Health benefits of eating vegetables

Vegetables are rich in water, minerals, vitamin C and vitamin B9. Some vegetables contain more than others, but the differences are not significant.

Food containing mainly water

By their high water content (90-95%), vegetables are the least caloric food and participate in the proper hydration of the body.

High fibers food

• Fibers are in the skin and in the flesh of vegetables.
• Fibers regulate intestinal transit by helping to prevent constipation.
• Vegetable fibers slow down sugar absorption: they decrease blood sugar after a meal which is particularly important for people with diabetes.
• Vegetable fibers reduce fat absorption: they retain a lot of biliary and pancreatic secretions (which serve to digest fats), which increases fat elimination by faeces.Fibers fill the stomach well and lengthen the duration of satiety from one me
• al to another.

The first mineral food source

Vegetables provide calcium (bone mineralization), magnesium (defence of the body), iron (maintenance of the blood mass) and sodium (transmission of nerve impulses).

Interesting amount of vitamins

The main vitamins found in vegetables are vitamin C and vitamin B9.
Vitamin C has many roles in the body. Here are a few: body defence against infections, antioxidant action (capture free radicals responsible for aging cells) and elimination of carcinogens.

Note that vitamin C needs are higher for smokers.

Vitamin B9 (folic acid or folate) is used for brain and nervous development. It participates in the production of red blood cells and the production of genetic material (DNA, RNA).

Vitamin B9 needs are greater for women at the time of conception and early in pregnancy. This vitamin is essential in the development of the foetus. It significantly reduces the risk of stunting or certain malformations for the baby.

All of the benefits mentioned above prove that vegetables must have an important place in a balanced diet.

To fill up on vitamin C, try my recipe « Srambled eggs with bell peppers and corn »

Did you know? Several factors can vary the nutritional composition of a vegetable: the method of cultivation, the state of ripeness, the parts of the vegetable consumed, the method of storage or the culinary techniques applied… For example, the vitamin C oxidizes in contact with light and air. So the longer the storage time the larger the vitamins losses.