Fruit Or Veggie? Research Says Utahan’s Don’t Get It Right

You've got this! In school you learned all about the food groups and the food pyramid. The science was always changing and most of it didn't seem to make sense to me when I was in elementary school. But we'll clear this right up.

What was 4 food groups, quickly became 5. Then there was a food pyramid that had 5, sometimes 6 food groups. Now, depending which expert you are listening to, there are as many as 8 food groups. It seems too complicated. It also looks like some experts are trying to include all alternative/processed items, as food.

No wonder most Utahan's don't know their fruits and veggies apart!

Bet you can't guess all these fruits and veggies right!

Do you have your guesses ready? I promise this is a harder game than you think it is. I got most of them right but I got at least 3 of them wrong.

Let's get started. Tomato and Cucumber-

Both fruits! They both grow on a vine so technically they are both fruits.....so that should clear up the next guesses...

Peas and Zucchini-

Again both are vine fruits. And to get REALLY technical, if you are only eating the peas out of the pod then you are eating from the seed category.  Is this confusing yet?

Next up

Peppers and Avocado-

This is crazy. How on earth are tangy peppers a fruit?

What about corn?

NO WAY!!!!! I've heard it argued that it is a starch or grain, but a fruit? Common!

According to Anne-Marie Walker, Corn, Zea mays, belongs to the Poaceae family, and while eaten sometimes as a vegetable and sometimes as a grain, it is actually classified by botanists as a fruit, as are tomatoes, green peppers, cucumbers, zucchini and other squashes. THEY ARE ALL FRUIT??????

I've been living a LIE my whole life.

According to dictionary.com, a fruit is a plant's developed ovary that comes from a flower and contains one or multiple seeds. HUH?

So then what IS a veggie? The term vegetable is much broader—it refers to any part of a plant that's used for food, including the roots, tubers, stems, and leaves. Goodness gracious can't we just make it real simple?

Here are your main greens...all veggies.

When they told me to eat my greens, I was thinking broccoli, zucchini and artichokes. I was way off. Oh and Artichokes? They are flower buds so....a fruit? Nope. A vegetable. ??? I'm so confused.

So I have come to the conclusion that I need to make my own food groups and market the idea so we can simplify everything and not be confused all the time.

I think this is as simple as it gets.....

Salty or savory and green= veggie

And,  anything naturally sweet= fruit

Wait.....but where does that leave sweet potatoes and pumpkins????

Oy Vey. This may be harder than I thought. Just put both pumpkins and sweet potatoes in the veggie category....because I said so. It feels right.

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