A List of Vegetables And Their Properties For A Healthy Raw Food Diet

Everything in this list is distinguished by its high cellulose content. Most mammals do not have the ability to break it down and absorb nutrients from it easily (1), including humans.

Unlike soluble fiber, the fibers in insoluble fiber are hard and can scratch the digestive lining. Cuciferous vegetables should be chewed well or blended before swallowing to aid digestion.

It's not that these foods are worthless, but just not the easiest to digest. Use caution when adding them to your diet, especially if you have digestive or intestinal problems.

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List Of Vegetables That Are Legumes:

A number of legumes, and especially beans, are indigestible and toxic to humans in a raw state. Cooked, most still compromise digestion. Legumes will start to putrefy and ferment in the gut, producing the gas we associate with them.

Peas can be eaten raw when they are young and freshly picked. You may also find that you can eat young tender green beans without a problem. Peanuts are also ok raw, but their unique combination of carbohydrates, protein, and fat make them a digestive challenge.

Read more about the digestive challenges of legumes in this article on food combining.

List Of Vegetables Of The Tuber Family:

Tubers are roots that grow underground. Without tools and the ability to cook, humans would be hard pressed to consume them. We certainly did not evolve eating them. With the exception of potatoes, most of these could be eaten safely in a raw state, but the task would not be a pleasant one.

The fact that an uncooked sweet potato does not present much temptation to a hungry human should be reason enough to warn you away from one. Beyond that, tubers are high in starch and cellulose, and so hard for the body to digest.

Potatoes contain toxic compounds called glycoalkaloids, of which the most common are solanine and chaconine. This poison, when not lessened through cooking and peeling, can cause headaches, diarrhea, and cramps; it's meant to drive away predators, like yourself.

Tubers should generally be avoided, but some, such as carrots and jicama, are ok to include.

List Of Vegetables That Are Squashes:

Like tubers, many squashes are high in cellulose and hard to digest. Some are bland if not cooked and seasoned..

Yellow and green summer squashes (zucchini) are exceptions to this rule along with certain types of winter squash, such as one of my favorites, Kabocha. You'll probably find these exceptions digest fairly well, but I've known some people bothered by zucchini.

I generally eat squashes spiralized in a pasta-style dish and covered with a sauce, or as part of other salads.

List Of Vegetables That Are Leafy And Green:

Leafy green vegetables are the most ideal vegetable that humans can consume. We are well suited to eating leafy greens because of their nutrient profile, and and they do not cause the digestive problems brought on by the cellulose and starch in many other vegetables.

They're low in calories and high in nutrients and minerals while containing good amounts of the fatty acids we require in a state readily usable by the body.

At least a head of lettuce or other leafy greens should be eaten daily. This will only make up a small percentage of your calories (around 60-100 calories for a head), but a decent amount of your food mass, and provide you with numerous nutrients that your body cannot do without.

Most successful raw foodists like to eat plenty of greens topped off with a delicious raw dressing in their large daily salad.

Raw diets that overemphasize these greens, however, will likely lead to failure because not enough calories will be taken in. Overtime, the diet becomes unsustainable or high in fat 

A totally fruitarian diet with no greens will also likely fail over the ong run without the important nutrients in greens.

List Of Vegetables That Are Really Non-Sweet Fruits:

While these are technically fruit, they are considered vegetables for culinary purposes. Without the high cellulose and starch content of many other vegetables, but with plenty of water and a great nutrient mix, they are ideal food.

They should be eaten regularly, and are excellent additions to salads. Many are members of the nightshade family.

Celery is an excellent food that digests well with almost anything else. It contains the necessary mineral sodium, which is present in a ratio that can be easily accessed by the body. Sodium is critical, along with the mineral potassium, in managing the body's electrolyte balance.

Electrolytes create electric osmotic pressure which helps the body to move fluids through the cell's membranes. It can be eaten with any other fruit or vegetable.

List of Vegetables Sources:

(1) David G. Barkalow, Roy L. Whistler, "Cellulose", in AccessScience@McGraw-Hill, DOI 10.1036/1097-8542.118200. Retrieved 15 March 2008.

List of Vegetables - Following Up: