Raw vegetables lessen cancer risk.

• Position: Diet

We all know we need to eat our veggies, especially with the new wave of processed food companies touting how their sauces and canned pastas now contain a full day's allotment of vegetables--but Iva Young thinks that is just a bit deceiving. "It's a tricky definition of terms," contends the author of Healthy Morn.

"It's really not as healthy to eat processed foods to begin with, but for them to say that using vegetables as fillers somehow makes processed foods healthy is disingenuous, at best. It's like saying, 'Don't pay attention to all the chemicals, dyes, and sodium we put in the can--there's vegetables in there, too, so that makes it all okay."

Young believes that people need to eat actual vegetables if they want to have a real healthy diet, and there are five key veggies that top her list as the healthiest:

* Spinach is an excellent source of vitamins K, A, C, E, B2, and B6; manganese; folate; magnesium; iron; calcium; potassium; fiber; copper; protein; phosphorous; zinc; omega 3 fatty acids; niacin; and antioxidants.

* Lettuce (green leaf, red leaf, romaine) is a low-calorie fiber food that also is a great place to find vitamin A, folic add, lactucarium (which helps enhance calmness and pain relief), as well as the antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin. Lettuce also boasts a good amount of anti-cancer properlies.

* Broccoli, besides having great flavor and texture, is bursting with copious amounts of vitamins A, C, and K and beta carotene. The minerals in broccoli include calcium, potassium, iron, and folate. A great source of fiber, broccoli provides lots of bioflavonoids, antioxidants that help protect against cancer and heart disease.

* Brussels sprouts are a staple in the diets of Asian cultures, who are among the longest lived people in the world. The crunchy...