Introduction: It's unclear when it began, but people started to have a stereotypical view of nutrition in food. When certain nutrients are mentioned, people immediately think of specific foods, and when certain foods are mentioned, people often think of a related nutritional component. For example, mentioning Vitamin C instantly brings lemons and oranges to mind; mentioning potassium brings bananas to mind; mentioning carotene brings carrots to mind; mentioning spinach immediately brings oxalic acid to mind; mentioning celery immediately brings blood pressure-lowering effects to mind…
In reality, the health benefits of food cannot be so stereotyped. The nutritional truths about many foods might surprise us! Don't believe it? Take a look at the following examples:
Taro and Tubers: Potassium content far exceeds that of bananas
The potassium content in taro is about 50% more than that in bananas. In fact, all tubers are excellent sources of potassium. Simply replacing a bowl of rice with potatoes of the same starch content can increase potassium intake by 10 times! People with large urine output, such as diabetics, kidney stone patients, gout patients, and hypertension patients, as well as those who eat very salty food, can easily lose excessive potassium. Re staple foods with tubers is a great idea.
In fact, among green leafy vegetables, many have a potassium content that exceeds that of bananas, such as spinach, kale, lettuce leaves, water spinach, amaranth, and red Malabar spinach. Since Chinese people have access to a rich variety of green leafy vegetables, why do they have to rely on bananas like Westerners who don't like eating greens!
Dark Green Leafy Vegetables: A good source of magnesium
Another excellent source of magnesium is nuts and seeds. For example, eating 50 grams of watermelon seeds is equivalent to eating 200 grams of green leafy vegetables in terms of magnesium. However, green leafy vegetables have only about 1/3 the calories of bananas and about 1/20 the calories of nuts. Therefore, if you are afraid of gaining weight, eating green leafy vegetables to supplement potassium and magnesium is the best choice.
Vitamin C is not only found in fruits
It is generally believed that tomatoes are the champion of Vitamin C among vegetables, but in fact, potatoes contain more Vitamin C than tomatoes! Not only potatoes, but also other tuber foods like sweet potatoes and taro contain a significant amount of Vitamin C. The Vitamin C content in various green leafy vegetables basically all exceeds that of tomatoes.
Bell peppers are the champions of Vitamin C among vegetables, but their acidity is low, so Vitamin C loss during cooking is relatively large. Although the Vitamin C content in potatoes is only 1/3 that of bell peppers, because starch has a powerful protective effect on Vitamin C, the loss of Vitamin C during steaming and boiling is minimal. Therefore, if you use potatoes as a staple food, even without eating other vegetables and fruits, the body's need for Vitamin C can be met. In the past, people in the north couldn't get vegetables in the winter, yet many did not suffer from Vitamin C deficiency because they often used potatoes and sweet potatoes as their staple food.