Which vegetables do you love?

Nutrition Action is a journal I subscribed to for a while. My favorite aspects are the journal was to take similar products on the market and compare them according to nutritional value v calories and fat content. It saves so much time at the grocery trying to read calories per serving and ingredient lists. You get accustomed to know what brands are better for what products.

Another edition I loved was a comparison of vegetables and how they scored in their content of calories, vitamin K, lutein, vitamin C, potassium and fiber. Because of this list, there are vegetables I have learned to embrace because of their intense health benefits. I have also enjoyed the fact that if I don’t particularly like a vegetable and it’s low on the list, I don’t force myself to try use it. I do think the more variety, the better you are able to get the vitamins and nutrients you need without a vitamin supplement.

Top choices:
Kale is far and away the biggest powerhouse vegetable you can find. My sister marks it as a food garnish, but there are so many great sides you can make with kale. NA score: 1389. Most leafy greens are top choices, including baby spinach at 672 point for 2 cups raw.

Interesting notes: canned pumpkin (raw, not the seasoned pie variety) is more wholesome than fresh (117) and is the first non-green top scorer on the chart at 570 points. Also, South Beach and Atkins got it wrong - sweet potatoes (485) pack in more vitamins and are nine times healthier than white potatoes (53). Don’t let the name “sweet” keep you away from these wonderful roots.

Not just for seasoning:
I found a surprisingly high number of herbs on this list as well. A quarter cup of raw parsley packs out enough vitamins that beat out green leaf lettuce and ½ cup cooked broccoli. Cilantro, just 2.5 tbsp, still brings enough vitamin K to your meal to compete with zucchini and lima beans.

Learned to love:

For a good while, I convinced myself that supplementing parsnip for carrot was an acceptable exchange . . . not so much. Carrots give me much-needed fiber and vitamin K and tower vitamin richness over parsnips by 350 points. The non-pepper bell pepper has also had to sneak its way into my menu because of scores like 340 for red and 193 for green. I was quick to replace bell peppers in recipes with the spicier pablano or green chili pepper, which was only scoring 53 in vitamin richness.

Learned to live without:
No need to fret over not getting enough sprouts. These seedlings only scored an 18 for half a cup. I’ve also gotten over my distaste for eggplant (19), cucumber (29), beets (32), radishes (34) and corn (47). No need to worry, I will still present recipes with these fine vegetables.

What are your favorite vegetables? Did your favorite make the cut? What are you told you need to eat more of but can’t stand? Maybe it’s not worth fighting. Let me know your thoughts.