14 Quick Vegetable Facts

One of the biggest challenges people face is getting enough veggie servings into their daily life. These quick veggie facts should give you an sense of how important veggies really are and even provide a few new ways to implement them into your daily menus.

1. Extolling veggies- they are naturally low in calories, but high in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber.


2. According to the USDA, we're suppose to get 5 servings of vegetables per day. That's about 2.5 cups worth.

3. Less than one third of Americans meet the daily vegetable requirement.

4. If you buy smart, you can meet your daily requirement for less than $2.50 per day.

5. Vegetables start losing their nutrients the moment they are picked, albeit slowly. Once in contact with water or heat, the process is greatly accelerated.

6. Wash vegetables just before serving.

7. Eating raw vegetables retains more nutrients than heating them. And if you're ever tasted fresh corn, minutes after harvest, you know it's not as weird as it sounds to eat uncooked.

8. Choose veggies from all color ranges, as each color represents a different set of nutrients.

9. Chopping vegetables into larger pieces helps maintain nutrients better than finely chopping because less surface area comes in contact with air or water that leech out the nutrients.

10. Steaming, microwaving, and a pressure cooker are the best cooking methods to retain nutrients.

11. Keeping the vegetable peels on is recommended where possible because the peel and the area just below contain large amounts of nutrients such as fiber.

12. If preparing veggies in boiling water (i.e. corn on the cob), nutrients leech into the water. Don't lose them by discarding this water, use it to prepare a soup or broth.

13. Remember ADEK- Vitamins that are fat soluble (Vitamin A, D, E, K). A tablespoon of olive oil or canola oil on a freshly prepared garden salad actually improves the bio-availability of these vitamins.

14. Vegetables can be served as a snack- carrot sticks, celery sticks filled with peanut butter, cherry tomatoes, etc.

What to do at the grocery store:

If you're on a tight budget - buy veggies in season, they'll be much cheaper than imports from the other side of the planet. Check the frozen section at the grocery store- many times you'll find cheap vegetables as well. Their nutritional value is often close or equal to that of their own fresh equivalent.