Food
Vegetables are not just summer salad. This is a healthy component of any diet, available all year round. There are a few simple rules that allow you to eat vegetables with benefit, pleasure and safety.
Health rule
Vegetable dishes are first and foremost a good way to reduce the risk of obesity, since most vegetables are low-calorie.
Secondly, vegetables help prevent the development of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, as they contain dietary fiber - fiber. It improves intestinal function - it stimulates its contraction and serves as food for beneficial bacteria in the intestine.
Thanks to dietary fiber vegetables stimulate the immune system of the body. After all, they are a source of food for the normal intestinal microflora, which produces substances necessary for maintaining immunity.
In addition, dietary fiber, contained in many vegetables, helps to reduce blood sugar levels and helps to eliminate excess cholesterol.
Diversity Rule
During the year, quick-frozen vegetables are available, in which there are much more vitamins and other nutrients than in their greenhouse relatives. They are usually frozen near the gathering place. This avoids significant loss of vitamins during transport and storage.
In addition, various root vegetables are beautifully stored - beets, potatoes, carrots - which are able to preserve their beneficial properties for a long time. That is why vegetables can be present on the table in soups or side dishes all year round.
Cleanliness rule
The rules for processing vegetables before cooking and eating are very simple. For salads, wash any vegetables in running water. Be sure to wash even freshly picked vegetables and greens - in order to remove from them not only pathogenic microorganisms, but also possible residues of pesticides and fertilizers.
For root vegetables, too, have their own rules. Wash and peel them thoroughly. Contrary to popular belief, it is not so useful, because it can accumulate harmful chemicals.
If you cook or bake whole root vegetables, remove the peel after the heat treatment. Cooking or roasting “in uniform” allows you to save more vitamins.
Rule of moderation
A variety of vegetable dishes is huge - so you can always choose dishes to your taste. At the same time, no matter how much you eat them, overeating and exceeding the norms of calories will not come. True, on one condition: if you do not fill the vegetable dishes with excess oil.
When dressing a salad with vegetable oil, carefully count its quantity. After all, only one tablespoon of oil adds about 200 kcal.
Temperature rule
Try not to fry vegetables in the pan - it requires adding oil and increases the calorie content of the finished dish. Steam, stew or bake them. Moreover, modern household appliances make it easy to do at home.
Prefer methods of cooking vegetables, using high temperatures. This, for example, overheated steam in a pressure cooker or grill - so cooking time is reduced. So, there are more vitamins.
The main rules of vegetables
Eating vegetables normalizes intestinal function and helps control body weight. If the vegetables are cooked without adding fat, the extra calories in the diet can be avoided. In winter, pay attention to the roots and frozen vegetables. They are best baked or steamed - so much more vitamins will be saved.