There are plenty of reasons why you should listen to your mum – because mums always think they’re right, and because mums always want nothing but the best for their children. The second reason is good enough for us to listen to our mums, agree? But of course, these days we all think we know better than our mums, don’t we?
But for those of you who never listened to your mum’s naggings on why you must finish your veges, you should now take notice and listen to her. We all know vegetables are a must in a balanced diet to provide the fiber and vitamins our bodies need. If you don’t know better, vegetables do more than that for our health.
Different kinds of vegetables are needed in our diet, preferably vegetables made up of all sorts of colours, green, orange, red and yellow. Well purple for aubergine too if you’d like!
On a more serious note, below are some of the important nutrients that we need and they can be obtained simply by eating different types of vegetables.
1. Fiber – One of the main benefits of a high fiber diet includes decreased risk of coronary artery disease.
Excellent vegetable sources for fiber: navy beans, kidney beans, black beans, pinto beans, lima beans, white beans, soybeans, split peas, chick peas, black eyed peas, lentils, artichokes.
2. Folate – Adequate amounts of folate may help to reduce a woman’s risk of having a child with brain or spinal cord defect.
Excellent vegetable sources for folate: black eyed peas, cooked spinach, great northern beans, asparagus.
3. Potassium – a healthy amount of potassium in diets can help to maintain healthy blood pressure.
Excellent fruits and vegetable sources: sweet potatoes, tomato paste, tomato puree, beet greens, white potatoes, white beans, lima beans, cooked greens, carrot juice, prune juice.
4. Vitamin A – it helps keep our eyes and skin healthy and also protects against infections.
Excellent fruits and vegetable sources: sweet potatoes, pumpkin, carrots, spinach, turnip greens, mustard greens, kale, collard greens, winter squash, cantaloupe, red peppers, Chinese cabbage.
5. Vitamic C – other than helping to boost immune system, the indirect benefits include faster healing power on cuts and wounds, and an excellent way to keep teeth and gums healthy too.
Excellent fruits and vegetable sources: red and green peppers, kiwi, strawberries, sweet potatoes, kale, cantaloupe, broccoli, pineapple, Brussels sprouts, oranges, mangoes, tomato juice, cauliflower.
Source of information: Fruits & Veggies Matter
So now that you know how the colourful fruits and vegetables can help to contribute to good health, shouldn’t you too be getting your children to eat healthy amounts of them?
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I don’t know If I said it already but …Cool site, love the info. I do a lot of research online on a daily basis and for the most part, people lack substance but, I just wanted to make a quick comment to say I’m glad I found your blog. Thanks,
A definite great read..
-Bill-Bartmann