What is a root vegetable? Any plant that is grown underground and used for culinary purposes. Examples include sweet potatoes, carrots, beets, and turnips.
Here is a quick tip to help ensure you are maximizing nutrient intake and minimizing chemical intake when eating root veggies. Because they are grown in soil (underground!) the skin on root vegetables absorbs tons of amazing minerals.
That's great news when we're eating organic vegetables - you should leave the skin on to up the nutrients we are getting. Not-so-great news when it comes to non-organic veggies - the skin is also absorbing all the chemicals in the soil, so we should also peel the skin off when eating non-organic (or conventional) root vegetables.