So, I thought to compliment a post earlier this week on the 5 power fruits we should eat everyday, I would give a little love to the vegetable world. Here are my top 5 veggies I try to always have in my refrigerator. Vegetables are like free food. They don’t cost you anything, and you have so much to gain in health. The more you eat them the more your body craves them. I have removed much of my grain/starchy foods and replaced them with vegetables. It has made a huge difference in my health. Much like fruit, they are loaded with vitamins, fiber, and phytochemicals that our bodies need. In addition, swapping veggies for other things will naturally reduce your intake of fat, cholesterol and other not-so-good things. As we have noted before, it is important to buy organic whenever possible.

• Broccoli. Bean-O anyone? There may be a couple side effects to eating too much broccoli, but it’s worth it. To keep this short, I won’t try to list all of vitamins and minerals that it’s packed with, but it provides a ton of good stuff, including more than your daily requirement of Vitamins C, K and A in just one serving. In addition, the calcium provided by broccoli can be absorbed easily by your body (up to 50%), so it’s an efficient calcium provider as well. Broccoli contains the phytonutrients sulforaphane and the indoles, which have significant anti-cancer effects. These phytonutrients have been shown to fight several different types of cancer, suppress tumor growth, and these compounds actually signal our genes to increase production of enzymes involved in detoxification.
• Asparagus. In addition to providing more than your daily requirement of Vitamin K, this baby packs a Folate punch, delivering over 65% of your daily requirement. Folate is essential for a healthy cardiovascular system. Asparagus is also loaded with B vitamins and minerals. Asparagus is a very good source of potassium (288 mg per cup) and low in sodium (19.8 mg per cup). Its mineral profile, combined with an active amino acid, asparagine, gives asparagus a diuretic effect. It has also been used to treat problems involving swelling, such as arthritis and rheumatism.
• Bell Peppers. Most of us know that you can get a green, red or yellow bell pepper. But did you know they also come in orange, purple, brown and black? Different colors indicate different vitamins and minerals. Red bell peppers are loaded with lycopene and beta-carotene for example… this is what gives them their red color. The red’s also have three times more vitamin C per weight than any citrus fruit (green’s have twice as much)! Loaded with antioxidants, bell peppers help to neutralize free radicals, which can travel through the body causing huge amounts of damage to cells. Free radicals are major players in the build up of cholesterol in the arteries that lead to heart disease, the nerve and blood vessel damage seen in diabetes, the cloudy lenses of cataracts, the joint pain and damage seen in osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, and the wheezing and airway tightening of asthma.
• Spinach. So, I’ll have to admit, I can’t eat the stuff cooked. I absolutely refuse to eat something that is squishy, slimy, warm and green. But, I do eat tons of fresh baby spinach. It’s good stuff. As far as density is concerned, dark leafy vegetables such as spinach deliver more nutrients per ounce of weight than any other food. Researchers have identified at least 13 different flavonoid compounds in spinach that function as antioxidants and as anti-cancer agents. The vitamin K provided by spinach is almost 200% of the Daily Value in one cup of fresh spinach leaves (vitamin K can help maintain bone health). It’s also loaded with antioxidants and anti-inflammatory nutrients. Talk about a power food!
• Carrots. Easy to find, easy to eat, and they’re a great snack when you’re craving something crunchy and sweet. Carrots are an excellent source of antioxidant compounds, and the richest vegetable source of beta-carotene. Carrots’ antioxidant compounds help protect against cardiovascular disease and cancer and also promote good vision.
• Avocado (my honorary favorite “vegetable”). It used to be that buying an avocado was an excuse to make guacamole; now, making guac is my excuse to eat the avocado. I love them! I love putting them in my salads, on a sandwich with turkey and bacon… yummmmm. And yes, it is actually a fruit but like tomatoes… I’m going to assume you’ve always thought of it as a veggie. One of the most nutrient-dense foods, avocados are high in fiber and, ounce for ounce, top the charts among all fruits for folate, potassium, vitamin E, and magnesium. The delicious healthy monounsaturated fat in the avocado is one of its biggest health claims. The monounsaturated fat in avocados is oleic acid, which may help lower cholesterol. One study found that after seven days on a diet that included avocados, there were significant decreases in both total and LDL cholesterol as well as an 11 percent increase in the “good” HDL cholesterol.

A noted earlier, when buying veggies organic is best (especially bell peppers and broccoli) and make sure to lightly steam your vegetables rather than boil them. All the good stuff tends to leach out into the water when they’re boiled. If you’re on a budget (and lets face it, who isn’t) frozen veggies is good alternative to fresh. Definitely go with frozen over canned. These are my favorites, but I also eat tons of cucumber, artichokes and other leafy greens. I hate tomatoes (another veggie impostor), but I know that they’re good for us. Adding a healthy amount of vegetable servings can only be a good thing, and when you consider that almost no vegetables “cost” any calories, they’re even better! So, here’s to happier, healthier eating.

Need help figuring out how to get started? Here’s the number 1 way to get more veggies in your diet. For more information on how you can make important changes to your nutrition, check out my Quest for Health Series.

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