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veggies and nutrients Moderators: Moderators Jump to page : 1 Now viewing page 1 [25 messages per page]	View previous thread :: View next thread
Wellness -> Diet and Nutrition	Message format

slowpie6

Posted 2007-02-02 12:21 AM (#76076)
Subject: veggies and nutrients

I've been trying to track down a detailed listing of veggies (fruit too, though I'm more concerned about veggies) that includes a thorough breakdown of the vitamins and minerals that they contain. I did find this chart: http://www.dole5aday.com/ReferenceCenter/NutritionCenter/Chart/R_NutrChart.jsp?topmenu=1 which is interesting, but it doesn't cover all the veggies I'd like to know about (though it is the most complete I've come upon thus far) and it only lists a few nutrients (vit A, vit C, folate, potassium).

Does any one know of an online resource that provides very detailed info on veggies? Or maybe a book about veggies that also would include recipes or preparation tips? It doesn't have to be vegetarian as I am not, but I am interested in maximizing my veggie intake while not increasing my meat and other animal products intake, so vegetarian would be fine as well...

And finally, I realize I might find more info if I dug around through a message board that is dedicated to nutrition... Any good ones out there that you can recommend?

Cheerio, ty

sp

Orbilia

Posted 2007-02-02 4:55 AM (#76080 - in reply to #76076)
Subject: RE: veggies and nutrients

I don't think it'll go down to the level of detail you want, but the BBC's health pages are great. It's totally free and broken down into bit-sized chunks.

One good tip I was given was to make your fruit and veg choices each day as colourful as possible. Apparently if you eat something green, red, orange, yellow and purple you've pretty much made sure you've got all the vitamins and minerals possible from these food sources.

Fee

tourist

Posted 2007-02-02 10:03 AM (#76093 - in reply to #76080)
Subject: RE: veggies and nutrients

Expert Yogi

Posts: 8442
5000

http://www.nutritiondata.com This site has a pretty comprehensive listing and some nice charts that show where things fall in the big scheme of things. Generally fee is right, the deeper the colour, the more the nutrients. Beets better than carrots, for example.

Cyndi

Posted 2007-02-02 11:07 AM (#76105 - in reply to #76093)
Subject: RE: veggies and nutrients

Expert Yogi

Posts: 5098
5000

Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC

Those kinds of nutritonal information charts are so totally incomplete. If you really want to gain some insight about fruits and vegetables, how they function with the human body, get the book by Paul Pitchford. "Healing with Whole Foods, Oriental Traditions and Modern Nutrition".

The vitamins and minerals listed in fruits and vegetables are really not as important as the energy of the food, the taste, flavor and which organs it influences and benefits. Then you must consider if a particular vegetable is good for your body's constitution or not.

To describe the energy of the food would be to know if it had a cooling, warming, heating or neutral nature. To describe the taste would be to know if it were sweet, bitter, salty, sour, pungent...etc. To know which organs the food influences and benefits..comes from the ancient knowledge of TCM and Ayurvedic principals. These are the most important facts about fruits and vegetables that no one wants to pay attention to, and are the most important when trying to heal the human body and using food as medicine. Actually, food is medicine period. I'm going to give you an example of a Tomato.

TOMATO

Very cooling thermal nature; sweet and sour flavor; builds the yin fluids and relieves dryness and thirst; tonifies the stomach and cleans the liver; purifies the blood and detoxifies the body in general; encourages digestion and so is used in cases of diminished appetite, indigestion, food retention, anorexia, and constipation.

Tomato relieves liver heat and accompanying symptoms such as high blood pressure, red eyes, and headache. To treat areas of stagnant blood in the body, tomato can be used as a food and as an external pack of the raw finely sliced fruit on the stagnant site.

Even though an acidic fruit, after digestion the tomato alkalizes the blood and so is useful in reducing the acid blood of rheumatism and gout.

Vine-ripened tomatoes are best; green-picked tomatoes that are later ripened can weaken the kidney-adrenal function.

Cautions: Tomato upsets calcium metabolism and should be avoided in cases of arthritis. Large amounts of tomatoes are weakening for everyone.

Dosage: 1-2 tomatoes twice daily

Edited by Cyndi 2007-02-02 11:08 AM

slowpie6

Posted 2007-02-02 11:50 AM (#76110 - in reply to #76076)
Subject: RE: veggies and nutrients

Oy ve Cyndi, you've just shown me a whole new depth of things to learn about veggies! I can't claim to fully understand all that you wrote about the tomato, and furthermore, I couldn't tell you as a result of that whether I should or shouldn't be eating tomatoes right now (I hope I should, cuz I love them and have been having many tomato sandwiches these days)...

Does the book your refer to also cover the basic principles that need to be understood in order to properly grasp the information provided and apply it to one's own needs, or should something else be read first to gain that fundamental knowledge?

I'll admit a bit of skepticism with regards to traditional eastern medicine, but that skepticism is rooted in ignorance, not in an unwillingness to give credance to something that has not been proven scientifically. Although I do come from a background rooted in science (my mother is a pharmacist, I formerly studied neuropsychology), I firmly believe that human experience over centuries may well have provided valid knowledge even if it might not withstand scientific testing (if anyone bothered to try to test it, which I'm not sure of since the scientific community tends to be so dismissive of "folk" sciences). I would have to say that the sum total of my knowledge in eastern medicine or ayurveda or anything else non-scientific amounts to, well, something below zero, because what I may think I know is most likely wrong... I've never investigated it either, except for looking up and trying various home remedies for ailments I may have. In fact, with my current sinusitis, I tried various things, such as ginger and cumin (I added it to soup), cayenne (I added it to everything), and spoonfuls of honey and cinnamon (just ate it like that). My home experiments with this stuff haven't gone beyond just using whatever I actually had in my home, like I never went out to a store to buy some exotic thing I'd never heard of...

Anyways, all that to say that I am interested in exploring the subject a little more, I agree with the basic precept that food is medicine for the body and would like to understand its effects a little more. I will look into the book that you mentioned Cyndi, and would appreciate any other recommendations that could help me get a broader view of the subject. If there happens to be a book that attempts to explain concepts of eastern approaches to healing and food and medicine, while relating it to modern western scientific principles (such as minerals and vitamins and such things), I think that would be especially good for me. I don't mean a book that attempts to debunk and discredit eastern approaches, but one that is favorable to these traditional approaches while integrating them into modern scientific knowledge to make it easier for a science-minded person to trust and believe...

I thank you for your help.

sp

slowpie6

Posted 2007-02-02 12:00 PM (#76112 - in reply to #76093)
Subject: RE: veggies and nutrients

Wow, looked up the site you mentioned tourist, and that's exactly what I had in mind, only better still. There's a gazillion different bits of info on there, it's amazing... From a western scientific perspective, I'd say that's about as good as it can get. I thank you very much.

Doesn't change the fact that I'd love to read more about an alternative perspective and a new way of thinking about veggies and food in general by looking into eastern approaches. But I'm impressed with that site and all the things you can do with it too...

sp

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