Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Entertainment | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

Go green

Tips to increase the quality and quantity of vegetables on your plate

Vegetables constitute around 1/8th of a typical Indian meal. And those meagre portions are cooked to death before being served. As a result, our `vegetarian' lifestyle ends up failing to deliver the 10 servings of fresh vegetables and fruit recommended by the latest dietary guidelines.

Vegetables are concentrated storehouses of nutrients: they contain vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre and antioxidants that may slow aging and DNA damage that can lead to cancer. But vegetables lose some of their nutrients with prolonged cooking - a hallmark of Indian cuisine.

A few tips can increase the quality and quantity of vegetables on your plate. Think of vegetables as prime foods, and not merely as something to make rice and chapattis palatable. Cooking with less spices and little water makes it easier to down larger portions. Add grated vegetables to dough and soups. Eat more salads. Include vegetables of all colours in your diet. Each colour represents a different antioxidant - the orange in carrot signifies carotene and the reddish tinge of ripe tomatoes signifies carotene and lycopene.

Eat vegetables that are in season: these are cheaper, and cost is an undeniable reason why many are eating smaller portions. Stir-frying makes vegetables edible without destroying nutrients. Microwaving and steaming help cook fast without sacrificing too many nutrients. Retain the peel on vegetables as much as possible. The vegetables are crunchier and earthier that way, but they are also more nutritious and contain more fibre.

RAJIV.M

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail