Vegetables and fruits are often lumped together into a single category. And why not? They’re very similar. Both are nutrient-rich plant foods that (with a few exceptions) can be eaten raw. Some veggies and fruits are indistinguishable. Tomatoes are fruits that are eaten like vegetables. Beets are vegetables whose sweet juice is consumed like fruit juices.
The nutritional makeup and health benefits of fruits and vegetables are very similar. Like vegetables and the nonsweet fruits that are considered vegetables, fruits have relatively low calorie densities and high satiety indices because of high fiber and water contents. They are also, like vegetables, packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. There are some differences, however. As a category, vegetables contain larger amounts of key minerals, including iron and calcium, whereas fruits as a category contain larger amounts of certain important vitamins, such as vitamin C.
Fruits generally contain less fat and protein and more carbohydrate than vegetables do. The carbs in vegetables and fruits also take different forms. Most of the carbs in vegetables are starches, whereas most of the carbs in fruits are sugars. While sugar has earned a bad name, the sugars in fruits are not bad. In fact, some epidemiological studies have found that fruit promotes a lean body composition even more effectively than do vegetables. Nevertheless, I rank vegetables one step higher than fruit in quality because there is slightly greater overall nutritional balance in vegetables as a category.