Vegetables that make you look 10 years younger in the summer.

Introduction: Eat more of the following vegetables to stay younger as you eat.

Bitter Melon

Bitter melon is particularly loved for its bitter taste.

The nutritional and health benefits of bitter melon are: first, it contains relatively high amounts of vitamin C, vitamin B1, and alkaloids; second, it is also rich in galacturonic acid and pectin. The bitterness of bitter melon comes from quinine in its alkaloids. These nutrients have the effects of stimulating appetite, promoting urination, invigorating blood, reducing inflammation, lowering fever, and refreshing the mind. Modern scientific research has found that the "polypeptide-P" substance in bitter melon is an insulin-like substance that can lower blood sugar. Xi'an Medical University has already extracted an oral insulin-like substance from bitter melon. American scientists have also discovered that bitter melon contains a lipoprotein-like substance that can stimulate and enhance the ability of immune cells in animals to engulf cancer cells. It works together with quinine from the alkaloids to exert anti-cancer effects in the body.

Although bitter melon is bitter, it has a cooling nature and a refreshing, non-greasy taste, making it especially refreshing and comfortable to eat in the summer, with the effect of clearing the mind and stimulating the appetite. Moreover, it does not pass its bitterness to "others"; for example, when bitter melon is used to braise fish, the fish pieces will not absorb the bitter taste. Therefore, bitter melon has the nickname "the gentleman among vegetables." If bitter melon is soaked into a herbal tea for drinking in summer, one can immediately feel the heat dissipate and the spirit refreshed, with vexation and thirst disappearing. In some regions, bitter melon is cut, lightly pickled with salt to reduce some of its bitterness, and eaten as a vegetable; others cut it into rings and stew it with minced meat, garlic, and fermented black beans to make a delicacy. There is a Hakka folk song that goes: "People say bitter melon is bitter, but I say it's sweet. The choice of sweet or bitter is yours; without bitterness, how can there be sweetness?" This means that although bitter melon itself is bitter, it brings sweetness—health and happiness—to people.

Pumpkin

In the era of food shortages, pumpkin once played a major role as a staple food, but even today in a prosperous society, why is pumpkin still so popular? There are three reasons: first, pumpkin is sweet and delicious; second, pumpkin is extremely rich in vitamin A, which can strengthen mucous membranes, prevent colds, and at the same time prevent rough skin, having beauty and fitness effects, and can also prevent keratitis and night blindness; third, modern medicine has found that pumpkin contains trace elements such as cobalt, zinc, copper, and pectin, which can promote the normal secretion of insulin in the human body, thus pumpkin can effectively prevent and treat diabetes, hypertension, and some diseases of the liver and kidneys, enhance the ability to resist anemia and cancer, remove bacterial toxins from the body, reduce the risk of colon cancer, and prevent and treat atherosclerosis.

Whipped Cream and Pumpkin Purée

Tomato

It is said that several hundred years ago, the tomato was still unknown. Later, a girl in Peru suffered from anemia and the pain of a broken heart. She wanted to eat a poisonous plant to end her life, but who would have thought that after she swallowed the tomato fruit, her face turned red, and when she ate more, it became even more rosy. She not only didn't die but recovered and became more beautiful. What was the reason? It turned out that the tomato fruit is very rich in protein, fat, carbohydrates, nicotinic acid, carotene, vitamins B1, B2, C, etc. The content of vitamin C, which can beautify the skin, is 10 times that of watermelon, simply a warehouse of vitamins. It also contains minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, and iron that promote the growth and development of young people, as well as lycopene that inhibits bacterial growth. With all of this, it's no wonder the Peruvian girl became healthy and beautiful!

In recent years, scientists have discovered that tomatoes also contain an anti-cancer and anti-aging substance—glutathione. Clinical measurements have shown that when the concentration of glutathione in the human body increases, the incidence of cancer significantly decreases. Therefore, eating more tomatoes can prevent uterine cancer, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, bladder cancer, prostate cancer, etc., and at the same time can delay the aging of certain cells, lower blood pressure, and prevent night blindness and gum bleeding.

Because of so many benefits of eating tomatoes, almost every family in developed countries in Europe and America eats tomatoes, with the aim of preventing cancer, resisting diseases, and for beauty.

When eating tomatoes, the method of consumption matters. Eating them raw does not provide anti-cancer or anti-disease benefits because tomatoes contain lycopene, which is bound with protein and surrounded by cellulose, making it difficult to be released. It needs to be heated to a certain temperature to be released. Therefore, dishes like scrambled eggs with tomatoes, tomato and egg soup, braised tofu with tomatoes, stir-fried pork with tomatoes, and fried tomatoes are nutritious and delicious.

Braised Tomato Steak

Carrot

Also known as yellow carrot, it is a nutritious vegetable suitable for all ages, hailed as "little ginseng." The most famous component in carrots is carotene—a yellow pigment first discovered in carrots over a hundred years ago. It is now known that every 100 grams of carrots contain 1.35-17.25 milligrams of carotene, far more than other vegetables, 360 times that of potatoes and 36 times that of celery. After being absorbed by the human body, carotene can be converted into vitamin A, so carotene is also called vitamin A precursor. What is valuable is that even after being boiled, steamed, or exposed to the sun, the carotene in carrots is lost very little.

Regular consumption of carrots has many benefits for the body: first, it enhances immunity, prevents cancer, and fights disease. If the human body lacks vitamin A, it not only affects the eyes and skin but also results in poor resistance, making one prone to respiratory and urinary system diseases. If one often eats carrots to meet the body's need for vitamin A, it not only nourishes the eyes and mucous membranes, making one less likely to get night blindness and colds, but also enhances the body's ability to resist disease. In addition, carrots contain a large amount of lignin, which also has the effect of improving the body's disease resistance and can reduce and prevent the occurrence of cancer.

According to British and American cancer research institutions, after more than 20 years of observation, they concluded that people who often eat carrots and other foods rich in vitamin A have a 40% lower chance of getting lung cancer than those who do not often eat such foods. Second, it beautifies and tones the body. Another function of vitamin A is to maintain the normal function of the body's epithelial tissues, causing them to secrete glycoprotein to keep the skin moist and delicate. Therefore, regular consumption of carrots can maintain a radiant and youthful appearance. In addition, carrots contain mustard oil and amylase, which can promote the metabolism of fat, prevent excessive fat from accumulating under the skin and causing obesity, and maintain a healthy body. Therefore, Americans consider carrots a beauty food that can nourish hair, skin, and mucous membranes. Now, Europeans often eat carrot pastries, and even Russians eat carrot dumplings. In China, there are also carrot drinks and carrot-apple beauty juices, but generally, carrots are stir-fried, braised, stewed, or boiled as a vegetable.

Stewed Beef Brisket with Yam and Carrot