Everyone knows vegetables are good for you. Below, are the recommendations for daily
vegetable intake if you do 30 minutes or less of exercise a day. If you exercise more, you may need to increase
your food intake to match the calories you burn.
Daily Recommendation
|
Children
|
2-3
years old
4-8
years old
|
1 cup
1 ½ cups
|
Girls
|
9-13
years old
14-18
years old
|
2 cups
2 ½ cups
|
Boys
|
9-13
years old
14-18
years old
|
2 ½ cups
3 cups
|
Women
|
19-30
years old
31-50
years old
51+
years old
|
2 ½ cups
2 ½ cups
2 cups
|
Men
|
19-30
years old
31-50
years old
51+
years old
|
3 cups
3 cups
2 ½ cups
|
Did you know that to get the daily recommendation of
vegetables, you can eat them raw, cooked, frozen, or canned? Did you also know that some vegetables are
better for your health if you eat them a certain way? Here are a few popular vegetables and a look
at how heat affects some of their nutrients.
Tomatoes- Cooking significantly
increases the amount of lycopene found in tomatoes so cooked or canned tomatoes
can actually be better for you. The
lycopene increases because cooking breaks down the cell walls which releases
nutrients.
Peas- When canned, they lose 85-95
percent of their Vitamin C.
In general,
Vitamin C is usually higher in frozen vegetables than fresh.
Mushrooms- Cooking brings out their
potassium.
Onions- Cooking onions release
flavonoids which can help prevent heart disease but it decreases the amount of
phytonutrients which help curb your hunger.
Carrots- According to the Carrot
Museum in England, there are many, MANY pros and cons to both ways. Their suggestion is to just eat carrots, no
matter how they are prepared. Cooking does
help break down the cell walls and increases the bioavailability of some
nutrients (beta carotene which converts into Vitamin A), however it decreases most of the Vitamin C.
Spinach- Cooking will provide higher
amounts of iron, calcium, fiber, Vitamin A and E. Eating raw will provide more folate, Vitamin
C, and potassium.
As you can see, there are pros and cons to cooking any
vegetable. Don’t fall into the trap that
cooking decreases the nutrition of all fresh foods because it can enhance
nutrition as well. The best thing for
your diet is to eat a variety of fresh and cooked vegetables. Taste can be just as important because if you
don’t like the taste of a vegetable, you won’t eat it. So cook them however you will eat them!
Sources:
Campbell, M. (2013). Cooked
vs. raw spinach for iron content.
Retrieved from http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/cooked-vs-raw-spinach-iron-content-1420.html
Dr. Furhman. (2013). Raw
vs cooked. Retrieved from https://www.drfuhrman.com/faq/question.aspx?sid=16&qindex=4
Dr. Oz Fans. (2011, January 4). Dr
oz: Is it better raw or cooked? carrots, onions & red pepper. Retrieved from http://www.drozfans.com/dr-ozs-advice/dr-oz-is-it-better-raw-or-cooked-carrots-onions-red-pepper/
Health. (2013). Raw or cooked: Which vegetables are healthier?. Retrieved from http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20667296_2,00.html
Parker-Pope, T. (2013, October 10). Ask
well: Does boiling or baking vegetables destroy their vitamins?. Retrieved from http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/18/ask-well-does-boiling-or-baking-vegetables-destroy-their-vitamins/?_r=2
United States Department of Agriculture. (2013).Vegetables.
Retrieved from http://www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/vegetables.html
World Carrot Museum. (2013, November 10). Carrots
nutrition and good health: Pigment power. Retrieved from http://veganismisthefuture.com/tag/vegetables/
Pictures: http://veganismisthefuture.com/tag/vegetables/
