"Vegetables are so low in calories!" said Gail Hanula, a nutrition scientist with the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences. "Most vegetables are low- calorie, have almost no fat and are packed with nutrients. They're a great nutritional bargain."ÿ

Hanula said a serving of most vegetables has less than one gram of fat and fewer than 100 calories. "Plus vitamins B, C and E, carotenoids and fiber," she said.ÿ
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Vegetables provide health benefits that supplements don't. "A lot of people take vitamin pills or capsules. But studies show they don't have the same benefit in the body as vegetables. We can't improve on nature here," Hanula said.

Many of the vegetables grown in Georgia end up on Georgia tables, said Bill Mizelle, a UGA extension agricultural economist with the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

"Many of our crops are grown for fresh markets," he said. "Some are shipped fresh, but a lot are sold locally, too."

Georgia farmers grow tomatoes, yellow squash, zucchini, peppers, sweet corn, carrots, cabbage, leafy greens, onions, sweet potatoes and other vegetable crops.

Hanula said all of these are high in carotenoids, a substance that seems to help prevent all types of cancers.

"Beta carotene, found in dark yellow vegetables, was really in the news. It prevents gastrointestinal, head, neck and lung cancers," she said. "Other carotenoids include lycopene in tomatoes that seems to prevent prostate cancer, and folic acid in leafy greens, which has shown some decrease in cervical cancer rates."

But how you eat your veggies is as important as whether you eat them. "Obviously, frying vegetables cancels out any healthful benefits," she said. Steaming, grilling or baking vegetables with little or no added fat provides the "most nutritional bang for the calorie buck."

Overcooking vegetables robs them of flavor and nutrients. "Vegetables are nutritionally best raw or when cooked 'tender-crisp,'" she said.