Vary Your Veggies | MyPlate (2024)

FAQs

Why should you vary your veggies? ›

Favor the dark or vividly colored vegetables, especially the dark green and orange/red ones, but continue to eat and enjoy the lighter colored vegetables to add variety to your diet. Deeply colored vegetables and fruits contain the most vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

What does the slogan “Vary your veggies” mean? The slogan means to eat a wide variety of vegetables from each of the subgroups, especially dark green, red and orange vegetables.

MyPlate recommends that most adults eat between 4 and 6 cups of red and orange vegetables each week. Starchy vegetables include corn, green peas, lima beans, and potatoes. Starchy vegetables are higher in calories than other vegetables. They are a source of carbohydrates and fiber.

The Harvard School of Public Health states that vegetable variety is just as important as vegetable quantity on our plates. This is due to the different nutrients, like vitamins, minerals, fibre and antioxidants that vary in each kind of vegetable.

1. Spinach. Spinach is a leafy green vegetable and a great source of calcium, vitamins, iron, and antioxidants. Due to its iron and calcium content, spinach is a great addition to any meat- or dairy-free diet.

Good choices include oranges, blueberries, apples, avocados, and bananas, but there are many more to choose from. Fruits are an excellent source of essential vitamins and minerals, and they are high in fiber. Fruits also provide a wide range of health-boosting antioxidants, including flavonoids.

Dark green, leafy vegetables have the highest concentration of antioxidants and fiber.

"Onions form the base of many dishes, so you may forget that they can actually count towards your 5-a-day," points out dietitian Ro. So onions do count as a vegetable, and not just a flavour enhancer. Plus, they're low in calories and a source of fibre.

What vegetables should you eat every day? ›

Healthy eating means consuming more dark green vegetables, such as broccoli, spinach, and other dark leafy greens. Include more red or orange vegetables, such as carrots, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and legumes, in your diet (dry beans and peas).

Eat a variety of types and colors of produce in order to give your body the mix of nutrients it needs. This not only ensures a greater diversity of beneficial plant chemicals but also creates eye-appealing meals.

Potatoes, in all of their forms, currently fall into the vegetable group.

Celery is nearly 95 percent water and is commonly referred to as a "negative calorie food" due to its low calorie count and high fiber content, according to the Mayo Clinic. While there's no evidence to support this claim, celery is a healthy, fibrous veggie to include in your diet.

Eat a variety of types and colors of produce in order to give your body the mix of nutrients it needs. This not only ensures a greater diversity of beneficial plant chemicals but also creates eye-appealing meals.

Colorful foods, which are generally fruits and vegetables, contain many of the vitamins and antioxidants we need – with few calories. Along with maintaining good health, the nutrients in vegetables and fruits work together to protect against cancer, heart disease, vision loss, hypertension and other diseases.

The Role of Color Sorting in Production

It helps eliminate low-quality, damaged, or objectionable crops from a harvest and prevents them from going to market. This produces a harvest that is more agreeable for both the producer and consumer.

Answer: This classification helps us to know the season of cultivation of a particular vegetable crop i.e. the right time of sowing & their temperature requirement but the cultural requirement of vegetables grouped as winter season vegetables are not the same, so is the case with the summer season crops.