Reasons why you should avoid leafy vegetables during monsoon
Packed with a range of healthy vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, these leafy greens are some of the healthiest additions you can make to your diet otherwise, so what is it about the season that makes them 'avoidable'? Let's find out.
FollowAren't you loving the monsoon showers? So, are we! What a delightful respite it has been from the scorching summers. We are also sure that you are enjoying the indulgences that go hand-in-hand with the weather.
Tea, pakodas, samosas and bhuttas are some monsoon staples we can never get enough of. But, here's something that would make you think twice before reaching out to the next batch of pakodas.
According to experts, monsoons are a time when our immune system is weak. The excess of moisture in the air makes it perfect for bacteria and microorganisms to breed. Moreover, our metabolism tends to slow down, which hampers our ability to process foods.
Eating omega-3 fatty acid-rich fish is not advisable during monsoon, neither are vitamin D-rich mushrooms. Leafy greens like spinach, kale and cabbage are also often under the radar of many experts who list it amongst the "foods-to avoid" during monsoon. Shocking, right? Packed with a range of healthy vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, these leafy greens are some of the healthiest additions you can make to your diet otherwise, so what is it about the season that makes them 'avoidable'? Let's find out.
Monsoons are the perfect time for breeding of various microbes and bacteria, which can easily contaminate these green vegetables. The soil in which they grow could be highly contaminated too, and then it is very easy for them to leech into the leaves of these veggies. The leafier the plant, the easier it is for them to find home. Hence, avoiding them would be a good option, but if you still want to eat them, make sure you cook them.
It is easy for raw green leafy veggies to get infected during monsoon. But, you need not rule them out completely from your diet. A lot of what you eat and its effect on your body depend on a couple of factors. You must not have them outside, as you do not know what quality of greens they have used. It is essential to wash your greens thoroughly and vigorously during monsoon. Eat cooked veggies; cooking involves heat, which ensures that the bacteria and germs that may have infected the veggie are dead.
Leafy veggies are often damaged due to rains, which is why you do not get too many of them around. The ones that you do are perhaps the last of the stock that survived. This is the time when bacteria and grime grows on these plants, which may lead to severe stomach infection and diarrhoea, if not cleaned well. I would recommend to cook and consume root vegetables like pumpkins, lauki (bottle gourd), and tinda, and have them in soothing veg stews.
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