When selecting vegetables, it is important to pair them reasonably and cleverly. Adhering to a variety of types and colors is key to ensuring a balanced nutritional intake.
The nutritional content and levels of vegetables vary due to differences in their edible parts, color intensity, growth stages, and even different parts of the same plant. When purchasing, you can make a selection based on your specific nutritional needs.
Generally, vegetables can be divided into three main categories: leafy stem, root and tuber, and fruit. Additionally, there are flower and gourd vegetables. Leafy stem vegetables
include rape, chives, bok choy, spinach, and others, which are rich in vitamin C and carotene. Spinach contains iron, but it also contains oxalic acid, which can hinder the absorption of calcium and iron from food. Therefore, it should be briefly blanched in boiling water before cooking. Root and tuber vegetables
include radish, carrot, taro, potato, sweet potato, and others. Radishes are very high in vitamin C, carrots contain a large amount of carotene, potatoes and taros are high in starch and calories but low in other nutrients. A common characteristic of root and tuber vegetables is their rich dietary fiber. If radishes or carrots are cut into thin slices or strips and left for 1-2 days, their dietary fiber content can increase by about 3 times. Therefore, radish-based foods should be cut and eaten immediately, and should not be stored after cutting. Fruit vegetables
include tomatoes, beans, bell peppers, cucumbers, loofah, pumpkin, and eggplant. With the exception of beans, pumpkin, loofah, and eggplant, it is best to eat these vegetables raw to avoid the destruction of vitamins during cooking. Tomatoes contain a significant amount of lycopene and vitamin C. Beans, including lentils, peas, and edamame, have a high protein content, with a more varied amino acid composition than grains. They are also higher in calcium, phosphorus, iron, and vitamin B1 compared to other vegetables. Pumpkin is very rich in carotene. Peppers are rich in carotene and vitamin C.
Different parts of the same vegetable plant also have different nutritional values. For example, the green part of a scallion has a much higher nutritional content than the white part. The vitamin A, B1, and C content in the white part is less than half of that in the green part. In the same celery plant, the dark green leaves contain more vitamin A and C than the pale green stems and stalks. The same is true for bok choy, where the leaves have a higher nutritional content than the stems.
Since the human body requires a "comprehensive" range of nutrients, it is impossible to meet this requirement by eating only one type of vegetable. Therefore, only by combining them reasonably and cleverly, and sticking to a variety of types and colors, can we ensure a balanced nutritional intake.