Do you know the nutritional benefits of 8 common vegetables?

Vegetables are one of the essential foods in people's daily diet, providing various nutrients such as vitamins and minerals required by the human body. Each vegetable has different health benefits. Let's take a look at the nutritional benefits of these 8 vegetables.

1. Pumpkin — Removes heavy metals and pesticides from the body

Eating pumpkin can effectively prevent and treat high blood pressure, gallstones, diabetes, and other liver and kidney diseases, helping patients with weakened liver and kidney function improve their cell regeneration ability. The pectin rich in pumpkin can slow down the absorption of sugar and lipids in the intestines, and can also remove heavy metals and some pesticides from the body, thus having anti-cancer and detoxification effects; the cobalt rich in pumpkin is an essential trace element for synthesizing insulin. Pumpkin can also eliminate the mutagenic effect of carcinogenic nitrosamines.

2. Spinach — Cleanses heat and toxins from the gastrointestinal tract

Spinach can cleanse heat and toxins from the human gastrointestinal tract, prevent constipation, and make people look radiant. Spinach leaves contain a substance similar to insulin, which can keep blood sugar stable. The rich vitamin content in spinach can prevent vitamin deficiency diseases such as angular stomatitis and night blindness. Spinach also contains a large amount of antioxidants, which have anti-aging and promote cell proliferation effects. It can not only activate brain function but also enhance youthful vitality and prevent brain aging.

Pumpkin Rice Cake

Extended reading: A Complete Guide to Eating Pumpkin

3. Bitter Melon — Nourishes yin, reduces fire, detoxifies, and relieves summer heat

Although bitter melon is bitter, it is cool in nature and refreshing and not greasy when eaten. It feels particularly refreshing and comfortable to eat in summer, with the effect of detoxifying and nourishing yin, detoxifying and beautifying the skin. Bitter melon made into a cool tea for drinking in summer can make people feel refreshed and relieved from summer heat and thirst. In some regions, bitter melon is cut, lightly pickled with salt to reduce some of the bitterness, and eaten as a vegetable; some cut bitter melon into rings and stew it with minced meat, garlic, and fermented black beans as a delicacy.

4. Carrot — Reduces mercury concentration in the body

Carrot is an effective detoxifying food. After binding with mercury ions in the body, it can effectively reduce the concentration of mercury ions in the blood and accelerate the excretion of mercury ions from the body. The potassium succinate contained in carrots helps prevent hardening of blood vessels and lower cholesterol. The carotene contained in carrots can remove free radicals that cause human aging, and the nutritional components such as B vitamins and vitamin C also have moisturizing and anti-aging effects. Eating carrots can also reduce the incidence of ovarian cancer in women.

Cold-dressed Bitter Melon

Extended reading: A Complete Guide to Eating Bitter Melon

5. Kelp — Lowers cholesterol and expels radioactive substances

Kelp contains a substance called fucoidan, which can remove cholesterol attached to the blood vessel walls and keep cholesterol at a normal level. The algin in kelp, due to its high water content, can form a gel-like substance in the intestines, which helps expel toxins, prevents the human body from absorbing heavy metals such as lead and cadmium, and expels radioactive elements from the body. At the same time, it helps treat arteriosclerosis and can prevent constipation and colon cancer. Kelp also contains a large amount of iodine, which can stimulate the pituitary gland, reduce the estrogen level in women, restore ovarian function, and eliminate the hidden danger of hyperplasia of mammary glands.

6. Wood Ear Mushroom — Eliminates heat and toxins from the blood

Because wood ear mushrooms grow in a humid and cool environment, traditional Chinese medicine believes they have the effects of replenishing qi and activating blood, cooling blood and moistening, and can eliminate heat and toxins from the blood. The plant gum in black wood ear mushrooms has a strong adsorption capacity, which can discharge impurities remaining in the human digestive system out of the body, playing a role in clearing the stomach and intestines. Black wood ear mushrooms can dissolve indigestible substances in the body such as grain husks, wood chips, sand, and metal shavings, and can also dissolve gallstones and kidney stones. Black wood ear mushrooms can also reduce blood clots and prevent the occurrence of thrombotic diseases.

【Minnan】Bosnia and Herzegovina vs. Yugoslavia

Extended reading: A Complete Guide to Eating Black Wood Ear Mushrooms

7. Cauliflower — Cleanses blood vessels

Cauliflower is one of the foods with the most flavonoids. In addition to preventing infections, it is also a good blood vessel cleanser that can prevent cholesterol oxidation, prevent platelets from clumping together, and reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke. It can also strengthen the blood vessel walls and is effective for obesity, weakened eyesight, and edema. Regular consumption of cauliflower can enhance the liver's detoxification ability, prevent colds and scurvy, and long-term consumption can reduce the incidence of cancers such as breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and stomach cancer.

8. Mung Bean — Detoxifies all poisons and clears internal heat

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that mung beans can detoxify all poisons, help the excretion of toxins in the body, and promote the body's normal metabolism. Mung beans can detoxify alcohol poisoning, wild mushroom poisoning, arsenic poisoning, organophosphorus pesticide poisoning, lead poisoning, cinnabar poisoning, and rat poison poisoning. Mung beans also contain ingredients that lower blood pressure and blood lipids. Eating mung bean sprouts can treat night blindness caused by vitamin A deficiency, glossitis and stomatitis caused by vitamin B2 deficiency, and scurvy caused by vitamin C deficiency. The bean skin shed from mung bean sprouts is called mung bean skin, which has the effects of clearing heat and detoxifying, improving eyesight, and removing nebula.

With the improvement of living standards, people are increasingly pursuing nutrition when eating vegetables. However, the more common a vegetable is, it doesn't mean it's less nutritious, and the more expensive it is, it doesn't mean it's more nutritious. The price of vegetables is mainly affected by supply and demand, and the key to nutrition lies in a balanced combination. We should intake all kinds of nutrients in a balanced way, rather than judging their value by price alone.

Dry-fried Cauliflower

Extended reading: A Complete Guide to Eating Cauliflower

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