By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD
How often do you eat kale, spinach, collard greens, and other dark green vegetables? Daily? A few times a week? Once a week? Monthly? If you live in the United States and answered “daily,” you’re among the approximately 26% of Americans who eat dark green vegetables every day.1 The other 74% of Americans eat them less often. Maybe if you’re vegan, you eat dark green vegetables more often. A study of Seventh-day Adventists found that vegans ate about 40% more leafy green vegetables daily than did nonvegetarians.2
Why eat dark green vegetables? They’re a good way to get nutrients like calcium (true of greens other than spinach), iron, vitamin C, and potassium as well as a variety of phytonutrients. They can be prepared quickly or eaten raw or cooked long and slow, if you prefer. Try a massaged kale salad with a lime-tahini dressing or collards with tomatoes and garlic, or shred greens and add to soups and stir-fries.
Red and orange vegetables like carrots, red peppers, and tomatoes are eaten more commonly than dark green vegetables. In the United States, 79% of adults on average eat red and orange vegetables daily.1 How about you? Dark orange vegetables are especially noteworthy for their vitamin A content and tomatoes for supplying lycopene and vitamin C. Vitamin A is needed for a healthy immune system; lycopene and vitamin C are antioxidants.
So, crunch a carrot, steam some kale, slice some tomatoes – let’s try to eat dark green and red or orange vegetables every day!
References
1. Ansai N, Wambogo EA. Fruit and vegetable consumption among adults in the United States, 2015–2018. NCHS Data Brief, no 397. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2021. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.15620/cdc:100470
2. Orlich MJ, Jaceldo-Siegl K, Sabaté J, Fan J, Singh PN, Fraser GE. Patterns of food consumption among vegetarians and non-vegetarians. Br J Nutr. 2014;112:1644-1653.
For recipes using leafy green vegetables see vrg.org/journal/vj2001may/2001_may_greens.php
For recipes using carrots see vrg.org/journal/vj2003issue1/2003_issue1_carrot.php
For more on U.S. vegetable consumption see vrg.org/blog/2021/05/21/do-you-eat-close-to-17-pounds-of-carrots-a-year/