I wonder why green lettuce, spinach, carrot tops and other greens are categorized as vegetables? How did greens end up in the vegetable group when vegetables both look different and contain a completely different set of nutrients?
The manager of the vegetable section of a local store shared his observations with me: it turns out that customers are often confused when looking for a specific product among the more than 150 vegetable products that are all sold in the vegetable section. He told me that he had worked in this section for more than 10 years and had even suggested to the management that the assortment be divided into several smaller groups.
He suggested that plants (or plant parts) with similar properties should be categorized into separate groups, such as, for example, root vegetables (carrots, beets, turnips, radishes etc.), inflorescences (broccoli, cauliflower, artichoke, etc.), non-sweet fruits (cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes, etc.), stems (asparagus, rhubarb, sugarcane, etc.), sprouts, mushrooms, fruits, herbs, etc. This organization of the vegetable department would not only help shoppers find the products they need more quickly, but would also help introduce the public to a wide variety of healthy vegetarian foods.
Apparently, people have never considered plants to be such an essential part of the diet that they are properly categorized. In any grocery store, you will see that all departments except the vegetable department have detailed classification of items. For example, the meat department is divided into "poultry," "meat," and "fish," which in turn are divided into smaller sections such as "beef," "veal," "pork," etc. Those are divided into subgroups: "loin", "minced meat", "bones", "offal", etc. You can always find out from which part of the carcass a piece of meat is taken. Even cheeses have their own section.
Agree: if all dairy and meat products were sold mixed together, it would be extremely inconvenient. However, in the vegetable section the confusion continues, which is not so harmless at all. For example, placing pumpkins next to tomatoes or melons can encourage shoppers to prepare dishes with incompatible foods. Many nutritionists believe in the benefits of proper food combining15. According to this theory, for example, starchy vegetables eaten together with acidic or juicy fruits can lead to fermentation and gas in the intestines.
Putting greens in the same category as vegetables has led some people to be wary of consuming smoothies made from greens, claiming they are based on the wrong combination of foods. They've heard that fruits don't mix with vegetables and mistakenly believe that absolutely all vegetables contain starch, whereas the starch content of any greens is extremely low.
Misled by the confusion, not understanding what is a vegetable and what is a fruit, many of my readers have asked me, "Is it okay to mix fruit with greens?" Yes, combining starchy vegetables such as carrots with fruit would be wrong. Such a combination can lead to fermentation in the digestive tract. However, greens are not vegetables, moreover, greens are the only food group that helps digest all other foods. Greens stimulate the release of digestive enzymes and can be combined with any food. Curiously, chimpanzees often eat fruit and leaves from the same tree. Jane Goodall and other researchers observed them making "sandwiches": wrapping fruit in leaves and eating them.
There is another profound misconception stemming from the erroneous categorization of greens as vegetables. Unfortunately, many nutritionists and researchers are convinced that greens are not rich in protein. In the next chapter, you will learn that, contrary to this popular theory, greens are an excellent source of protein.
I suggest separating greens from vegetables once and for all. Because of its misidentification, this valuable foodstuff has never received proper attention or been researched deeply enough. In many languages, the word "greens" does not even have a proper definition. For example, in English, the phrase "dark green leafy vegetables" is long and awkward. Imagine if instead of "cow" we had to say "an animal with horns that gives milk".
For the same reason, there is not enough data on the nutritional value of greens. In preparing this book, I had to piecemeal information from books and scientific journals published in different countries.
Unfortunately, I was unable to find some information. For example, I could not find sufficient information about the nutritional value of carrot tops.
Nevertheless, I have enough data to make the following important conclusion: greens are the main food group that best meets human nutrient needs.
The table below, in the left column, lists the most important vitamins and minerals recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The two right-hand columns show the vitamin and mineral content of two green plants: a dark green salad plant called cadet and white mari, a common medicinal plant (weed) (Chenopodium album), popularly called swede. Based on these data, we can conclude that greens are the most important food.
:fig1:
