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Eating a rich variety of plant-based foods is fast, easy and satisfying.
~LeAnne Campbell Taste the Rainbow,
Expand Your Palate with New Colorful Veggies by Judith Fertig
A
mericans’ vegetable habits are in a rut. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
nearly 50 percent of the vegetables and legumes available in this country in 2013 were either tomatoes or potatoes. Lettuce came in third, according to new data released in 2015, advises Tracie McMillan, author of The American Way of Eating. Further, 87 percent of U.S. adults did not meet basic vegetable serving recommendations from 2007 through 2010, a fact cited in the most recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey. Yet, urban supermarkets overfl ow with a wealth of common and exotic vegetables, often displayed side-by-side: broccoli and broccolini, green bell and Japanese shishito peppers, and iceberg lettuce and leafy mâche, or lamb’s lettuce. Trying one new vegetable dish a week is a great way to increase our
vegetable literacy,
says functional medicine expert Terri
Evans, a doctor of Oriental medicine in Naples, Florida.
“Our diet should be 60 percent produce—40 percent vegetables and 20 percent fruit,” she says. “To keep this sustainable for the long term, we should eat what tastes good, not what we think is good for us. Some days, we crave the sweetness of carrots; other days, the bitterness of artichokes or the heat of hot peppers. Our bodies can tell us what we need.”
Keep Expanding Choices Going Green. Dark green and slightly peppery arugula is good with a little olive oil and lemon juice. Finely shredded Brussels sprouts bulk up a mixed salad, while adding the benefi ts of a cancer-fi ghting cruciferous vegetable. Instead of mineral-rich baby spinach, try baby Swiss chard, suggests Matthew Kadey, a registered dietician in Waterloo, Ontario. He also suggests microgreens, the tiny shoots of radishes, cabbage, broccoli and kale, all rich in vitamins C and E. Squash It. Varieties of summer and winter squash add color, body and fl avor to one-dish meals, with the added benefi ts of B vitamins, magnesium and fi ber. LeAnne Campbell, Ph.D., author of The China Study Cookbook, simmers a mix of
28 Central Florida natural awakenings
fresh chopped vegetables including yellow summer squash or zucchini, and fl avors with coconut and curry powder. Vegan Chef Douglas McNish, of Toronto, makes an okra and squash gumbo in the slow cooker.
Sneak in a Smoothie. Change up a smoothie routine by swapping out the usual baby spinach for a blend of cucumber, apple and fresh mint, or else sweet potato and carrot, suggests Sidney Fry, a registered dietitian and Cooking Light editor, in Birmingham, Alabama. Snack Attack. An array of colorful
vegetables served with dips and spreads can be an easy way to experiment with veggies. Carrots in deep red, vibrant yellow, purple and orange are delicious raw and supply beta-carotene, promoting eye health. Leaves from pale green Belgian endive spears are tender and crunchy. Orange or “cheddar” caulifl ower has a more creamy and sweet fl avor than its pale cousin. “Colors equal health, and the more colors we eat, the better our overall health,” says Susan Bowerman, a registered dietitian, lecturer in food science and nutrition at California State Polytechnic Institute, San Luis Obispo, and co-author of What Color Is Your Diet? “We also have to be willing to try new foods or new varieties of foods, or maybe to prepare unfamiliar foods in a way that will make them taste good, so that we will be willing to add more plant foods to our diet.”
Judith Fertig blogs at AlfrescoFoodAndLifestyle.
blogspot.com from Overland Park, KS.
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