Because the human body needs “all-round†nutrition, simply eating any kind of vegetables is impossible to meet this requirement. Therefore, only reasonable and ingenious collocations can ensure balanced nutrition by adhering to multiple varieties and multiple colors.
In general, vegetables can be divided into three categories: stem and leaf, root and fruit, in addition to flowers and melons.
Fruit vegetables
There are tomatoes, beans, bell peppers, cucumbers, sponge gourds, pumpkins, and eggplants. This kind of vegetables, except beans, pumpkin, gourd, eggplant, the best raw, in order to avoid vitamin destruction during cooking.
Tomatoes contain more lycopene and vitamin C. Beans, including lentils, peas, edamame, etc., have higher protein content and more amino acids than cereals.
Others such as calcium, phosphorus, iron, vitamin B1 are also higher than other vegetables. Pumpkin contains a lot of carotene. Pepper is rich in carotene and vitamin C.
Stem and leaf vegetables
There are rape, leeks, cabbage, spinach, etc., rich in vitamin C and carotene content. Spinach contains iron, but at the same time contains oxalic acid, will hinder the absorption of calcium and iron in food, so before cooking, it should be slightly boiled in boiling water.
Root vegetables
There are carrots, carrots, taro, potatoes, sweet potatoes and so on. Radish contains a lot of vitamin C, carrots contain a lot of carotene, potatoes, taro contains starch, heat, and other nutrients less.
The common characteristic of root vegetables is rich in crude fiber. If radish and carrots are cut into thin slices or strips, the crude fiber can be increased by about 3 times after 1 to 2 days. Therefore, radish food should be cut and eaten now. It should not be stored after cutting.
Different parts of the same vegetable are also different in nutrient composition. For example, green onions have much higher nutrient content than onion. The light blue portion of vitamin A, vitamin B1 and vitamin C is less than half of the light green part.
In the same celery, dark green celery leaves contain more vitamin A and vitamin C than light green stems and stalks. There is also cabbage, which has a higher nutritional content than the stem portion of the dish.