Simple Steps for Veggie Success!

Written by Emily Kurlak
Part of National Nutrition Month 2012

As a busy college student living off-campus, it can be really challenging to prepare meals that meet MyPlate’s guiding criteria. While I can easily fulfill the fruit/grain/dairy/protein suggestions, I struggle with vegetables. Let’s face it, vegetables can be bland. They require washing and chopping. They create dirty dishes. They often rot in the refrigerator if not quickly used.

But, the cost of preparing vegetables is far outweighed by the benefits of eating them. Veggies are nutrient dense, meaning that for the small amount of Calories they contain, they are filled with a large amount of nutrients needed by the body. Potassium, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, and fiber are just a few examples of these nutrients. Potassium helps to regulate blood pressure. Vitamin A promotes eye health. Vitamin C acts as an antioxidant to quench damaging free radicals. Fiber helps to maintain proper bowel function.

So, if you face similar difficulties in getting enough veggies, I have a few tips. Don’t make it so hard for yourself! If a recipe calls for fresh chopped vegetables, try to get a similar frozen variety. For example, I swapped out fresh yellow pepper and onion for a bag of frozen pre-chopped red, green, and yellow bell peppers with onion in the chicken curry pictured above. Not only did I save myself time and money, but I also increased the variety of my veggies! Make them a snack during the week by taking baggies of baby carrots, snow peas, or celery sticks to munch on between classes. Keep veggies interesting by mixing them in with your main dish (like in a stir fry), adding spices and flavorings, or topping with nuts like slivered almonds. 

Simple steps, like these, can transform how you eat. Do you have more ideas? Comment below, I’d love to hear them!

References

USDA. (n.d.). ChooseMyPlate.gov. Retrieved from http://www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/vegetables-why.html 

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Keeping the Color in your Vegetables!

Written by Elaine Twigg
Part of National Nutrition Month 2012

Vegetables are an important part of our diet, largely because many are either good or excellent sources of a variety of nutrients.

But did you know that the way you prepare your vegetables would drastically alter how many vitamins you are actually getting from them? Cooking losses can occur during many methods of cooking depending on how water-soluble the vegetable is, how much water it is cooked in, how high of a temperature the vegetable was cooked to, and how long it was held at that temperature.

Tips for preserving nutrients in your vegetables:

• Steam, broil, or microwave your vegetables instead of boiling them! You want to cook your vegetables in as little water as possible.

• Buy fresh produce instead of canned! Canned vegetables undergo a lot of heat processing, causing a loss of a lot of their nutrients.

• Serve your cooked veggies as soon as possible! The longer they sit, the more nutrients will be lost.

• Eat your veggies raw!

• Store your veggies in the fridge! Leaching of nutrients and wilting occurs at higher temperatures.

To demonstrate, I steamed one 12 oz. bag of broccoli and boiled the other 12 oz. bag of broccoli. Can you see the difference?

Here, you can actually see the color that has leached from the broccoli into the cooking water!  

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Make the Bright Choice: Fresh, Frozen, or Canned

Written by Nicole Famularo
Part of the National Nutrition Month initiative

We can have almost any food we want all year long.  There is corn in April and apples in March.  Thanks to food processing methods like freezing and canning, short growing seasons no longer constrict us.   Fresh, frozen and canned products may differ in color, texture or taste, though.  The question is, in light of these differences, which product is best?  What is the brightest choice you can make?

Many fresh foods are available all year, but can break the bank when not in season.  It is often cheaper to buy frozen produce when produce is out of season.  Fresh and frozen produce are high in nutrients and usually brighter in color than canned foods.  This is because canned foods have had more processing in order to make them shelf-stable. Canned foods are a great option, though!  They can be purchased all year long and are much cheaper than fresh or frozen produce.  This is great news for those of us on a budget!

When cooking fresh or frozen produce try using methods like steaming or stir-frying.  These methods will help maintain nutrients and texture, while boosting color!  When choosing canned fruits and veggies, try to purchase low sodium veggies and fruit in it’s own juice or water.  You can also strain and rinse your canned veggies to remove up to half of the added salt!

What is the bright choice, though?  Fresh and frozen produce may be brightest in color, but fresh, frozen and canned foods are all great choices.  They can help us get 5-9 servings of fruits and veggies each day, which is always a bright choice!


References
Famularo, N. (photographer). (2011). Fresh, frozen, or canned [photograph], Blacksburg, VA.  

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