Eating Your Greens

Vegetables, like fruits, are mostly carbohydrates.  I am sure that when you think carbs, you probably don’t think about vegetables.  Unless of course you or someone you frequently eat with has ever tried the keto diet.  Then you are all too familiar that vegetables have carbs.

Even more than fruits, vegetables are an important part of a well-rounded diet and provide you with all kinds of vitamins and minerals your body needs to function.  Even if you find that super low-carbohydrate diets (like keto) work for you, I bet there’s a beneficial role that vegetables can play in your diet.

In my last post, I talked about some of the health benefits of fruits and vegetables, so I won’t repeat that here.  Instead, I want to talk about some of the categories of vegetables and how they affect your body.  I think it is helpful to explain the benefits of consuming a wide variety of vegetables. But I promise, there are no green smoothies required to get the benefits you need from vegetables!  I bet you could just eat more of the vegetables you already love to eat!

I’m cutting this post into 2-part post:

• Today you get the green vegetables – leafy greens, cruciferous, and stems  (ok, I know that they aren’t all green, but it’s close)

• Next week, we’ll talk about the others – root (e.g. potato), marrow (e.g. zucchini), and allium (e.g. onion)

Leafy Greens

What’s a leafy green?  These are exactly what they sound like, these are the green vegetables that are plant leaves. These are things like lettuce, spinach,  and kale.

What’s in leafy greens?

• Folate (aka vitamin B9) – a key nutrient for developing DNA and RNA, which your body has to do right every time your cells divide (1)

• Potassium – this is an electrolyte that helps keep the fluid balance in your body where it needs to be; it can also help balance out the effects of sodium on blood pressure (2)

• Beta-carotene (Vitamin A) – this is an antioxidant that is also beneficial for your eyesight (3)

• Vitamin K – supports bone health and protects against clotting; people on blood thinner or with eating disorders often need to be cautious with this vitamin. (4) 

• Calcium – key for bone health! Note that a lot of vegetables (like spinach) have an “anti-nutrient” called oxalate that prevents your body from absorbing most of the calcium, so don’t rely too heavily on this for your calcium (5)

Cruciferous Vegetables

What’s a cruciferous vegetable? These are vegetables that are part of the Brassica family.  But it is a really diverse family!  You may know that these include brussels sprouts, cauliflower and broccoli.  But did you know that collard greens, bok choy and arugula were also cruciferous?  What about radishes and turnips?

What’s in cruciferous vegetables?

• Vitamin C – plays an important role in immunity. It’s a powerful antioxidant and also helps build collagen that your body needs to repair itself. (6)

• Vitamin E – a powerful antioxidant and also involved in immune function (7)

• Vitamin K – good for bone health and clotting

• Folate –key for DNA and RNA synthesis

• Glucosinolates – these give cruciferous vegetables that distinctive smell and bitter flavor. These may be protective against certain cancers. 

• Fiber – you know all the benefits of fiber. Cruciferous vegetables in particular may improve your gut microbiome. (8)

Stem Vegetables

What’s a stem vegetable?  It’s a vegetable where you eat the stem, like celery, rhubarb, and asparagus.  There is some debate about whether there is overlap with other categories such that this includes things like broccoli – you eat the stem there, too.  It’s not an argument worth having.  Asparagus has to go somewhere, so let’s talk about those handful of stem vegetables.

What’s in stem vegetables?

• Folate – key to DNA and RNA synthesis

• Vitamin K – important for blood clotting and bone health

• Magnesium – a mineral that cannot be oversold. It is required for energy function and glucose metabolism. It contributes to bone health, aids in DNA and RNA synthesis, and contributes to antioxidant production.  It is also a key electrolyte that plays a role in nerve conduction and keeping your heart beating on rhythm. (9)

Want to eat more greens?

If you are interested in getting more green vegetables (or any vegetables) into your diet without having to drink green smoothies or eat kale salads, let’s chat. I love helping people find ways to eat more of the things that nourish without sucking the joy out of eating (like kale salads do for me).

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References

1.            Office of Dietary Supplements - Folate.

2.            How Potassium Can Help Control High Blood Pressure.

3.            Office of Dietary Supplements - Vitamin A and Carotenoids.

4.            Office of Dietary Supplements - Vitamin K.

5.            Yang J, Punshon T, Guerinot ML, Hirschi KD. Plant Calcium Content: Ready to Remodel. Nutrients. 2012;4(8):1120-1136. doi:10.3390/nu4081120

6.            Office of Dietary Supplements - Vitamin C.

7.            Office of Dietary Supplements - Vitamin E.

8.            Kaczmarek JL, Liu X, Charron CS, et al. Broccoli consumption affects the human gastrointestinal microbiota. The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry. 2019;63:27-34. doi:10.1016/j.jnutbio.2018.09.015

9. Office of Dietary Supplements - Magnesium.