Vegetables Plant Edible Part Nutritious For Health Used As Delicacies

Vegetables refer to the highly nutritious stems, roots, leaves, and organs of plants that are eaten by the animals including human beings. Vegetables are supposed to be the greatest source of energy for human beings as they contain loads of vitamins, minerals, proteins and carbohydrates, and fiber that are essential for the vital and healthy functioning of the animal body. The vegetables contain substances that counter the functioning of the oxidants, bacteria, malignant fungus and virus and cancer producing substances.

Ones staple diet should include adequate quantities of vegetables, as their deficiency might result in a lot of diseases. A lot of vegetables especially green vegetables like coriander, fenugreek, spinach, lettuce etc. have very high medicinal values. Their juices are given to patients in the natural treatment of many diseases. The juice of beetroot and carrot cure anemia and that of the bottlegourd corrects stomach related ailments.

Onion and garlic are found to have many beneficial properties. Onion purifies blood and the garlic controls hypertension. In general each and every vegetable has some medicinal property or the other. The term vegetable is not of scientific origin. Pulses, cereals, nuts and even mushroom come under the vegetables category.

The animals that eat only plants and vegetables are called herbivores. The cultivation of vegetables on a professional basis is called olericulture. The term vegetable came into usage in the 1300s. It came to be defined as a plant part used as food in the 1700s.
There are different categories of vegetables. There are vegetables that are used as salad items. There are green leaf vegetables also. Cabbage, corn salad, lettuce, mustard, spinach all come under this category.

There are fruits and flowers also that are considered as vegetables. The examples are Avacado, pumpkin, eggplant, bell pepper and bitter melon. The next category consists of vegetables that have edible pods. Examples are chickpea, azuki bean, black-eyed pea, French bean and lentils. They are also referred to as leguminous plants.

The next categories of vegetables are the ones whose bulbs and stems are eaten. Examples are Asparagus, Garlic, onion, celery and Florence fennel. The roots and tubers of some plants classify as vegetables. Examples are Potato, ginger, carrot, sweet potato and tiger nut. There are vegetables grown in the vicinity of the sea. Some of these are carola, dulce, aonori, sea grape sea lettuce.

Let us look into the nutrition facts of some vegetables. 1 cup of soybeans has 17 grams of fat. 1 cup of lima beans have 33 grams of fiber. 1 cup of kidney beans has high protein of 43 grams. 1 cup of lima beans have 113gms of carbohydrate and Spinach has a sodium content of 268.5 mg. Vegetables