Veggies that protect your health

Microgreens are harvested when plants are very young and the nutrition is approximately 7x’s higher, by weight, than the adult plant. Adding these milder tasting vegetables to a salad or sandwich is a good way to assure that you are getting enough nutrition. (Courtesy photo)

The ups and downs of Rio Grande Valley temperatures lately remind me that cold and flu season is in full swing.

This is the season for keeping an umbrella and a jacket in the car as the weather changes rapidly. In addition to a jacket, eating the right vegetables can protect your health by shoring up your immune system and improving your ability to fight disease.

Vitamins and minerals found in vegetables play a major role in our health. While vitamin supplements can be good, they cannot replace consuming fresh vegetables, as our bodies utilize two or three forms of a vitamin.

The synthetic version in a pill is only one form of a vitamin. To get all the forms our body needs, a daily dose of fresh vegetables is needed for protection.

One of the best vegetable families to include daily, is the Cabbage Family, or Brassicaceae. This is a large family of vegetables providing lots of options. They include arugula, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, kale, collard greens, mustard greens, broccoli and rapini, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts, Bok Choy and the small version, Pak Choy, as well as turnips, rutabaga, radish, including Daikon, and kohlrabi. All are a good source of a variety of nutrients, especially vitamin C and members of the Vitamin B Complex. These vitamins are essential to our health, and they must be replenished every day.

While some of these vegetables are higher in one vitamin or another, the entire group is filled with necessary nutrients to support our health, our immune system, protect us from infections, and help fight disease. All members of the cabbage family have excellent antibacterial and antiviral properties, and most produce the powerful phytonutrient, sulforaphane, studied for its ability to prevent cancer cell growth and protect us from diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Sulforaphane is a chemical made by the plant for its own protection. It is produced when we cut the vegetables in preparation and especially when we chew the vegetables!

These plants are also rich in copper, potassium, manganese, fiber, and folate and together with the vitamins are all necessary for a balanced and healthy body affecting everything from our mood, weight, heart health and digestive health. And since vitamin C and the B complex are water soluble, we do not want to overcook them, nor throw their nutrition away by boiling them. Eat them raw in salads, or lightly steam or stir fry them.

Tuscan kale, also known as dinosaur kale, is a mild kale, perfect for salads. (Courtesy photo)

Cabbage family members grow during cooler months with September and October ideal planting times. The faster growing types, like arugula, collard and mustard greens, kale, and radish, can be planted multiple times into December. Information on growing these is available at http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu. Select Vegetables, then “Easy Gardening Fact Sheets.”

Harvest time for cabbage family members has started and you can find locally grown collards, curly kale and dinosaur kale, kohlrabi, and broccoli at the Farmers Market at Firemen’s Park this weekend. They also have microgreens of broccoli, kale, collards, and a super mix that includes purple radish, turnip, broccoli, kale and collards. Microgreens can be a great way to add nutrition to dishes ranging from scrambled eggs, sandwiches, soups and salads to make sure you are getting the nutritional benefits of vegetables and keep your immune system humming.

This farmers’ market is 9 a.m. to noon Saturday located next to Town Lake, under the large, covered area, at 201 N. 1st St. in McAllen. The market is open year-round.

Barbara Storz is a local horticulturist writing about plants that grow well in the Rio Grande Valley. You can follow her on Facebook.

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