Fruits and vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet, and variety is as important as how many servings you eat every day.
No single fruit or vegetable will provide all of the nutrients you need to maintain a healthy body.
A diet filled with plenty of different fruits and vegetables can help to reduce your risk for major disease.
Such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, high blood pressure, just to mention a few.
All fruits and vegetables contribute to a healthy heart, though green leafy vegetables, like lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, and mustard greens, have shown to be strongly associated with decreased risk of heart disease.
Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, bok choy, and kale – and citrus fruits like oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruit (including their juices) also contribute to a health vascular system (BMJ).
Eating non-starchy vegetables and fruits like apples, pears, and green leafy vegetables may even promote a healthy body weight (PLOS Medicine).
Were as starchy vegetables like corn, peas and potatoes tend to be linked to weight gain, rather than weight loss (The American Journal Of Clinical Nutrition).
Apples and pears are a great example of eating different types of fruit to receive your daily intake of vitamins and minerals if you want to maintain a healthy body.
Apples have more vitamins than pears, namely vitamin A, vitamin E, and vitamin B1. The vitamins are more abundant in apples than pears.
Were as pears contain more minerals than apples. Like iron, calcium, magnesium, and especially copper and zinc.
Both of these fruits though, contain potassium, phosphorus, and sodium.
There are at least nine different family types of fruits and vegetables that exist, and each with potentially hundreds of different plant compounds that are beneficial to your health.
That is why it is important to eat a variety of different types and colors of produce in order to give your body the nutrients it needs.
This will not only ensure a greater diversity of beneficial plant compounds, but also creates eye-appealing meals.
Health Benefits of Eating Root Vegetables
Most root vegetables are high in complex carbohydrates, which break down into sugar in your body to give you the energy you need to function properly.
Root vegetables are high in fiber and phytonutrients, and low in fat as well as in calories.
They also contain vitamin C, beta-carotene, and essential minerals like potassium, phosphorous, magnesium and iron.
Pros and Cons of Eating Root Vegetables
Accordingly Harvard Medical School, most root vegetables have starch, a kind of carbohydrate that the body breaks down into glucose for energy.
Some are higher in starch like sweet potato’s and others are lower, like carrots and onions.
But don’t let the starch discourage you from eating them.
These type of vegetables are still fresh whole foods that contain many vitamins and minerals. Eating a variety of them is good for your health.
Harvard recommends eating just one serving of root vegetables per day. And not with another starch food, like rice.
They also recommend not eating the same root vegetables all the time. Instead, eat a variety of them to get a wider selection of nutrients.
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