Health and Fitness

There is no food as suited for the human body’s requirements as vegetables. You need to eat vegetables every day to meet your nutritional requirements easily. The nutritional benefits of vegetables simply cannot be matched by other foods such as meats, legumes or even fruits.

To start with, vegetables are exceptionally low in calories. If you are trying to lose weight, vegetables are the perfect food for you. It’s almost impossible to gain fat from vegetables, no matter how much you eat them (unless of course, the vegetables are beer-battered or covered in oil, butter or sugary syrups). One whole cup of vegetables, on average, contains only 50 calories. On the other, a whole cup of fruits can contain as many as 400 calories, in the case of dried fruits like raisins. Legumes contain an average of 250 calories per cup. This means that you can eat as many vegetables as you like, without worrying about gaining weight.

Vegetables also provide the right balance of vitamins and minerals that we need. Vegetables, especially green leafy vegetables, contain nutrition that is difficult to obtain from other foods.

At the same time, vegetables are high in their content of water-soluble vitamins. These are vitamins that need to be replaced every day, and eating vegetables daily is an easy way to do that. Vegetables are especially high in “B-complex” vitamins that are water soluble, such as B1, B2, B3, B5, B12 and biotin. Vegetables are also high in folic acid, choline and Vitamin C (another water-soluble vitamin). Vegetables are also an essential source of fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamins A, D and E.

Vegetables are also especially healthy because they contain such a high percentage of phytonutrients. Scientists consider the discovery of phytonutrients to be a big step in health sciences: phytonutrients are the nutrients most closely linked to the prevention of certain diseases such as cancer and other age-related diseases. Phytonutrients consist of all the unique elements that give vegetables their bright colours, delicious aromas and yummy flavours. Carotenoids and flavonoids are the two largest group of phytonutrients, and these are found in abundance in vegetables. Certain phytonutrients can only be found in green vegetables like broccoli, and root vegetables such as onions and garlic.

Finally, vegetables are very high in fibre content. Because of this high fibre content, vegetables tend to make us feel full quickly and for longer. This is especially helpful if you are trying to reduce your food consumption and lose weight. In addition, this high fibre content helps in maintaining regular bowel movements and a clean colon.

Because of their amazing health benefits and their usefulness for people trying to lose weight, it’s essential to eat vegetables every day.