Skip to content

Top Navigation

Cooking Light Cooking Light
  • Recipes
  • Holidays
  • Cooking 101
  • Healthy Living
  • Shop
  • News
  • Good.Food.Fast
  • CL Diet

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Register/Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
Login
Logout
Pin FB

Explore Cooking Light

Cooking Light Cooking Light
  • Explore

    Explore

    • 31-Day Healthy Meal Plan

      Our 31-day calendar of meals and tips shows you how to cook more and love it with fun, family-friendly meals that come together quickly and deliciously. Read More Next
    • Dinner Tonight: Quick and Healthy Menus in 45 Minutes (or Less)

      Hundreds of delicious recipes, paired with simple sides, that can be on your table in 45 minutes or less. Read More Next
    • Our Favorite Healthy Air Fryer Recipes

      Who ever said that chicken wings, doughnuts, and pizza couldn't be healthy? Read More Next
  • Recipes

    Recipes

    See All Recipes
    • Breakfast & Brunch
    • Lunch
    • Dinner
    • Drinks
    • Recipe Makeovers
    • Quick & Healthy
    • Diabetic
    • Gluten-Free
    • Vegetarian
    • Cooking Light Live
  • Holidays

    Holidays

    See All Holidays
    • New Year, New You
    • Super Bowl
    • Valentines
    • Easter
    • Halloween
    • Thanksgiving
    • Christmas
  • Cooking 101

    Cooking 101

    See All Cooking 101
    • Essential Ingredients
    • Cooking Techniques
    • Meet the Chef
    • Cooking Resources
    • Budget Friendly
    • Smart Choices
  • Healthy Living

    Healthy Living

    See All Healthy Living
    • Weight-Loss
    • Health
    • Fitness
    • Home
    • Travel
    • Nutrition 101
  • Shop
  • News
  • Good.Food.Fast
  • CL Diet

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Register/Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
Login
Logout
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

CookingLight diet CookingLight diet
  1. Home Chevron Right
  2. Health News Chevron Right
  3. Where are the Vegetables in Vegetable Products?

Where are the Vegetables in Vegetable Products?

By Maureen Callahan
December 15, 2010
Skip gallery slides
Pin
Headlines continually blast news that veggies harbor amazing health benefits, but the skimpy amounts in many processed foods and on dinner plates aren’t enough to offer much nutrition. By Maureen Callahan, MS, RD
Start Slideshow

1 of 9

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Where are the Veggies?

Credit: Photo: Randy Mayor
Much as that little voice nags to “eat your veggies,” 64% of Americans come nowhere close to dining on the two to three cups of vegetables per day the Food Pyramid recommends. To say it’s a challenge is an understatement.

Yes, vegetables are delicious addition to meals. They’re high in fiber, low in calories, and chock-full of all kinds of good-for-you nutrients and disease-fighting chemicals. The trouble is they take some planning to include at meals, particularly when the meal is something cobbled together from take-out or what’s in the pantry.

We’ve looked at the full vegetable spectrum, from vegetable-scarce to a full-fledged vegetable serving. The more you eat from the “full-fledged” side, the more benefits you reap.

1 of 9

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 9

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Vegetable-Flavored Baked Goods

Credit: Photo: Becky Luigart-Stayner
Seeing isn’t always believing. Those shredded carrots or zucchini visible in prepared muffins and tea breads amounts to about 2 tablespoons per slice. That’s nothing to celebrate considering that’s about 1/4 a vegetable serving in a high-fat, high-calorie pastry package. A better bet is to make your own veggie-packaged treat, like these Carrot Cake Pancakes or a classic

2 of 9

3 of 9

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Sandwiches

Credit: Photo: Kana Okada

A leaf of lettuce and a thin slice or two of tomato is a start, but it’s barely half a serving of veggies. So load on more veggies like sliced cucumbers, sprouts, spinach, and roasted red peppers. Aim for at least 1/2 a cup of veggies or add a side salad. Or opt to make a meat-free sandwich like these Eggplant and Goat Cheese Sandwiches. We start with roasted eggplant, sweet red peppers, and peppery arugula as a hearty base. You could add any variety of veggies from here.

  • Read More: 6 Simple Sandwich Makeovers

3 of 9

Advertisement

4 of 9

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Frozen Entrées

Credit: Photo: Charles Nesbit/GETTY IMAGES
Plenty of frozen meals either skimp on (we measured just two tablespoons of veggies in some entrées) or oversell portions. Broccoli may be the first ingredient listed in Steak Tips Portobello, but the net amount is barely 1/2 cup. So turn it around by microwaving frozen broccoli or other frozen veggies to add to the plate.

4 of 9

5 of 9

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Mixed Salads

Credit: Photo: Becky Luigart-Stayner
Shredded iceberg with a few colorful shreds of carrot and cabbage doesn’t add up to many calories, but it’s not nutrient-rich either. So opt for darker greens—spinach, arugula, Romaine—and add at least 1 cup of extras in the way of tomatoes, cucumber, and mushrooms to boost the veggie profile of salads. This basic chicken-topped salad is a great start. You can pile on the veggies from here.

5 of 9

6 of 9

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Vegetable Soup

Credit: Photo: John Autry
View Recipe: Curried Potatoes and Squash

This one’s a toss up. Some prepared soups are veggie-rich; others stuff in more pasta than vegetable or negate health benefits with hefty amounts of cream or fat. Look for vegetable(s) listed as one of the first two ingredients and try to keep a lid on sodium and fat. Better yet, make homemade soup that’s brimming with vegetables, like this Curried Potatoes and Squash stew. A heavy dose of flavorful veggies—potatoes, squash, tomatoes, green peas, green onions—make this a nutritional A+.

6 of 9

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

7 of 9

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

100% Juice

One-hundred percent vegetable juice—single variety or a blend of several juices—are a good choice. The hitch: Fiber goes missing and sometimes salt, or sugar, is added. It takes seven carrots (14 grams fiber) to make just one cup of juice (2 grams fiber). Still, a new study suggests veggie juices—rich in potassium—are one way to boost intake and may lower blood pressure.

7 of 9

8 of 9

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Dried Vegetables

Dried vegetables are smart nutrition choice. Nutrients and calories will be concentrated, but for most vegetables, which are super-low-cal to start with, that’s no big deal. Trendy freeze-dried offerings, including dried corn and carrots, don’t concentrate calories or injure nutrients, but steep price tags make them more for garnish. Dried mushrooms (like in the recipe pictured) are a great choice because they make interesting and often expensive wild mushroom varieties available year-round, at a more affordable price.

8 of 9

9 of 9

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Pure Vegetable

This one’s a nutritional slam dunk. Fresh vegetables sport different colors, textures, and flavors in a skinny low-cal package. And canned and frozen veggies--minus creamy sauces and salt--count, too. Mix them up to net different nutrients and antioxidants. Carrots pack beta-carotene, spinach nets you iron, and green beans offer folate. You can’t go wrong with simply prepared whole vegetables.

9 of 9

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By Maureen Callahan

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook
Advertisement
Skip slide summaries

Everything in This Slideshow

Advertisement

View All

1 of 9 Where are the Veggies?
2 of 9 Vegetable-Flavored Baked Goods
3 of 9 Sandwiches
4 of 9 Frozen Entrées
5 of 9 Mixed Salads
6 of 9 Vegetable Soup
7 of 9 100% Juice
8 of 9 Dried Vegetables
9 of 9 Pure Vegetable

Share options

Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message
Cooking Light

Magazines & More

Learn More

  • Cooking Light Diet this link opens in a new tab
  • Customer Service this link opens in a new tab
  • Advertise
  • Content Licensing
  • Sitemap

Connect

Follow Us
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Other Meredith Sites

Other Meredith Sites

  • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
  • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
  • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
  • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
  • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
  • Entertainment Weekly this link opens in a new tab
  • Food & Wine this link opens in a new tab
  • Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
  • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
  • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
  • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
  • More this link opens in a new tab
  • MyRecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
  • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
  • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
  • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
  • Parents this link opens in a new tab
  • People this link opens in a new tab
  • People en Español this link opens in a new tab
  • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
  • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
  • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
  • Shape this link opens in a new tab
  • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
  • Southern Living this link opens in a new tab
  • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
  • Travel & Leisure this link opens in a new tab
Cooking Light is part of the Allrecipes Food Group. © Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Cooking Light may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
© Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.cookinglight.com

View image

Where are the Vegetables in Vegetable Products?
this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.