Actually, how much vegetable do you take in a meal or even in a day? That can well decide how healthy you are or how effectively you are managing the major risk factors in your life. Vegetables are veritable powerhouses of many useful nutrients. They are rich in vitamins, minerals, and several plant chemicals, which have important functions in the human biochemistry. Many of them play a vital role in the prevention of major diseases. There are a number of drugs and medicines manufactured from these phyto-chemicals extracted from plants. Medical systems like Ayurveda and Naturopathy have records of therapeutic aspects of many vegetables and fruits.
Nature offers different kinds of vegetables in different seasons. We are also provided several varieties of vegetables in a season. Each vegetable is rich in one aspect of nutrition. Each has active in some specific function of the human organism. Each has active in some specific function of the human organism. Each is needed for a different purpose and has a different taste, texture and flavor. This is the nature’s simple way of a rich nourishment of the complex human organism. This body of ours grew on the offerings from the nature for millenniums. Most diets offer all the three major macronutrients we need, namely, starch, proteins and fat. But the crucial difference that can make in a meal is its richness in micronutrients that are needed not only for the proper absorption and metabolism of the major nutrients, but also for many other functions in the body. These micronutrients provide the cutting edge to the diet. Enjoy the best benefit of the intelligent and benevolent nature. Seek and follow advice of the well informed and get a wise counsel.
There is one aspect of vegetable consumption that we cannot ignore: cleanliness. The hygiene and cleanliness are of paramount importance in this matter. One can be exposed to any number of troubles if vegetables are not properly cleaned or if handled with unclean hands. It is absolutely important, whether one eats them raw or cooked, that they are properly cleaned.
Remember that the vegetables may have been sprayed with or exposed to dangerous chemicals in the name of pesticides. Also, some times, highly contaminated manure may have been used. Often the manure is not fully dislodged or removed from the consumable part of the plant. This is especially the case with the leaf part or stem part , or the root, if that happens to be the consumable part. The vegetable before it comes to your table for cutting or cooking passes through several hands. Not all of them are hygienic or clean. Quite often they are dirty, shabby, unclean, contaminated and infected hands, cloths and containers. It is a very safe preventive measure to consider every vegetable as contaminated and treat appropriately.
The dreaded disease neurocysticercosis, which attacks the central nervous system quite often fatally, is considered for a long time to be the headache of the pork eaters. Vegetarians consider themselves to be safe. Not any more according to the latest studies and evidence. The problem is caused by particular parasite, tapeworm tenia solium. It is firmly lodged in the soft tissue of the faeces eating pigs and also in unclean vegetables grown with human faeces as manure.
Be especially extra careful with vegetables like, leafy vegetables, cauliflower, cabbage and such which cannot be cleaned completely if washed casually. To the extent possible avoid eating these vegetables raw. Cook them well after cleaning properly.
At any rate, one can only gain by being clean and hygienic. Keep the hands clean. Especially keep the finger nails clean. Keep the table clean. Keep the knife clean. Keep the cutting place clean. Keep the cloth used for wiping hands clean and dry. Keep the cloth vessels clean. Wash vegetables with warm salt water or potassium permanganate.
It is all the more important to remember this especially when dealing with the sick, the old, the children and other vulnerable people.
Special Tips 1:
If our diet usually has a lot of harmful foods like oily, fat rich, over salty, spicy packed and processed foods, then vegetables are all the more important for us. We can protect ourselves by adding to such a diet, more vegetables than people usually do. Vegetables are the saviours in such situations. They are God-sent. But, in order to get the maximum benefits follow the basic logic.
Special Tips 2:
COOK TIPS
Cook the vegetables optimally. Under cooking is bad. Over cooking is worse. For the best benefits, don’t let the vegetables be cooked in oil or even oiled water. Add fried seasonings after the vegetables are cooked in clean water, at low temperatures, and never before or during the cooking process. Heated or boiled oil gets broken into very harmful ingredients that can play havoc with our fat metabolism. They increase the dreaded free radicals in the body. The vegetables are actually there to save. Vegetables and fruits contain free-radical scavengers called antioxidants. Our cooking method can severely damage this purpose, if we are negligent.
Special Tips 3:
Don’t preserve the vegetables after cutting. Some times, the preservation leads to a loss of vital nutrients up to 99%!!! Preserving the nature’s gifts in the diet is the need. Only an awareness and a commitment can achieve this.
Special Tips 4:
Don’t forget to include the different colors of vegetables. Include all the colors. Green color is the most important of them all. Have plenty of green vegetables every day. Ideally, let there be at least three green varieties in meal.
Special Tips 5:
Don’t miss out on the water rich vegetables like the gourds (the snake gourd, the bottle gourd etc.) They are very rich in water, the absorption and distribution of the nutrients would be faster. They will neutralize the ill effects of some of the modern day negative diets.
Special Tips 6:
Don’t fail to include the vegetables of the season and of the region. They are offered by the Mother Nature in the season because we need them at that time of the year.
Special Tips 7:
A CAUTION: The quantity of vegetables so strongly recommended in these pages should not reduce or replace the much needed starches and sugar from the diet, beyond the minimum requirement. This is especially so in the case of manual workers and those who exert themselves a lot like sportspersons and active children etc. It is best to get most of our calories from simple starches and secondly from simple sugars and a few from fats. Fats are not to be entirely avoided. Such an avoidance contributes to vaata and early ageing. It is almost as bad as taking too much fat.
Special Tips 8:
Potato is an exception in a way. Many of the good things said of the vegetables do not apply to it. It may be counted more as a starch supplement than a vegetable. It is low on fiber, high on calories, and is tamasic. Potato is best taken in small quantities, always freshly cooked and hot. Cold, stale potatoes can cause flatulence and gastritis due to oligo-compounds. Avoid potatoes in the beginning of the meal, they are bulky and may usurp the place of other helpful hi-fiber, lo-calorie, mineral rich vegetables. It would then be too high an opportunity cost. When potato is therapeutically indicated and recommended, it is a different matter.
Special Tips 9:
TRUE MINERAL WATER
A nearly 70% water-rich organism like the human body, needs naturally a water-rich diet. At any rate it is harmful to over feed it with dry condensed foods. Raw, half-cooked vegetables are preferable in that order. They are ideally water rich in that order. The water held in the tissues of the vegetables and fruits is from deep earth collected by the roots of the tree drop by drop. It is true mineral water, provided by the Mother nature.
Special Tips 10:
Have a lot of quantity, as well as, a lot of variety of vegetables everyday. Let the meal be vegetable rich. Let 60% of the diet be of vegetable preparations, properly selected, including both raw and cooked ones.
Nature offers different kinds of vegetables in different seasons. We are also provided several varieties of vegetables in a season. Each vegetable is rich in one aspect of nutrition. Each has active in some specific function of the human organism. Each has active in some specific function of the human organism. Each is needed for a different purpose and has a different taste, texture and flavor. This is the nature’s simple way of a rich nourishment of the complex human organism. This body of ours grew on the offerings from the nature for millenniums. Most diets offer all the three major macronutrients we need, namely, starch, proteins and fat. But the crucial difference that can make in a meal is its richness in micronutrients that are needed not only for the proper absorption and metabolism of the major nutrients, but also for many other functions in the body. These micronutrients provide the cutting edge to the diet. Enjoy the best benefit of the intelligent and benevolent nature. Seek and follow advice of the well informed and get a wise counsel.
There is one aspect of vegetable consumption that we cannot ignore: cleanliness. The hygiene and cleanliness are of paramount importance in this matter. One can be exposed to any number of troubles if vegetables are not properly cleaned or if handled with unclean hands. It is absolutely important, whether one eats them raw or cooked, that they are properly cleaned.
Remember that the vegetables may have been sprayed with or exposed to dangerous chemicals in the name of pesticides. Also, some times, highly contaminated manure may have been used. Often the manure is not fully dislodged or removed from the consumable part of the plant. This is especially the case with the leaf part or stem part , or the root, if that happens to be the consumable part. The vegetable before it comes to your table for cutting or cooking passes through several hands. Not all of them are hygienic or clean. Quite often they are dirty, shabby, unclean, contaminated and infected hands, cloths and containers. It is a very safe preventive measure to consider every vegetable as contaminated and treat appropriately.
The dreaded disease neurocysticercosis, which attacks the central nervous system quite often fatally, is considered for a long time to be the headache of the pork eaters. Vegetarians consider themselves to be safe. Not any more according to the latest studies and evidence. The problem is caused by particular parasite, tapeworm tenia solium. It is firmly lodged in the soft tissue of the faeces eating pigs and also in unclean vegetables grown with human faeces as manure.
Be especially extra careful with vegetables like, leafy vegetables, cauliflower, cabbage and such which cannot be cleaned completely if washed casually. To the extent possible avoid eating these vegetables raw. Cook them well after cleaning properly.
At any rate, one can only gain by being clean and hygienic. Keep the hands clean. Especially keep the finger nails clean. Keep the table clean. Keep the knife clean. Keep the cutting place clean. Keep the cloth used for wiping hands clean and dry. Keep the cloth vessels clean. Wash vegetables with warm salt water or potassium permanganate.
It is all the more important to remember this especially when dealing with the sick, the old, the children and other vulnerable people.
Special Tips 1:
If our diet usually has a lot of harmful foods like oily, fat rich, over salty, spicy packed and processed foods, then vegetables are all the more important for us. We can protect ourselves by adding to such a diet, more vegetables than people usually do. Vegetables are the saviours in such situations. They are God-sent. But, in order to get the maximum benefits follow the basic logic.
Special Tips 2:
COOK TIPS
Cook the vegetables optimally. Under cooking is bad. Over cooking is worse. For the best benefits, don’t let the vegetables be cooked in oil or even oiled water. Add fried seasonings after the vegetables are cooked in clean water, at low temperatures, and never before or during the cooking process. Heated or boiled oil gets broken into very harmful ingredients that can play havoc with our fat metabolism. They increase the dreaded free radicals in the body. The vegetables are actually there to save. Vegetables and fruits contain free-radical scavengers called antioxidants. Our cooking method can severely damage this purpose, if we are negligent.
Special Tips 3:
Don’t preserve the vegetables after cutting. Some times, the preservation leads to a loss of vital nutrients up to 99%!!! Preserving the nature’s gifts in the diet is the need. Only an awareness and a commitment can achieve this.
Special Tips 4:
Don’t forget to include the different colors of vegetables. Include all the colors. Green color is the most important of them all. Have plenty of green vegetables every day. Ideally, let there be at least three green varieties in meal.
Special Tips 5:
Don’t miss out on the water rich vegetables like the gourds (the snake gourd, the bottle gourd etc.) They are very rich in water, the absorption and distribution of the nutrients would be faster. They will neutralize the ill effects of some of the modern day negative diets.
Special Tips 6:
Don’t fail to include the vegetables of the season and of the region. They are offered by the Mother Nature in the season because we need them at that time of the year.
Special Tips 7:
A CAUTION: The quantity of vegetables so strongly recommended in these pages should not reduce or replace the much needed starches and sugar from the diet, beyond the minimum requirement. This is especially so in the case of manual workers and those who exert themselves a lot like sportspersons and active children etc. It is best to get most of our calories from simple starches and secondly from simple sugars and a few from fats. Fats are not to be entirely avoided. Such an avoidance contributes to vaata and early ageing. It is almost as bad as taking too much fat.
Special Tips 8:
Potato is an exception in a way. Many of the good things said of the vegetables do not apply to it. It may be counted more as a starch supplement than a vegetable. It is low on fiber, high on calories, and is tamasic. Potato is best taken in small quantities, always freshly cooked and hot. Cold, stale potatoes can cause flatulence and gastritis due to oligo-compounds. Avoid potatoes in the beginning of the meal, they are bulky and may usurp the place of other helpful hi-fiber, lo-calorie, mineral rich vegetables. It would then be too high an opportunity cost. When potato is therapeutically indicated and recommended, it is a different matter.
Special Tips 9:
TRUE MINERAL WATER
A nearly 70% water-rich organism like the human body, needs naturally a water-rich diet. At any rate it is harmful to over feed it with dry condensed foods. Raw, half-cooked vegetables are preferable in that order. They are ideally water rich in that order. The water held in the tissues of the vegetables and fruits is from deep earth collected by the roots of the tree drop by drop. It is true mineral water, provided by the Mother nature.
Special Tips 10:
Have a lot of quantity, as well as, a lot of variety of vegetables everyday. Let the meal be vegetable rich. Let 60% of the diet be of vegetable preparations, properly selected, including both raw and cooked ones.
4 comments:
Thank you sir!
Very good information
Information is very useful. Dr.Bhardwaj
Very good information
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