Everyone says that vegetables are the best food, as they are a source of vitamins, nutrients, carbohydrates and so on; they are the main food in weight loss or illness diets, and they truly are miracle foods. Nevertheless, it is good to know more about what we eat, and know how to make distinctions between various types of veggies. The first main distinction that we want to make is that between starchy and non-starchy vegetables; this difference is important to some, especially those with diabetes, or those on a diet. In what follows we are going to see what non starchy vegetables are, and a separate article will be dedicated to starchy veggies.
To begin with, non starchy vegetables are recommended to diabetics precisely because they contain less carbohydrates and calories. This means that a person can consume more of these vegetables without fearing they will mess with their blood sugar levels, or their weight loss diets. It is easy to find lists of these less “action-packed” vegetables, but we are going to name a few nonetheless to give you an idea what they are. Thus, we have common vegetables such as celery, eggplant, cucumber, leeks, onions, parsley, broccoli, bean sprouts, cauliflower, carrots, radishes, peppers, zucchini, spinach or tomatoes, and even less common ones such as fennel, scallions, rhubarb, kohlrabi, Chinese cabbage, alfalfa sprouts, avocado and okra.
These are just a few of the non starchy vegetables we have access to, and if you need to find more, there are lists more complete all over the internet. Moving on to more serious business, we cannot stress how important these vegetables can be to someone who needs to mind their health. The American Diabetes Association recommends to all diabetics to consume these veggies, especially when they get glucose-related cravings. This is because, like we said, they can eat more without taking risks. Fresh vegetables are the best, but frozen and canned ones can be just as fine, with the mention that diabetics should avoid those with sodium or salt. If the canned vegetables used sodium for preservation, they can be rinsed to get rid of some of the excess.
Everyone should eat vegetables daily; those who don’t know a lot about carbs and calories will find it useful to know that one cup of raw vegetables has about five grams of carbohydrates. And if you want to live healthy but don’t know what to cook, and which vegetables are best, then here is a simple trick: the more colorful your meal is, the more vitamins and nutrients there are in there. Diversity is the key when talking about vegetables or fruits, and the same thing goes for non starchy vegetables as well. We hope you will find these tips useful and be pleased with the results of your new diet.
