Vegetables

Vegetables

Why are they important?

Vegetables have a lot of vitamins and minerals and often only contain a modest amount of calories. Eating a variety of different vegetables means you’ll get a great range of different vitamins and minerals. Eating vegetables provides health benefits – people who eat more vegetables and fruits as part of an overall healthy diet are likely to have a reduced risk of some chronic diseases. Vegetables provide nutrients vital for health and maintenance of your body.

Vitamin A keeps eyes and skin healthy and helps to protect against infections.

Vitamin C helps heal cuts and wounds and keeps teeth and gums healthy.

Vitamin C aids in iron absorption.

What foods are in the Vegetable Group?

Any vegetable or 100% vegetable juice counts as a member of the Vegetable Group. Vegetables may be raw or cooked; fresh, frozen, canned, or dried/dehydrated; and may be whole, cut-up, or mashed.

Based on their nutrient content, vegetables are organised into 5 subgroups: dark-green vegetables, starchy vegetables, red and orange vegetables, beans and peas, and other vegetables.

How many vegetables are needed?

The amount of vegetables you need to eat depends on your age, sex, and level of physical activity.

What vegetables should we eat?

To have a healthy diet, we should all be eating at least ‘5 a day’ when it comes to portions of fruit and vegetables. But quality is just as important as quantity. It’s best to buy local, in-season produce and consume it fairly soon after purchase, as the nutrient content of vegetables deteriorates quickly once picked. In-season produce will be also be at its best flavour-wise. Farmers’ markets are a brilliant place to pick up fresh local produce and you’ll often find lots of wonderful and perhaps unfamiliar vegetable that you may not see in the supermarket. Buying locally and in season should also work out a bit cheaper.

REFLECTION

Overall, I think that my vegetable soup didn't turn out that well. It tasted decent with bread but I think if I had to do it again, I would defiantly make lots of changes. What I would change is, being more prepared with the ingredients and what I am going to make, because I was rushing whilst making this. I also think that I should have added more heavy whipping cream or milk to make it more watery. I was very surprised when most of my friends who tried the soup said it tasted really nice with bread and how they wanted more, because I thought it was a fail. I really enjoyed making this and hope to cook more at home and at school.