A healthy diet must include vegetables. Besides providing essential vitamins and minerals, vegetables are a valuable source of dietary fiber. Enjoy veggies raw or cooked. When they are prepared without frying or special sauces, veggies are especially low in calories, making them a healthy choice for weight control. Guidelines set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention call for nine servings of fruits and vegetables every day. Since a typical serving is only a half-cup, you can easily meet this goal with meals and snacks.
Leafy Green Vegetables
Leafy greens, such as lettuce varieties, spinach and kale, are rich in vitamins A, K, D and E. According to the Harvard School of Public health, leafy greens help balance cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of heart disease, and they offer antioxidant benefits. You can increase the amount of leafy greens in your diet simply by adding a small salad to lunch or dinner. One cup of lettuce provides two of your daily servings.
Yellow and Orange Vegetables
Yellow and orange vegetables, such as carrots, winter squash, pumpkin and sweet potatoes, provide alpha carotene and beta carotene. These carotenoids are powerful antioxidants that may contribute to the prevention of certain cancers, particularly of the lungs, esophagus and stomach, reports weightlosscenter.net. Baby carrots are an easy snack, which you can also add to other dishes. Bake a sweet potato in the microwave for a quick dinner addition.
Cruciferous Vegetables
Broccoli, cabbage and kale are cruciferous vegetables that contain isothiocyanates. Weightlosscenter.net explains that these phytochemicals help the liver break down pesticide residues and other harmful chemicals or carcinogens residing in your body's cells. For a change from steamed broccoli, try eating it raw in broccoli slaw.
Fresh, Canned or Frozen?
Frozen or canned vegetables can actually have more nutrients than fresh. Fresh vegetables may be harvested before they are fully ripe to reduce damage during shipping and storage, which means they are picked before they reach their nutritional peak. Frozen and canned vegetables are harvested at their peak of ripeness and nutrient value, and are quickly processed, locking in the nutrients. Locally grown fresh vegetables, however, usually give you the highest nutritional value.
