These numbers are, of course, not gospel. They make a big assumption -- that the micronutrients that we know are the ones that we need, when in fact we are learning more about nutrients every day. We don't even have a Daily Value (DV) for carotenoids, so "Nutrition Action Health Letter" made up its own. It doesn't even consider the amount of omega-3 fatty acids, which is one of the main nutritional reasons to eat a lot of green leafy vegetables. But what this list did for me -- and can do for you -- is to focus more attention on them.
My attention went in that direction anyway after reading Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food. He notes there that when we largely switched from eating leaves to seeds (as in grain), the problems with the so-called "Western Diet" began. It is indeed striking how many of the top veggies are leaves.
"Leaves provide a host of critical nutrients a body can't get from a diet of refined seeds," Pollan writes. "There are the antioxidants and phytochemicals; there is the fiber; and then there are the essential omega-3 fatty acids found in leaves, which some researchers believe will turn out to be the most crucial missing nutrient of all."
To round out my list of the best low-carb veggies I went carefully through the 800-plus pages of The Complete Food Counter by Annette Natow and Jo-Ann Heslin to determine which ones have less than half a dozen available carb grams in a 1/2 cup portion. But then I realized that this book has some substantial differences from the authoritative source, the "USDA National Nutrient Database," which I use here instead to show the results for the highest ranking low-carb foods named by "Nutrition Action Health Letter:"
Collards, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt, 1/2 cup: 2 grams of available carb
Spinach, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt, 1/2 cup: 1
Spinach, raw, 1/2 cup: less than 0.5
Kale, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt, 1/2 cup chopped: 3
Chard, swiss, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt, 1/2 cup: 2
Peppers, sweet, red, raw, 1/2 cup chopped: 3
Peppers, sweet, red, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt, 1/2 cup chopped: 4
Carrots, raw, 1/2 cup chopped: 4
Carrots, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt, 1/2 cup slices: 4
Brocolli, raw, 1/2 cup chopped or diced: 2
Broccoli, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt, chopped: 3
Okra, 1/2 cup cooked, boiled, drained, without salt: 2
Brussels sprouts, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt, 1/2 cup: 4
Lettuce, butterhead (includes boston and bibb types), cos, romaine, green leaf, or red leaf, raw, 1/2 cup shredded: less than 0.5
Asparagus, cooked, boiled, drained, 1/2 cup: 2
Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw, year round average, 1/2 cup chopped or sliced: 2
Tomatoes, red, ripe, cooked, 1/2 cup: 4
Avocados, raw, all commercial varieties, 1/2 cup sliced: 1
Artichokes, (globe or french), cooked, boiled, drained, without salt, 1/2 cup hearts: 1
Cauliflower, raw, 1/2 cup: 1
Cauliflower, cooked, boiled, drained, without salt, 1/2 cup: 1
Cabbage, (including Chinese (pak-choi or bok choy), cooked, boiled, drained, without salt, 1/2 cup shredded: 1
I grew up with some disdain of leafy vegetables as "rabbit food." Maybe we all did.
The first reference to lettuce as rabbit food dates back at least to the 1930s. Considering how wrong everyone from the medical establishment on down has been about nutrition in general, it's not a surprise that we have also been wrong all along about leafy vegetables.
For more information on dietary information for diabetes, visit our Diabetes Diet page! Or see all of David Mendosa's blogs for more great diabetes information.
