Nutrients from vegetables
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dee_thurman
Posts: 240 Member
Carrots, celery, spinach (some other lettuce), and cucumbers...
I normally eat these 4 staples as my vegetables and I eat a lot of them. Everything I read says you should eat 5 servings of vegetables a day. Vegetables will provide most of the nutrients you need. I eat more than 5 servings a day but it is mostly the same main 4.
I am wondering if I am eating mostly these 4 vegetables, what am I missing out on (in terms of vegetables) to get all of my nutrients?
I normally eat these 4 staples as my vegetables and I eat a lot of them. Everything I read says you should eat 5 servings of vegetables a day. Vegetables will provide most of the nutrients you need. I eat more than 5 servings a day but it is mostly the same main 4.
I am wondering if I am eating mostly these 4 vegetables, what am I missing out on (in terms of vegetables) to get all of my nutrients?
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Replies
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Celery and cucumbers are delicious, but they don't have that many nutrients. They're mostly water. If you truly want to take advantage of all the great stuff vegetables have to offer, I would suggest trying things like tomatoes, leafy greens (beyond spinach), bell peppers, squash, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, cabbage . . . there are tons of vegetables to try.0
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vitamins from vegetables? I am trying to eat a well balanced diet that takes care of everything I need. I don't want to add anything else but real food and I have a feeling I am coming up short in certain areas.0
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collards, kale, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, romaine, swiss chard, kolrabi, bok choy, squash, green beans, asparagus, green peas, bell peppers, carrots, snow peas, mushrooms, beans,0
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dee_thurman wrote: »vitamins from vegetables? I am trying to eat a well balanced diet that takes care of everything I need. I don't want to add anything else but real food and I have a feeling I am coming up short in certain areas.
We don't know what you eat besides those four vegetables. What do you think you are deficient in?0 -
apples, oranges, bananas are the fruits I eat the most. Chicken, Salmon, are my meat staples. I have low fat cheese. I have low fat yogurt. I will have a serving of cashews. I drink a little 0% milk with high fiber cereal. Eggs/egg whites for breakfast. I like all of these foods and it keeps me under on my calories. I am losing weight, full and I have energy. I would like to make sure that I am getting everything my body needs.0
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I do think it's better to eat a more varied mix of vegetables (especially if you are trying not to take a supplement), although at least you are including them in your diet.
If you want to get a sense of nutrients, cronometer is really interesting. You need to log with the USDA entries or input things yourself with all the information, since packaged entries often won't have all the micronutrient information.0 -
An annual blood test will check for the biggies which include checking for iron deficiency, thyroid, blood sugar levels and low cholesterol. If you are healthy and energetic, your hair is glossy, your eyes are bright and clear, your skin glowing you are likely fine.
You may be short of the orange vegetables which get you your vitamin A. That includes carrots, yams, pumpkin, squash. But you do eat carrots.
You may want to add cruciferous vegetables.
A vitamin hard to get with your vegetables is vitamin D.
Where are you getting your iron?0 -
Track your micros. That will tell you how you're doing. You'll see what you get enough of and what you need to work on. Then you can start adding foods that have more of what you need.0
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A good rule of thumb with regards to fruit and vegetables is the good old 'eat the rainbow'. It sounds airy-fairy, I know, but the general idea is to insure you get a wide variety and also in some cases, the colour can give you a tip about what nutrients they contain (like the orange vegies mentioned above).
As others have said, celery and cucumbers don't have that many nutrients, and you would do well with more red (e.g. tomatoes, peppers) and dark vegetables/fruit (e.g. berries and eggplant) and more substantial/fibrous veggies as well (roots/tubers/stems/leaves).
I would follow the suggestion of getting a blood test done if you are unsure. Some nutritional deficiencies are not obvious in the short term, but can have serious long term consequences.
Also, from your description, it sounds like you may well be low on fat, which isn't a huge issue if you have significant fat deposits, but there is a reason it's an essential nutrient (among other things, the membrane of every cell in your body is composed of lipids).
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A good rule of thumb with regards to fruit and vegetables is the good old 'eat the rainbow'. It sounds airy-fairy, I know, but the general idea is to insure you get a wide variety and also in some cases, the colour can give you a tip about what nutrients they contain (like the orange vegies mentioned above).
As others have said, celery and cucumbers don't have that many nutrients, and you would do well with more red (e.g. tomatoes, peppers) and dark vegetables/fruit (e.g. berries and eggplant) and more substantial/fibrous veggies as well (roots/tubers/stems/leaves).
I would follow the suggestion of getting a blood test done if you are unsure. Some nutritional deficiencies are not obvious in the short term, but can have serious long term consequences.
Also, from your description, it sounds like you may well be low on fat, which isn't a huge issue if you have significant fat deposits, but there is a reason it's an essential nutrient (among other things, the membrane of every cell in your body is composed of lipids).
I had a bag of skittles... does that count?
In all seriousness, I can understand eating what you like but it can be good to branch out and try new things and new ways of cooking those things. For us plant based people, it's generally recommended a wide variety of fruit and veg across all colors... but ultimately it's up to you. Good fats, good lean protein (from whatever source you like), and a wide variety of fruit and veg. It's all about balance when possible.
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how do you track your micros?0
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Cronometer is a good site for it.
MFP tracks some, but you have to be extremely careful about entries and realize that if you use package information and not USDA many will be missing. It's more a ballpark than perfect.0 -
Maybe each week swap one vegetable out for another and gradually all vegetables will be staples0
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i love chronometer. I just entered a typical day of what i eat with the my main 4 vegetables and how much i normally eat. From that website it said I was meeting almost all of my goals. I came up short 94% fiber and 91% vitamin E and 86% zinc. Other than that I was 1890% in vitamin A... I hit 96% of my targets. Does anybody else use this website? I wish MFP would include this feature.0
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Fun, isn't it?0
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Does the premium MFP do this for you?0
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Not nearly as easily -- you have to choose a specific nutrient and then look at the report, and they track fewer micronutrients. I think it's the same as for non-premium, and the premium benefit is just that it tells you which of your foods are highest in whatever it is, which is trivially easy to figure out.
I used to think tracking on Cronometer was too hard, but since I use mostly USDA entries it ends up being as easy, as for most things I don't have to wade through stupid user input entries. MFP is usually better for packaged stuff, of course, but there's something to be said for putting in your own foods.
I think Cron is likely more information than the average person just trying to lose weight needs, but playing around with it can be fun if you are the sort of person who likes to track lots of information.0
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