“Eat your vegetables” as mothers we say it to our children just as our mothers said it to us. I’ve never read about the important qualities that vegetables hold in the prevention or at least the reduction of risk for some diseases. I’d like to share some of those with you.

First of all, tomatoes. Tomatoes contain an antioxidant called Lycopene. Lycopene has been linked to the reduction of pancreatic and cervical cancer. Tomatoes are a tough one to “mask” for children, but as adults we can throw it into a salad, and have a daily serving.

Then there are the vegetables which fall into the Crucuferous famiy, also known as your broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts and tunips to name a few. There is an enzyme called Sulforaphane, which blocks the growth of tumors. My favorite variation with the broccoli is to throw some cheese on it, it takes away that scary green, and makes it different for the kids.

Finally, soybeans, yeah the thought of tofu doesn’t register well, but there are several other ways to get a daily serving of this cholesterol lowering vegetable. For example, soymilk, and vegeburgers. Soybeans have also been linked to the prevention of certain types of cancer. It is a compound in the soybeans called genistein that prevents the growth of certain cancer cells. Amazing.

So at least now we know WHY mom always made us eat vegetables.

Tags: healthy vegetables, kids and vegetables

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 at 1:15 am and is filed under Food & Cooking, Vegan & Vegetarian. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.