THE BENEFITS OF VEGETABLES

Vegetables

Balance your vegetable intake between the orange/red and green varieties.
The more colourful your choice, the healthier it usually is.
As an easy rule, the darker and brighter the colour of the vegetable the more vitamins, minerals and fibre they usually contain. For example, spinach contains more nutrients than lettuce.
Make sure you balance the more starchy vegetables like corn, butternut squash, pumpkin, peas, root vegetables and sweet potatoes with less starchy vegetables like courgettes, green beans, spinach, broccoli and cauliflower.
You should aim for three portions of vegetables each day. One portion equates to 80g, which would be a cereal bowl of lettuce, but three tablespoons or so of carrots.
To boost your vegetable intake, try some of the suggestions below.

Good advice

Always wash your vegetables before use and remove the outer leaves of lettuces and cabbage.

• Eat your vegetables raw as part of a sandwich filling or serve them with dips. You can make your own dip using natural yoghurt and finely chopped herbs.
• Juice raw vegetables such as carrot, tomato and cucumber for a quick and refreshing drink. Ginger and lemon can be added for taste. One to try is carrot, celery and apple.
• Overcook your vegetables, and they lose nutrients. For this reason, microwave or lightly steam vegetables rather than boiling.
• Salads are quick to make. Make them more appetising by adding items such as chopped nuts and cannellini beans, and a healthy dressing such as vinaigrette or a dash of olive oil.
• Homemade vegetable soup is an ideal way for the family to increase their intake of vegetables. Add lentils, beans or wholegrains like pearl barley to make it a complete meal. The soup can also be frozen in portions and used later on.
• Always include vegetables with your main meals. So if you eat pasta, have it with a simple side salad.
• Add fresh herbs to pep up vegetables. Use chopped mint to add to green beans, peas and mangetout, coriander in stir-fries, curries and casseroles, and rosemary or thyme with root vegetables.