If your New Year’s resolution is to lose weight or get
healthier, a
University of Georgia scientist
said vegetables
play a key role.ÿ
“Vegetables are so low in calories!” said Gail
Hanula, a nutrition scientist with the UGA College
of Family and Consumer Sciences. “Most vegetables are low-
calorie,
have almost no fat and are packed with nutrients. They’re a
great nutritional
bargain.”ÿ
Hanula said a serving of most vegetables has less than one
gram of fat
and fewer than 100 calories. “Plus vitamins B, C and E,
carotenoids and
fiber,” she said.ÿ
ÿ
Most Americans eat only about three servings of fruits and
vegetables daily.
But we need five or more for good health, Hanula said. Women
tend to eat
more fruits and vegetables than men. But even most women need to
eat more.
Vegetables provide health benefits that supplements don’t. “A
lot of
people take vitamin pills or capsules. But studies show they
don’t have
the same benefit in the body as vegetables. We can’t improve on
nature
here,” Hanula said.
Many of the vegetables grown in Georgia end up on Georgia
tables, said
Bill Mizelle, a UGA extension agricultural
economist with the College
of Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences.
“Many of our crops are grown for fresh markets,” he
said. “Some are
shipped fresh, but a lot are sold locally, too.”
Georgia farmers grow tomatoes, yellow squash, zucchini,
peppers, sweet
corn, carrots, cabbage, leafy greens, onions, sweet potatoes and
other
vegetable crops.
Hanula said all of these are high in carotenoids, a substance
that seems
to help prevent all types of cancers.
“Beta carotene, found in dark yellow vegetables, was really
in the news.
It prevents gastrointestinal, head, neck and lung cancers,” she
said. “Other
carotenoids include lycopene in tomatoes that seems to prevent
prostate
cancer, and folic acid in leafy greens, which has shown some
decrease in
cervical cancer rates.”
But how you eat your veggies is as important as whether you
eat them.
“Obviously, frying vegetables cancels out any healthful
benefits,” she
said. Steaming, grilling or baking vegetables with little or no
added fat
provides the “most nutritional bang for the calorie buck.”
Overcooking vegetables robs them of flavor and
nutrients. “Vegetables
are nutritionally best raw or when cooked ‘tender-crisp,’” she
said.
