National Eat Your Vegetables Day

Jasper Greek Golangco / Copyrighted free use

National Eat Your Vegetables Day in on June 17th in the United States.

Vegetables are a good source of essential nutrients, and some people, such as vegans and certain types of vegetarian, mostly eat vegetables. Mostly, because fruit and nuts are often considered to be separate, though the line is vague and often down to culinary and cultural traditions. The general definition of a vegetable is a plant part that is consumed by humans, or animals, as food.

Most vegetables can be eaten raw, though there are some that have to be cooked. In the majority of cases, raw vegetables have a higher nutritional value than cooked. Boiling vegetables to cook them, then throwing away the water, is often the worst way of preparing them, as many of the nutrients are thrown away. Vegetables can be grown at home; even a window pot can allow a few to be grown, such as herbs and salad leaves.

National Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Month

June is National Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Month in the United States.

Now, this is one of the healthier food celebrations around. Fresh fruit and vegetables are an important part of the diet, although it should be noted that flash frozen food can actually be more nutritious than fresh, as food is frozen within hours of picking, whilst fresh food can take days to reach the point of sale, where it can stand around for days more. So, frozen fruit and vegetables can have more nutrients in them than fresh.

Fruit and vegetables contain a wide variety of essential nutrients, but they are not all necessarily healthy if consumed in great amounts. Most countries have a recommended daily intake of fruit and vegetables, classed as servings, but the recommended amount varies from country to country. Needless to say, fruit and vegetables are some of the oldest types of food consumed, given that both can often be eaten with no further preparation.