LONG PROMO:   All right, so you are on a desert island, but you get the choice of five vegetables to take with you, and that’s all you’re going to be able to eat.  Which five vegetables would you eat?  Well, next week with me, Michael Marks, Your Produce Man,  we’re going to look at the five most nutricious vegetables grown on Earth.

SHORT PROMO:  We’re testing your nutrition I.Q.  What are the five most nutricious vegetables grown on earth…next week with me, Michael Marks, Your Produce Man.
                                                                                                         
SWEET POTATOES (Monday, March 24):  So, all this week we’re going to talk about the five most nutritious vegetables grown on planet Earth.   So you’re going to a desert island but they’re going to give you five vegetables.  Which five would you take?  This happens to be National Nutrition Month, March, so I thought this would be a good month to do this in.  So, let’s start with numero uno.  What is the most nutritious vegetable grown on planet Earth?  It also happens to be the ugliest vegetable grown on planet earth.  Ah, that’s right.  Sweet potatoes, yams, are indeed the healthiest vegetable grown on planet Earth.  Now I know yesterday a lot of you probably had sweet potatoes for your Easter dinner, and that’s really, really good.  However, for many, many people Easter is like the last time of the year you’re going to eat sweet potatoes until of course next November when we get Thanksgiving and then Christmas.  May I suggest since it is the most nutritious vegetable, have it year round as a snack or for dinner.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.   

TEASE: Hey, in my next Produce Man report, right in here – the most nutritious vegetable grown on planet Earth.

RAW CARROTS  (Tuesday, March 25): All this week we’re talking about the five most nutritious vegetables grown on planet Earth.  Yesterday was number one – sweet potatoes.  What is number two?  I love ‘em.  Carrots.   I love them.  When I first started in the produce industry, carrots were pretty limited.  This is how carrots came when I first started in the produce industry.  That was 30 years ago.  They came in bunches.  In fact still today, I will buy the bunches over what we call the clipped top because the bunches tend to be a sweeter carrot.  They are a more tender carrot, but I also love obviously the beautiful…oh, the whole peeled mini carrots.  Those are fantastic.  One of the things I love to do, of course, get your kids out there.  Show them how to properly use a peeler, a vegetable peeler.  So that’s one good thing you can do with your kids.  They can actually manipulate this.  Also I love…oh, my goodness! Let’s get out the raisins – my carrot raisin salad – one of the best uses for raw carrots.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.

TEASE: Hey, in my next Produce Man report…the number two most nutritious vegetable grown on planet Earth.

COOKED CARROTS (Wednesday, March 26):  All right.  All this week we’ve been talking about the most nutritious vegetables grown on planet Earth.  We have number one, sweet potatoes.   Number two, carrots.  I should have clarified - raw carrots…because number three happens to be cooked carrots.  That’s right.  Cooked carrots are the third most nutricious vegetable grown on planet Earth.   In fact, let me give you a secret about cooked carrots.  Cooked carrots actually double the sugar content…well, not the sugar content but the flavor.  Cooked carrots, whether you steam them, boil them, or saute them, they always taste sweeter.  That’s because there are two different kinds of sugars in a carrot, and when you cook them, you break them apart and they form one big sugar so when you go to eat the carrots, oh, my goodness!  They are just so…you probably wondered, “Why do cooked carrots taste so sweet?”  Now for this, a little bit of butter.  Maybe a little bit of honey and a little bit of parsley.  That’s all you need.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man. (Takes Bite)  Mmmm.

TEASE: Hey, in my next Produce Man report, the third most nutritious vegetable grown on planet Earth…it’s right in here!

SPINACH  (Thursday, March 27):  March is National Nutrition Month so I thought it’d be fun to walk down the produce aisle, my produce aisle, and figure out the five most nutritious vegetables grown on planet Earth.  Monday, of course, it was sweet potatoes.   Number one!  Number two are raw carrots.  Number three surprised many of you – cooked carrots.   Now number four.  Popeye would be very, very happy.  That’s right.  Spinach.  I know, all of you kids out there… “Oh, no!  You didn’t say spinach!”  Yes, indeed.  Spinach is the fourth most nutritious vegetable grown on planet Earth.  In fact, there is a cool study just released saying that lutein which is a very powerful antioxident…okay some people call it lutein but it is professionally pronounced lutein…is loaded in spinach, which is very good for your eyes.  So if you want to see better…I know, they say eat carrots…but I’m saying now, let’s have some spinach.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.   

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, they make take some doing to rinse, but spinach, the fourth most nutritious vegetable on Earth. 
  
GREENS (Friday, March 28):  Here they are, a pile of greens.  All this week we’ve been talking about the five most nutritious vegetables grown on planet Earth.  Let’s say you were going to a desert island.  Which five would you take?  Of course we had sweet potatoes, raw carrots, cooked carrots, spinach, and now all of your greens.  You want soul food on that desert island, and there are so many types of greens.  There are sweet greens, spicy greens, bitter greens, but I love…I love these sweet greens.  Spinach is part of the green family, but most people don’t look at it as greens.  Now chard I absolutely love.  This is what we call one of the sweet greens.  Spicy greens would be things like mustard greens and we’ve got a flat leaf mustard.  Now, I love also beet greens.  Any of the greens, by the way, why do you like buy bags full and when you cook them they shrink down to like a little teaspoon full?  That’s because the cell structure is so big that when you cook it…ooh, they just shrink to little tiny cells.  That’s why you’ve got to buy so many greens to cook.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man. 

TEASE:  Hey, in my next Produce Man report, right under here…under this burlap sack…the fifth most nutritious vegetable grown on planet Earth.