Eat Your Veggies
Humans are genetically built to eat an anti-inflammatory diet. Vegetables are a very important component of an inflammatory-fighting diet. We are only supposed to eat vegetation and animals that eat vegetation, so you can begin to understand how important vegetables are. Yet only a very small percentage of the average American diet is actually made up of vegetables.
Non-Starchy Vegetables.
As a general goal, you should try to fill ¾ of your plate with non-starchy vegetables. They supply plenty of vitamins, minerals, and fiber and don't load on the calories. In particular, green leafy vegetables are an excellent source of these nutrients. Non-starchy vegetables contain almost eight times the amount of fiber as compared to whole grains, which makes veggies the best source of dietary fiber available.
Non-starchy vegetables are anti-inflammatory. This means they don't cause inflammation in the body and consequently reduce your risk of a long list of diseases; most notably cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stroke, hypertension and osteoporosis. Vegetables are rich in antioxidants and phytonutrients, which contain disease-preventing anti-inflammatory, omega-3 fatty acids. They also contain a good ratio of fiber to calories.
One cup of broccoli: 2.4 grams of fiber, 24 calories
One cup of spinach: .7g of fiber, 7 calories
Starchy Vegetables.
An essential part of a well balanced diet, starchy veg contains more calories and carbohydrates than other vegetables. Therefore they should be limited in the diet to avoid weight gain and ill health. Portion control is important. One serving of starchy vegetables should equal 15 grams of carbohydrates. To calculate this you can take the total number of carbohydrates and divide it by 15. This will tell you how many servings the food has. Moderating intake of starchy veg is particularly important for diabetics, as starch increases insulin levels.
One cup of potato: 2.7 grams of fiber, 174 calories
One cup of parsnip: 6.5g of fiber, 100 calories
Check out these links for more information:
http://www.fatsecret.com/calories-nutrition/usda
http://www.ehow.com/how_2300827_limit-starchy-vegetables.html
www.eatwild.com