Easily Increase Fruits and Vegetables In Your Diet

Easily Increase Fruits and Vegetables In Your Diet

How Many Fruits and Vegetables Have You Had Today?

The American Heart Association’s suggests eight servings of fruits and vegetables a day and the Dietary Guidelines from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recommend anywhere from 5 to 13 servings of fruits and vegetables per day depending on age, gender, physical activity and overall health. How are you doing with that?

Veggies Are Perfect Snack Food

Veggies are the key to long life. Each daily portion of fresh veggies results in a 16 percent reduction in mortality – it’s pretty clear vegetables are best, and the more, the better. Vegetables are the true super food.

• Homemade soups are a simple way to increase your vegetable intake. Cook any amount of fresh vegetables until tender and add them to a simple broth for an easy meal. Include rice or quinoa for a hearty bowl. Many vegetables need to be cooked to get as many nutrients as possible.
• Enjoy raw veggies as snack, there is little that compares to the nutritional value of organic, raw vegetables. Sun-ripened vegetables are rich in light energy. Ideally organically grown on a local farm in your area. Choose the vegetables that appear freshest first, and consume them raw shortly after purchase for optimal benefits.
• An easy and efficient way to optimize your vegetable intake is to juice your vegetables. Juicing helps your body absorb all the nutrients from the vegetables by making them easily digestible. Juicing allows you to add a wider variety of vegetables to your diet that you might not normally enjoy eating whole.

Make it a point to eat your veggies, mounting evidence shows that eating vegetables every day is a cornerstone of good health, and a habit that can go a very long way toward preventing disease of all kinds, including cancer.

Think Of Fruit As Fast Food

Fruit is always ready to be enjoyed. When we don’t eat fruit throughout the day, we end up eating other sweets like pie or cookies. When sweats become a craving there has been far too little fresh fruit in the daily diet. As soon as more fruits are incorporated in the diet, the sweet tooth quiets down.

Fruits are high in fiber, water, vitamin C, sugars and phytochemicals required for long-term cellular health and disease prevention. Regularly consuming fruit reduces the risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, stroke, Alzheimer disease, cataracts, and functional decline associated with aging. Being low in calories fruits help lower calorie intake for weight-loss.

Go out on a limb, that’s where the fruit is. Enjoy it fresh and whole. Studies have found no health benefit from fruit juice, and canned and frozen fruit actually appeared to increase the risk of death, likely due to the high amounts of sugar in these products. Always include a piece of fruit on your way out the door for a snack later on. If you cook it do so with gentle heat without adding sugar or flour.

Ema Drouillard is a Nutritional Therapist and Ayurvedic Counselor, with a focus on post epigenetics. Reviewing what you eat and how you live reveals how food alters your gene expression and body chemistry which is the foundation to nutritional therapy. By appointment – call 415-409-9264.