What Are the 20 Best and Healthiest Vegetables to Eat?

Vegetables contain important vitamins, minerals, and fiber that your body needs. The 20 best and healthiest veggies to eat include spinach, broccoli, seaweed, and other veggies.

Do you want to improve your diet by adding healthy veggies, but you don't know where to begin? Adding more vegetables may be simple enough, but have you considered which veggies are the best and healthiest? What makes a vegetable healthy, anyway?

Many vegetables contain important vitamins, minerals, and fiber that your body needs. A diet rich in fruit and vegetables can lower your risk of cardiovascular disease, and stroke, and even help prevent some types of cancer.

Read on to learn about the 20 best and healthiest vegetables for your diet.

Spinach is full of vitamins and nutrients your body needs, including vitamin A, vitamin C, folate, and magnesium. Spinach may help your eyesight, help prevent heart disease, and even protect you from some types of cancer.

Broccoli is rich in a plant compound called glucosinolate, and its byproduct sulforaphane, which researchers have found has the potential to prevent cancer.

Like many vegetables, it's best to eat it raw, as this allows for the maximum excretion of sulforaphane.

Seaweed is still a little-known food source in many areas of the U.S., but it is rising in popularity. 

Seaweeds are rich in macronutrients, micronutrients, and fiber.

You can truly "eat the rainbow" with healthy bell peppers. 

Red peppers can improve brain function with their lycopene, orange and yellow peppers can reduce heart disease and improve vision with their carotenoids, and green peppers can help prevent cancer with their phytochemicals.

Is it really true that carrots can improve your eyesight, as is the popular wisdom? According to research, the answer is yes.

Carrots are a nutritious vegetable chock full of a carotenoid called beta carotene, which helps improve overall eyesight. The carotenoid content of carrots can also protect against prostate and colon cancer, as well as. reduce your risks for breast cancer.

Carrots are also a great source of Vitamin A, containing 51% of your daily value.

Like broccoli, brussels sprouts are a healthy cruciferous vegetable that contains sulforaphane, a plant compound that can help you prevent cancer.

Parsley is best known as a garnish, but it's also a healthy vegetable you can include in your diet. Parsley can help prevent skin cancer due to its extremely high concentration of myricetin, a flavonoid.

Beets have a deep red-purple hue, which comes from betalains. Betalains are a kind of pigment that contains antioxidants and has anti-inflammatory properties.

Beets are also a great source of fiber, which can help maintain healthy blood sugar levels and lower your cholesterol.

Thanks to the popularity of low-carb diets, cauliflower has been in the spotlight in recent years as a healthy, nutrient-rich substitute for rice, mashed potatoes, or even pizza crust.

Cauliflower is high in vitamin C and a good source of folate, a B vitamin that is especially important for pregnant people. Like broccoli and brussels sprouts, cauliflower is a cruciferous vegetable that may help protect you from certain types of cancer.

There is no need to cry about onions; they're a high-nutrient vegetable that contains allicin, which has anti-tumor properties, and research shows us that onions can specifically help to prevent gastrointestinal cancers. 

Previously only used in restaurants as a garnish, kale is yet another cancer-preventing cruciferous vegetable on the list, rich in Vitamin K and folate.

Peas are a great source of protein and iron. When consumed with other nutrient-rich foods, nutritious green peas can help prevent diabetes and improve digestive health.

Never mind your breath: Garlic has been used as a natural medicine for thousands of years. Garlic was believed to treat a variety of ailments and was given to athletes in ancient Greece to enhance athletic performance.

Garlic has been shown to help prevent diabetes, lower blood pressure, and treat infections. Like onions, garlic contains allicin, which may help prevent cancer.

Just one cup of cooked Swiss chard provides all the vitamin A and K you need for the day, providing much-needed maintenance to your eyes, bones, and immune system. 

Like broccoli and brussels sprouts, Swiss chard contains sulforaphane, which makes it a good vegetable for cancer prevention.

Asparagus is a great source of folate, a B vitamin that can lower your risk of heart disease and may even help prevent Alzheimer's disease.

Sweet potatoes are a popular vegetable that can help fight against aging and heart disease.

This is due to the antioxidants in sweet potatoes. Antioxidants have the ability to fight off free radicals, which damage DNA and trigger inflammation.

Need a boost to your vitamin A? Try collard greens, which contain 308% of the recommended daily value.

A source of carotenoids, watercress can help fight heart disease and lower blood pressure.

Another good source of lycopene, red cabbage can help with stroke prevention and improve brain function.

They may not look like much, but don't overlook them: Sprouts are an excellent support to gut health.