Another healthy food high in Vitamin A and C is the increasingly popular Napa Cabbage. Jane Ward likes often creates recipes that keep the taste but loose the fat. In this one she uses Napa cabbage to make coleslaw and enhances the flavor with a little Siracha sauce. It is a welcome change to the typical cole slaw that we usually eat in the summer and what better way to enjoy great taste, avoid fat and to eat healthier.

The health benefits of cabbage are becoming better known and some of them are worth mentioning here. Since cabbage and Napa cabbage are cruciferous vegetables, they all contain vitamins and minerals, phytochemicals, and fiber that are important to your health. Many health agencies are recommending that we eat several servings of cruciferous vegetables every week.

According to Jay H. Fowke, PhD, an assistant professor and cancer epidemiologist for the Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn, we should all eat more cruciferous vegetables. He says that more study will be necessary, but he thinks the evidence is pretty strong that eating cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kale, bok choy and cabbage is an especially healthful choice.

"There's no harm to it and consistently, across the line, it's associated with improved health and a reduced risk of various chronic diseases," he says in an email interview. It's best, he says, to eat these veggies raw or only lightly steamed to retain the phytochemicals that make cruciferous vegetables special in terms of health.

Also, in another recent study, short-cooked and raw cabbage were the only types of cabbage to show cancer-preventive benefits—long-cooked cabbage failed to demonstrate measurable benefits. In addition to that, although red cabbage is best, all types of cabbage contain significant amounts of polyphenols that provide anti-inflammatory benefits.

One last tip - cabbage can provide you with some special benefits in lowering cholesterol if you cook it by steaming. Raw cabbage still has cholesterol-lowering ability, just not as much as steamed cabbage.