What You Need to Know About Vegetables

By Emmaline Edmunds

Vegetables are not that popular especially with the younger generation. Many try to pass up from eating vegetables because not everyone appreciates them. However, people should know that vegetables are a very important to any diet. A meal that includes some vegetables can be seen as a balanced diet. Vegetables are best taken when they are fresh. This is so that they can maintain their taste and also so that they can be able to maintain their nutritional value. Vegetables have different ways of being served. They can be served as the main dish or a side dish.

There are different ways of preparing cooked vegetables. One can boil, grill or fry vegetables. Each method has its disadvantages and disadvantages with regard to health. Boiling the vegetables too long, according to nutrition experts, is not that good an idea. This is because the vegetables end up losing a lot of nutrients when they are boiled longer than ten minutes. When this happened, most of the nutrients given off by the vegetable go into the water. The other option of frying the vegetables is not always good too. This is because the vegetables will end up being fatty due to the oil it is fried in. The last option of grilling vegetables is the method most recommended by nutrition experts. This is because grilling does not lead to loss of nutrients nor does it subject your veggies to too much oil.

Vegetables have earned their importance in maintaining health because of the vitamins that they contain. The nutrients found in vegetables include potassium, vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamin C, folic acid (folate), potassium and dietary fiber.

These nutrients have many health benefits to the body. For example, folate boosts red blood cell production. Dietary fiber also found in the vegetables has its advantages. It helps in reducing the amount of cholesterol in the blood. This avoids one getting complications from high amounts of cholesterol in the blood. The other health benefit of fiber is it helps the bowel function perform at its peak. The potassium found in the vegetables helps maintain the blood pressure at healthy levels. People suffering from high blood pressure would benefit most from the consumption of vegetables. Vitamin A helps maintain the health of the skin. It makes the skin smooth and young looking. Also, vitamin A helps improve vision. Vitamin C helps maintain the health of the teeth and the bones. Also, other health benefits of vitamin C would be that it helps with iron absorption and helps heal wounds faster.the vitamin E, on the other hand, helps cell oxidization of essential acids.

The other general health benefit of vegetable consumption is that it can reduce your chances of getting diabetes and stroke. Also, some vegetables give some protection against some cancers, osteoporosis, heart disease and the existence of kidney stones. Another advantage of incorporating vegetables in regular diet is that these foods help in the loss of weight. This is because they are very low in calories but have very high fiber content.