This Inexpensive Vegetable Is Your Secret Weapon to Hitting Your Fiber Goals

3 min readIT’S A TOUGH summer for eating your vegetables. Between the rising cost of groceries and an outbreak of a diarrhea-provoking parasite, it’s become difficult to enjoy even a simple salad. But while lettuce feels risky, there is a head you can count on: cabbage.Unlike hot lettuce (which sounds like a terrible metal band, at best), cabbage can be cooked in a number of ways. (Plus, heat is an effective way to kill Cyclospora.)Enter filthy cabbage, a one-pot dish that combines ground beef and/or sausage with cabbage. It’s just one of the cabbage-based meals that’s become popular on social.“I've always loved cabbage because it's inexpensive, versatile, and stretches a meal,” Ronald Dajoh, a food content creator, grew his following on TikTok by cooking easy, affordable recipes for his family. One of his most popular videos is about filthy cabbage, but he also uses the budget-friendly vegetable in slaws, soups, wraps, or as a substitute for tortilla shells. “During a time when grocery prices are affecting so many families, one head of cabbage can feed a lot of people.”In other words, eating more cabbage won't just help you incorporate more essential nutrients into your diet—it will help you save cabbage, too.Other food and wellness influencers are getting on board with the convenient vegetable, too. Self-described cabbage chef and expert Don Cabbage (yes, really), speculates that cabbage hasn’t just suddenly become more popular.“It has always been a widely loved ingredient,” says the content creator, who built a platform by showcasing innovative recipes like cabbage pasta or a low-carb hot dog bun. “What may be changing is how people see cabbage—discovering new ways to use it beyond traditional roles.”It doesn’t hurt that cabbage is also pretty nutritious too.Why Cabbage Is Good for YouCABBAGE CONTAINS SIGNIFICANTLY more vitamin K and vitamin C than a head of lettuce. But what makes cabbage so healthy is its strong fiber content, about 5 grams per cup, or about 1 gram of fiber for every 10 calories.Michael Reavis, RD, CSSD, clinical dietitian at the University of Maryland Medical Center, suspects that part of cabbage’s popularity is, in fact, the rise in popularity of fiber. The average male needs about 38 grams of fiber, and data indicates that 95 percent of men are not consuming nearly enough. But as Reavis points out, “one-and-a-half cups of cabbage puts you 20 percent of the way there.”It’s worth noting that high-fiber diets have been shown to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer, which is the leading cause of cancer-related death for men under the age of 50.Likewise, increasing fiber intake “improves blood sugar regulation, promotes healthy digestion, provides ‘food’ for all the ‘bugs’ that live within our microbiome, and can reduce risk of heart disease by helping reduce total cholesterol,” Reavis says.How To Eat More CabbagePERHAPS ONE OF the cabbage’s best qualities is its versatility. Reavis uses it as a base for protein bowls, typically paired with a lean protein like ground turkey and a simple sauce, sort of like a low-carb egg roll alternative.But you can also steam small chunks of cabbage and work them into almost any hot meal. And if you’re short on time and not looking to chop up a head of cabbage, Reavis recommends picking up a jar of sauerkraut, or another form of pickled cabbage, which comes with added probiotic benefits from the fermentation process.Dajoh suggests not overthinking cabbage. “Just don't overcook it, season it well, and don't be afraid of bold flavors. It just might surprise you.”Don advises embracing creativity when it comes to the vegetable and viewing it as a solution as much as an ingredient. “It can replace bread, become pizza, and unexpectedly take center stage,” he says. “Health and cost matter, but we shouldn’t have to sacrifice delicious food. Cabbage quietly solves that.”Lauren Vinopal is a writer based in Chicago whose work has been published in GQ, Slate, Mel Magazine, and more.