Five reasons to eat your vegetables

(1) The government will keep spending your tax dollars on the “California 5 a Day—for Better Health! Campaign” until you meet the quota.

(2) Your mom told you to.

(3) Nonfat, low-carb, heart-healthy—whatever.

(4) They’d eat you if they weren’t inanimate.

(5) Area farmers’ markets bring the freshest specimens to your neighborhood all summer long: Downtown Certified Farmers’ Markets happen from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesdays at Roosevelt Park (10th and P streets) and Fremont Park (15th and P streets), on Wednesdays at Cesar Chavez Plaza (10th and J streets), and on Thursdays at Downtown Plaza (Fourth and K streets). Elk Grove’s farmers’ market happens Thursdays from 4:30 p.m. until 7 p.m. at Elk Grove Regional Park (9950 Elk Grove-Florin Road).