Vegetables and fruits provide water for the body
In the summer, the weather is hot and humid, the temperature rises, and the sweat that comes out like a shower easily makes the body exhausted and lose appetite. According to Dr. Nguyen Trong Hung, Deputy Head of the Department of Clinical Nutrition - National Institute of Nutrition: vegetables, tubers, and fruits will be extremely useful foods to replenish water, supplement minerals and vitamins.
Below is advice from Dr. Nguyen Trong Hung about the types of vegetables and fruits you should add in the summer.
Cucumber, Malabar spinach, amaranth, squash, pumpkin….
These vegetables contain a lot of water. They are an excellent source of silica, which strengthens connective tissues. Cucumbers are rich in vitamins A, B, C, folic acid and several other minerals.
We can add diced cucumbers to vegetable and grain salads or split cucumbers for a snack.
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Cucumber |
Mango smoothie, watermelon, coconut water, sugarcane juice, mango, pineapple….
Hot weather and excessive sweating will make you dehydrated and thirsty. A glass of watermelon smoothie, coconut water or sugarcane juice will quickly replenish the lost water and salt.
If your skin is often dry, eat mangoes. Mangoes are rich in vitamins and minerals, especially vitamin A. Vitamin A helps normalize the production and life cycle of skin cells.
When you have acne, it is due to the overproduction of cells in the stratum corneum, the outermost layer of the skin and includes biologically dead cells. These dead cells combine with sebum to form acne. With the nutrients in mangoes also improve the above condition.
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Coconut water |
Dark green leafy vegetables provide vitamins and minerals.
Vitamin A is abundant in dark green leafy vegetables such as: Malabar spinach, jute, amaranth, water spinach, sweet potato leaves, perilla, water spinach, betel leaves, herbs, carrots...,
Vitamin B is found in abundance in beans, rice bran, orange juice... Vitamin B is a water-soluble vitamin, destroyed by heat and lost during processing.
Vegetables contain many alkaline minerals such as potassium, calcium, and magnesium. Vegetables and fruits that contain a lot of potassium include tomatoes, bananas, soybeans, etc. They play an important role in the body and are necessary to maintain alkalinity. In the body, these substances provide free radicals that are necessary to neutralize acid products created by food or metabolism.
In particular, vegetables contain a lot of potassium in the form of potassium carbonate, potassium salts of organic acids and many other substances that are easily soluble in water and digestive juices. Potassium salts reduce the ability of protein to retain water in tissues, thus having a diuretic effect.
The amount of magnesium in fresh vegetables is also remarkable, ranging from 5-75mg%. Dark green vegetables contain a lot of magnesium such as kale, green leafy vegetables and spinach. Half a cup of spinach has about 160 mg of magnesium, legumes... Especially herbs, amaranth, beans are rich in magnesium.
Vegetables are also an important source of iron. Iron in vegetables is better absorbed by the body than iron in inorganic compounds. Beans and lettuce are good sources of manganese.
Yellow and gray fruits provide vitamins and minerals.
Yellow and orange fruits such as ripe papaya, persimmon, mango, jackfruit, pineapple... contain a lot of vitamin A.
Some fruits are rich sources of magnesium including avocados, bananas, etc. Fruit juices often have higher magnesium content than fresh fruits, for example grapefruit juice, grape juice, etc.
Beans and Seeds: Beans that are high in magnesium include soybeans, white beans, and black beans. Seeds that are high in magnesium include pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, sesame seeds, and sunflower seeds. Peanuts and peanut butter are also high in magnesium.
Herbs stimulate appetite
An important physiological characteristic of fresh vegetables is their ability to stimulate appetite and influence the secretory function of the digestive tract. This effect is particularly evident in vegetables with essential oils such as coriander, herbs, onions, garlic, etc.
The enzymes in fresh vegetables have a positive effect on the digestive process, such as the enzymes in onions have the same effect as pepsin in gastric juice, and the enzymes in lettuce have the same effect as trypsin in the pancreas.
Legumes, jute, etc. provide protein.
The amount of protein in fresh vegetables is generally low (ranging from 0.5-1.5%). However, there are many types of vegetables that have a significant amount of protein, such as fresh beans, long beans (4-6%), water spinach (3.2%), water mimosa (3.9%), Malabar spinach (5.3%), celery (3.7%), jute (2.8%), and amaranth (3.3%).
Provide sugar
The average sugar content in fresh vegetables is about 3-4%, some types have up to 6-8%. In vegetables, cellulose is in the form of a bond with pectin to form a pectin-cellulose complex that strongly stimulates intestinal motility and intestinal secretion, helping digestion.
Vegetables are indispensable in our daily meals. It is important to ensure that vegetables are clean, free of disease-causing bacteria and dangerous toxic chemicals.