Bright spring greens, cucumber, radish pleasing to the eye after a cold winter, but also can be a source of vitamins for the body, minerals and fiber.
And yet, for their use in food should be treated with extreme caution, especially when it comes to the child's diet, as early greens and vegetables can contain harmful chemicals Components.
Let's weigh the "pros" and "cons" of the first vegetables and examine how safe to use them for food, and even more so - to treat early cucumbers and tomatoes children.
The more dangerous the early vegetables?
The nutritional value of vegetables grown in greenhouses with artificial lighting and irrigation, and fertilizer intensive, not great. In addition, plants absorb from the soil is not only useful minerals, but also chemicals contained in fertilizers. The most dangerous of them are nitrates, nitrites, lead, cadmium, mercury and copper.
Early vegetables are dangerous because they can cause food poisoning and cause allergic reactions.
Therefore, doctors are advised to include the first vegetables and herbs in children's diet, Pregnant and lactating women. And even more so to give early vegetables kiddies not attained the age of one year.
The most dangerous of early vegetables are green onions, lettuce, radishes, beets, cabbage, spinach, kohlrabi and cauliflower. Accumulate less harmful substances and are considered safer cucumbers, baby carrots, tomatoes, onions, potatoes, celery, broccoli and parsley root.
It is best to wait for the seasonal vegetables and buy fresh cucumbers and tomatoes, grown in a natural way, in due time, in the ground. If you do not want to wait and decided to treat yourself early vegetables, stick to simple rules in the selection and use them for food.
How to choose the early vegetables?
If you choose to enable early vegetables in the diet of crumbs over 3 years to maintain their nutritional value and does not harm the baby's health you need to follow simple rules.
- Try to buy vegetables and herbs have proven, you know sellers. The most valuable and safe are grown on natural fertilizers (e.g. compost) in eco-farms.
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If you decide to buy vegetables in the organic food store, ask the seller a certificate confirming that they are indeed grown without chemicals.
- Purchase a special apparatus to measure nitrate levels in vegetables - Nitratomers and nitrate tests will show whether it is possible to buy this product or it is better to leave it on the counter.
- Do not buy vegetables at city fairs near busy roads, they absorb lead from vehicle exhaust.
- Observe moderation - first spring vegetables should not be the basis of the diet.
- Do not cook early vegetables fresh juices, vegetable purees and soups.
- Please note that vegetables contain large amounts of herbicides and pesticides quickly wither and become useless. Pick the leaves and tubers of which are elastic, have a distinctive color and a pleasant aroma. Sniff, if vegetable comes from the subtle smell of gasoline, leave them on the counter.
How to store the early vegetables? Store best early vegetables in the refrigerator, after carefully removing them from a plastic bag or food film. Otherwise, nitrites present in vegetables quickly become hazardous nitrates.
How to reduce the harm of early vegetables?
Before cooking the vegetables to be rinsed under warm (not hot) running water to remove harmful substances from the surface. After washing vegetables recommended soak for 2 hours cold water with the addition of lemon juice. This is an effective way to reduce the content of harmful substances in vegetables.
It is also recommended to be sure to take off the peel root vegetables, and discard the thick stems and outer leaves of lettuce and cabbage, that is where the greatest number of accumulated hazardous to health substances. Take care of yourself and your loved ones!
Also be sure to ask, what quantity of nitrates in vegetables and greens is considered acceptable
