Eat your Greens (and yellows and reds and blues)
By Sharyn Bernard
Americans are told from the time they are children to eat their veggies. But for most people, that means lettuce and tomatoes. And while both are good and good for you, by limiting yourself to a single color for vegetables, you're missing out on a whole host of both taste and nutrition.
It's common knowledge that you should eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day—but make sure you get a wide variety for the maximum benefit. Researchers at Arizona State University found that of the nearly 45 percent of Americans who consumed at least five servings of fruits and vegetables daily, lettuce and tomatoes were the most popular items. They also ate a lot of white potatoes and French fries as their vegetable—not exactly the picture of good nutrition.
One way to ensure diversity and good nutritional value is to think of vegetables in terms of colors and try to eat a broad spectrum of hues. Dark green vegetables and leafy greens such as kale, broccoli, spinach and Brussels sprouts are rich in phytonutrients (plant-based), vitamin C, folic acid and beta carotene. Indeed, these nutrients are abundant in other colored vegetables, such as dark orange ones (think carrots). And a diet rich in colored vegetables supplies a hefty dose of calcium, iron and magnesium as well. In fact, the more colorful a vegetable, the higher its phytochemical content is.
A quick look at the nutritional benefits of some vegetables shows you how easy it is to add color and nutrients to your diet (see below).
Of course, it can be a challenge to add more vegetables to your diet, especially ones that require a lot of cooking (kale, eggplant) and seasoning. The less you do to vegetables, the better. Some methods to try:
- Buy them fresh—they taste better and the nutritional values are left intact
- When cooking, don't use too much fat for seasoning—try lemon, garlic, a bit of olive oil and sea salt
- Add dark leafy green vegetables to soups for flavor
- Blanch broccoli and peppers before adding to stir fry to keep the crispness
- Crunchy vegetables such as pea pods can be used raw in salads for crunch
Nutrients:
- Calcium is found in broccoli, lettuce, green beans, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, celery, and parsley.
- Iron is found in spinach, collards, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and parsley.
- Manganese is found in such legumes as beans, peas, and lentils.
- Potassium is found in spinach, celery, lettuce, zucchini and other squashes, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, tomatoes, peppers, radishes, parsley, and cucumbers.
- Selenium is found in corn and legumes.
- Vitamin A is found in carrots, bell peppers, butternut squash, collards, parsley, and spinach.
- Vitamin B6 is found in spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, eggplant, beans, tomatoes, squash, parsley, and lettuce.
- Vitamin C is found in sweet peppers, tomatoes, Brussels sprouts, collards, spinach, cabbage, broccoli, beans, and celery.
- Vitamin E is found in legumes and leafy green vegetables, such as collards.
- Zinc is found in spinach, parsley, lettuce, squash, and beans, such as limas.
Astringency
There are tactile sensations, such as astringency, imparted by wine and food, which can react in combination. Astringency (mostly from tannins in wine, fruit such as a persimmon, and vegetables) is the most prevalent of these sensations. These sensations of touch are important along with taste in determining the basic reaction potential between different wine and food combinations and were once thought to actually be a sensation of taste.
The "tannic" taste of a wine is actually a sense of touch and not of taste. Tannins coagulate proteins in your mouth and create a puckering or drying sensation known as astringency. Consumers who think that this sensation is what is meant by a "dry wine" very often misinterpret this sensation. A "dry" wine is simply not sweet.
Astringency in wine is accentuated by food that is sweet or "hot" (spicy) and is suppressed by foods that are acidic, salty, fatty.
The most dramatic example of this can be demonstrated by eating a bit of soft-ripened bleu cheese followed by a taste of tannic red wine. A small percentage of people will find a strong reaction to bitterness with this combination due to a high sensitivity to this taste.
