Some Cheaper Veggies are More Nutritious

During holiday season, you enjoyed the smell and taste of delicious dishes like ham, lechon, crispy pata, morcon, salads, and many others. All these foods are loaded with fats and oils. Now, it is time you shift into low-fat and low-calorie foods. Vegetables, legumes, and dried beans are good alternatives to high-fat and high-calorie foods.

Based on the 2013 Food Consumption Survey conducted by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute-DOST, the intake for vegetables is 114 grams per capita per day. This includes 39 grams of green leafy and yellow vegetables and 75 grams of other vegetables. The consumption of Filipinos for vegetables increased by four grams only, from 110 grams per capita per day in 2008 to 114 grams per capita per day in 2003.

Vegetables are served with meals as viands or salads. These are plants or their parts such as roots, tubers, bulbs, stems, shoots, leaves, fruits and flowers. These can be used raw or cooked, served generally as entrée, dessert or salads. Vegetables may be classified into green leafy and yellow vegetables and other vegetables.

Green leafy and yellow vegetables contain B-carotene which is converted to vitamin A for normal vision and smooth skin. These are the most easily available and inexpensive sources of pro-vitamin A. Examples are the leaves of alugbati, ampalaya, kalabasa, kangkong, and gabi. The greener or the deeper their yellow color, the higher the pro-vitamin A content.

Other vegetables like talong and sayote also contain vitamins and minerals but in smaller amounts compared to green leafy and yellow vegetables.

Here are some facts to remember when planning vegetable dishes for your family:

· Malunggay leaves have more pro-vitamin A than petsay, kangkong, saluyot, and kamote tops; and carrot more than squash fruit.

· Squash, malunggay, petsay, kangkong, kamote tops, ampalaya leaves and squash fruit have more pro-vitamin A than other vegetables like cabbage, okra, sayote, and eggplant.

· Malunggay leaves, petsay, kangkong and talbos ng kamote are cheaper and more nutritious than cabbage.

· Malunggay leaves, alugbati and squash are rich in vitamin C for fast healing of wounds and absorption of iron although the amount contained is not as much as that in citrus fruits like dalandan and oranges.

Nutrient losses in vegetables are great. Careful storing, cooking and preserving of vegetables help retain their nutritive value, flavor and color. If vegetables are kept for long periods of time at high temperature and in a dry atmosphere, the losses of vitamin C, in particular, are great. Fat soluble vitamins like A, D, E, and K degrade at high temperatures in the presence of oxygen. Storing at lower temperature reduces degradation rate or loss of said vitamins.

Nutritionists and health professionals recommend consuming two to three servings of vegetables daily, one of which should come from the green leafy or yellow vegetable group. One serving of leafy vegetables or other vegetables is equivalent to one half cup, cooked.

For more information on food and nutrition, contact: Dr. Mario V. Capanzana, Director, Food and Nutrition Research Institute, Department of Science and Technology, General Santos Avenue, Bicutan, Taguig City; Tel/Fax Num: 8372934 and 8373164; email: mvc@fnri.dost.gov.ph, mar_v_c@yahoo.com; FNRI-DOST website: http://www.fnri.dost.gov.ph.; FNRI Facebook page: facebook.com/FNRI-DOST; FNRI Twitter account: twitter.com/FNRI-DOST. (Ma. Idelia G. Glorioso, FNRI-DOST S&T Media Service/PIA-Caraga)