5 Things Which Are NOT A Vegetable

I gave a presentation at work yesterday about fitness and health. One of the hot topics seemed to be what is and what isn’t a vegetable. There were people asking if squashes were a vegetable and what about sweet potatoes? Are tomatoes a vegetable? What about pumpkins?

The purpose of a vegetable serving

The problem is that a vegetable serving has two purposes, while people mostly just consider one. A vegetable serving provides you with a lot of nutrients and it also fills you up without providing you with a lot of calories. Vegetables do this by being high in water and fiber, which means they are low on calorie density. In other words, lb for lb, a vegetable serving provides a low number of calories when compared with other foods. Most people ignore this second aspect of vegetable servings while only focusing on the nutrition.

Now before we talk about what IS a vegetable serving, let’s first of all talk about what ISN’T a vegetable serving.

NOT a vegetable serving

Fruit - Yes, I know they say five servings of vegetables or fruits, but they don’t mean JUST fruit. Most people completely ignore vegetables and eat only fruit. Well, as healthy as they are, many fruit still contain a high amount of sugar. Which means they supply your body with a lot of nutrients, but with a high quantity of calories.

Dried Fruit - Even worse than fruit, dried fruit is fruit with all the water squeezed out. That means the sugar load is even higher.

Potatoes (and other high start plants) - Most roots and even most squashes are very starchy. That means they contain a lot of calories and relatively few nutrients. They’re not bad for you and I’m not saying you shouldn’t eat them, but they shouldn’t count as your vegetable serving because they are high in calories.

Juices - No matter what that V8 commercial tells you, juices don’t count as vegetable servings. They typically contain a low amount of water, a high amount of sodium and much of the fiber content is gone.

Grains and beans - Yes, I know they’re plants, but that doesn’t make them a vegetable serving. Guess what, chocolate is a plant too but that doesn’t mean you should eat five servings of it a day. Grains and beans have a very high number of calories in them. Grains, especially in refined form, are something you should try to avoid, not include in your diet.

So what is a vegetable?

First, the following is not a scientific definition of a vegetable. In fact, I don’t believe one exists, although if you know of one, please let me know. We do have a scientific definition of fruit and it actually encompasses many of the things we consider to be vegetables. So if you’re a science major, you’re going to cringe at all the generalizations I make. However, I don’t expect anyone to rush to Wikipedia every time you want to eat something. that means we need to come up with a definition that is more practical. By the way, not all vegetables will fill all of these requirements. That’s fine, these are just guidelines, not absolute rules.

Lots of water content - A good vegetable serving should contain a lot of water. that doesn’t necessarily mean that if you squeeze it, water comes out. However, things have a lot of juice are usually good.

Not too sweet - Unless that juice is really sweet. This is why most fruit, while healthy, aren’t going to count as part of your vegetable serving. Remember, sweet = sugar and sugar = calories.

Leaves are good - Leafy vegetables are great. Spinach, cabbage, lettuce, green onions and a whole other variety of leaves. These are typically very low in calories and very high in nutrients.

Roots are not so good - Many plants store a lot of their energy in their roots. That’s why roots are in many cases very starchy and filled with calories. Potatoes are a great example. Yes, there are exceptions, but most roots are too energy dense to be a really good vegetable serving.

###

As you can see, these guidelines aren’t exact. That’s fine. You’re not going to be 100% accurate all of the time, and just making an effort to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables is going to have a positive impact, even if you don’t always pick the right vegetable. Just remember, try to stick with plants that give the most nutrition for the least amount of calories. If you follow that basic rule, you can’t really go wrong.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!