When it comes to vegetables, the ones that go crunch provide an exclamation point to their nutritional value. Let’s face it: nobody really wants to eat their vegetables unless they are vegetarians and even they are suspect in my book. When you are moved to consume a vegetable, you want some kind of tactile proof that you are, to borrow a phrase from Spike Lee, doing the right thing. Vegetables that are soft and can be consumed without aural knowledge have their place at your plate. But nothing beats holding a great big canister of nutritional content in your hand, biting down and getting confirmation of the robust intensity of the nutrients within.
What’s Up Doc?
There is a reason why Bugs Bunny eats carrots. I don’t know what that reason is and it’s got nothing to do with this article. What carrots do have to do with this article are to be found in the loud audio accompaniment to the process of biting down on them. If you bite down on a raw carrot and are not rewarded with a loud, sharp crack of a sound, then put it into a stew. A raw carrot should have some bite to it. Cooking any vegetable robs it of at least some of its nutritional value. To enjoy the full pleasure of adding to your well-being you should eat carrots in the raw. The carrot, that is, not you. Although whether you wear clothing or not while dining on raw veggies is entirely up to you. At least until the Republicans get into power again. Beta carotene are the two words you need to think most about when you think about eating carrots. But don’t stop there. Carrots also provide a quite decent amount of fiber for their size and you get a surprising amount of potassium. If you are subject to leg cramps, you could do a lot worse than keep a steady supply of carrots that make a loud crunching sound nearby.
Wouldn’t You Like to be a Pepper, Too?
Peppers and chilis have the ability to do what the banned drug Ephedra used to do before it was banned. And without all those nasty negative side effects that resulted in Ephedra being banned. The Scovell scale of peppers range from the green bell which only the lamest of weenies can’t eat because of its heat all the way up to the quite delicious Ghost Pepper or, as it may also be known, Indian Bhut Pepper. Only those with a taste for adventure should dare try eating a Ghost Pepper. My sense of adventure does not extend to bungee jumping, but I love a nice Bhut. If you can handle heat, the Ghost Pepper offers a big payoff in terms of taste. Otherwise, stick to the middle range where you get flavor for your food and the possibility of actually manipulating your metabolic system to the point where eating a diet high in peppers will lead to lessening your craving for other foods. Yes, that’s right, jalapenos and habaneros and other types of peppers and chilis may actually result in helping you to lose weight! Besides that, when eaten raw, you also get one of the snappiest crunches in the world of vegetables.
Celery Plus Benefits
Celery that has been allowed to go limp is really nothing nor more than less a food crime. If you keep your celery uneaten so long that you can’t snap that sucker in two like Bane breaking Batman’s back, then by all rights you should go to jail. For, like, you know, a half hour. Celery was meant to crunch. Even when you put it into your chili, you should not cook it so long that it doesn’t retain a bit of crunchy texture. What are the nutritional benefits that comes with a big celery stick? How about potassium, vitamins A and C and folate? That isn’t even to mention that celery is a great source of fiber and the mother of all reasons for eating this vegetable that goes crunch: it takes more calories to eat a piece of celery that it adds to your daily allowance of calories.
