This year will be known as the year of stockpiling food. With all the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic and the availability of goods, canned foods became a cabinet staple for getting in your greens with fewer trips to the store. But while vegetables are widely known to be a great source of vitamins and minerals, our experts tell us not all vegetables are created equal.
If your health has become a concern this year, as it has with many people, consider minimizing the purchase of starchy vegetables such as canned beans and potatoes in your grocery trips moving forward.
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Starchy Vegetables
Canned or pre-cut vegetables such as beans and potatoes are best moved to the bottom of your grocery list if you plan to make health a priority in the final months of 2020. Public health professor Jagdish Khubchandani warns that this variety of vegetables often "lack the freshness" of raw veggies, consequently offering a lower value of nutrients.
Although it may save you time to opt for the readily prepared option, the extra few minutes it takes to cut veggies yourself will provide your body with more of the natural benefits of eating your greens and less of a possibility of contracting illness from your groceries.
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Narrowing down starchy vegetables further, professor Khubchandani notes that potatoes, while high in valuable nutrients, are also high in carbohydrates and contain addictive properties. With the spike in sedentary lifestyles that has come as a natural side effect to the pandemic, a high carb diet is no longer the healthiest option.
Naturopathic physician, Dr. Amanda Chay adds that potatoes make the EWG’s list of foods highest in pesticides, which can be potentially harmful to your body and are not always monitored before your food takes the shelves.
Additionally, she notes, potatoes, “have high amounts of resistant starches that cannot be broken down completely by enzymes in our intestines. This creates increased hydrogen production which can worsen symptoms of IBS and SIBO.”
When throwing together your next dinner, stick to leafy greens and keep your veggies fresh whenever possible. With a little extra thought you can still create healthy habits--even in a pandemic!
