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Reply: Looking for help with a Vegan Diet

Vegetarian Resource Group (vrg.org) is one of the best - comprehensive, balanced,...

Posted by EricE_MA

5 Replies | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:Looking for help with a Vegan Diet Vegetarian Resource Group (vrg.org) is one of the best - comprehensive, balanced,...

Includes Expert Content

Reply: Steel cut oats?

Steel cut oats are slightly more intact than rolled oats and will have take a small amount...

Posted by EricE_MA

3 Replies | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:Steel cut oats? Steel cut oats are slightly more intact than rolled oats and will have take a small amount...

Reply: Honey and Sugar

While honey has "a lot" of antioxidants compared to table sugar (which has none), it isn't...

Posted by EricE_MA

7 Replies | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:Honey and Sugar While honey has "a lot" of antioxidants compared to table sugar (which has none), it isn't...

Reply: Honey and Sugar

They are both sugar and although there are trace amounts of other substances in honey,...

Posted by EricE_MA

7 Replies | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:Honey and Sugar They are both sugar and although there are trace amounts of other substances in honey,...

Reply: Don't pick up the salt shaker just yet! See this n...

The meaning of the study is nearly impossible to interpret. Because it is a meta study the...

Posted by EricE_MA

1 Reply | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:Don't pick up the salt shaker just yet! See this new research about salt guidelines. The meaning of the study is nearly impossible to interpret. Because it is a meta study the...

Reply: Omega 6s

Soy products are in general a controversial class of foods. So, you will continue to find...

Posted by EricE_MA

2 Replies | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:Omega 6s Soy products are in general a controversial class of foods. So, you will continue to find...

Reply: how much daily salt intake for a 5 yr old girl?

The recommended limit for children 4 - 8 years old is 1900 mg per day. So, the two Ramen...

Posted by EricE_MA

4 Replies | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:how much daily salt intake for a 5 yr old girl? The recommended limit for children 4 - 8 years old is 1900 mg per day. So, the two Ramen...

Reply: Daily Vitamin amounts

The concept is called "upper limit." The concept of upper limit for vitamins and minerals...

Posted by EricE_MA

1 Reply | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:Daily Vitamin amounts The concept is called "upper limit." The concept of upper limit for vitamins and minerals...

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Reply: Fruits and vegetables

Oh, and I forgot avocados. Botanically , fruit. Culinarily , vegetable. Nutritionally ,...

Posted by EricE_MA

5 Replies | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:Fruits and vegetables Oh, and I forgot avocados. Botanically , fruit. Culinarily , vegetable. Nutritionally ,...

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Reply: Fruits and vegetables

> She said she got it from the internet so it can't be wrong . That is funny! ...

Posted by EricE_MA

> She said she got it from the internet so it can't be wrong.

That is funny!

> After all if the teacher says it she has got to be correct right?

I still remember as a kid knowing several times when teachers were teaching me incorrect "facts."

The fruit/vegetable controversy is long standing. The difference is semantics. Botanically a fruit is the seed bearing part of a plant. The well known example of the controversy that this introduces is the tomato. It is somewhat common for people to talk about tomatoes really being a fruit. This does mean that cucumbers, peppers, summer squash are all fruit -- botanically.

But culinarily we make a different distinction. When we talk about fruits vs. vegetables in the kitchen, you'll find tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, summer squash in the vegetable section of your cook book. What we call "fruit" in the kitchen is generally sweet. Fruits are more likely to be eaten raw and vegetables more likely to be cooked, but obviously that distinction can go either way. Fruits are more likely to be served as stand alone snacks and vegetables more likely to be part of a meal, but again that can go either way. Fruits are more likely to be part of dessert than vegetables. The lines really are arbitrary.

Nutritionally, the characteristics of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, summer squash, etc align better with the culinary definition than the botanical definition. In general, fruits are higher in sugar and often higher in vitamin C while vegetables are often very low calorie (except starchy ones) and often higher in carotenoids like beta carotene. Tomatoes really do straddle both sides of that fence and I always tell people they can assign tomatoes to fruit or vegetable whichever suits their need. Mother nature is not at all confined by our arbitrary human classifications. Peppers are good sources of vitamin C. Apricots are good sources of carotenes. etc.

Coconuts, by the way, are not considered nuts. "Beans" as in "string beans" are seed bearing and therefore botanically fruit, though culinarily and nutritionally vegetables. But most other beans we eat, we are just eating the seed, not the fruit part of the plant. Corn is even trickier. The cob is the botanical fruit of the plant. When you cut the seeds off of sweet corn, we call it culinarily a vegetable. If it dries and we grind it into flour, we call it a grain.

Those who feel the need to have a clear answer to the fruit/vegetable question will cling to the botanical definition. But they'll have trouble communicating in the real world where that distinction is rarely used.View Thread

Posted byEricE_MA

5 Replies | Reply | Watch This DiscussionReport This| Share this:Fruits and vegetables > She said she got it from the internet so it can't be wrong . That is funny! ...

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