then place inside plastic wrappings or in zip pouches in order to preserve their nutrition for short-periods until you use them.