In the latest issue of Midwest Living, which can be downloaded for free through ValueMags, one of the features highlights vegetable dishes and the “vegetable butcher” herself, Cara Mangini. Mangini specializes in cooking with vegetables and not just boring salads, but rather delicious bites that any palate would enjoy. From Mangini’s bigger foods, like her grilled eggplant mozzarella sandwich with spicy tomato sauce and pesto to her small bites, like her marinated garlic tomato goat cheese crostini, Mangini’s recipes challenge every bad vegetable stereotype you’ve ever heard.
This could be a good thing for Midwest Living’s American readers. From wide consumption of foods with added sugars to many people still struggling with vegetable consumption, Americans could use a few of Mangini’s recipes to help make their diets healthier and lead healthier lives overall.
When it comes to added sugars, many people do not realize how many foods have them. Even foods that are not sweet-tasting can have added sugars in them. When defining added sugars, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) writes that “Added sugars are sugars and syrups that are added to foods or beverages when they are processed or prepared. Naturally occurring sugars such as those in fruit or milk are not added sugars.”
Further, the CDC recommends that Americans limit the amount of added sugars they consume each day to just 10% of their total caloric intake. For example, if one were following the common two thousand calorie daily intake, then only 200 calories or less should be from added sugars. However, America’s average daily intake of added sugars is still at 94 grams (358 calories), according to STAT.
While this number is lower than it has been in recent years, it is still almost double the 50 grams (200 calories) that the CDC recommends as the limit. To imagine how easy it is to overdo added sugar intake and not realize it, consider the average 94 grams of added sugar Americans consume each day to STAT’s analogical equivalent of two and half cans of Coke. For many people, two and a half cans of Coke are easily part of their daily diet.
While paying attention to the ingredients of the foods one consumes can help greatly with reducing added sugar consumption, eating more fresh foods, like fruits and vegetables, helps even more because these foods are not processed and only have natural sugars, if any. Similarly, according to the CDC, 22.6% of Americans reported eating vegetables less than once daily in 2013. Not only could eating more vegetables help reduce added sugar consumption, it could also help more Americans get the essential nutrients their bodies need from vegetables.
To get started on leading a healthier lifestyle with more vegetables and less added sugars, redeem your free digital Midwest Living subscription from ValueMags and start trying out Mangini’s recipes today!