What's Your Excuse For Not Eating More Fruits & Vegetables?

By David Butler

Everyone is aware of the fact that fruits and veggies are
excellent for the body, due to their abundance of fiber and
disease-fighting nutrients. Mom said we should eat plenty of
them every day and we knew she was right, but did we pay any
attention?

An unpleasant visual to call up is us driving with one
finger on the steering wheel as we cram greasy French fries
and hamburgers in our mouth while washing it all down with a
chocolate shake. Although, we may not be making that pit
stop every day, we still make bad choices for convenience
like grabbing a bag of chips instead of an apple or banana.
The fruit is just as fast, but so much better for us.

If it's simple you want, why not try some watermelon,
grapes, or a cantaloupe? Fruit only needs a quick wash and
it's ready to snack on. Another example might be veggies
such as carrots or celery soaked in a light dressing.
Research has shown that we don't eat enough of the
low-calorie, wholesome broccoli and Brussels sprouts, and so
we are overweight and disease-prone. Nutritional experts
hope to wake us up to healthy eating and inspire us with
five-a-day campaigns that remind us that we should be eating
at least five servings daily of vegetables and fruits.

In the beginning, five servings per day appears like a lot.
Fruit at breakfast is a practical idea to work in one extra
serving of fruit to start the day. Fruit on cereals,
waffles, or pancakes is another idea. Apples or bananas make
great portable snacks.

Veggies are very easy to get in during the day. It's easy
and smart to have a salad for lunch. When you have lunch or
dinner out, order a sandwich made with lettuce, tomatoes and
sprouts. You can add vegetables to baked goods, or use them
as ingredients in stews and soups, and with sauces for meat.


Do you like peanut butter? Add some celery with it. Kids
especially love this snack. Toss some raisins on top as
well! Cheese and celery make a nice snack too. Sometimes
kids are reluctant to try new fruits and vegetables. But
keep giving them different kinds to try. A lot of well
meaning parents will tell their children that they must
first clean their plate of vegetables before they can even
think about dessert. The problem here is the psychology this
creates. You're basically communicating the idea that
vegetables are something unpleasant to 'get through' so you
can move onto the sweet stuff in live. Think about how
different everyone's health would be if we didn't see our
vegetables in this manner.

Carrots after you finish all of your pudding!? Juice is
another simple way to increase your fruit and vegetable
consumption. The downside of juice is that it lacks fiber.
You don't get that benefit of vegetables and fruits when you
drink them. It also kills your appetite. How many times have
you seen a child drink a large cup of juice and then refuse
to eat, claiming they aren't hungry? Juices also often have
more calories than the fruit they come from.

The benefits to your health of fruits and vegetables are
obvious. Research has shown us that people who consume the
recommended servings of fruits and vegetables a day have
about half the chance of contracting 14 different types of
adult cancers than those who don't. By eating more
fruits and vegetables you can lower the risk of heart
attack, stroke, and adult blindness.

This is information that everybody should know;
nevertheless, we can come up with millions of excuses for
not eating properly. One excuse that people use is that it
costs a lot to eat healthy, and other people say that it
just takes too much time to prepare healthy foods. What
excuse keeps you from eating the way you know you should?


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The Fruit And Vegetable Guide To Healthy Living

Foods such as fruits and vegetables contain not only the
vitamins and minerals that are often found in supplements,
but also other naturally occurring substances that may help
protect you from chronic diseases.

Variety also is important because fruits and vegetables
provide other nutrients, such as folate, potassium, calcium,
and iron, which every single public health agency recommends
3 to 5 servings every day.

Using herbs or seasoning instead of butter or fat could make
vegetables more distinctive. Vegetables may be raw or
cooked; fresh, frozen, canned, or dried/dehydrated; and may
be whole, cut-up, or mashed. But certainly the acid test or
taste of the good cook will be in the preparation of
vegetables.

The idea of using raw vegetables is the most desirable for
any menu, and especially for the low-fat menus and raw food
diets, since many of the vital vitamins and minerals in
vegetables may be destroyed by cooking.

The raw food diet is said to provide you with quick weight
loss results. Use raw vegetables almost exclusively, since
the vitamin value is at peak this way, and the crispness of
the vegetables is most appetizing. Various combinations can
be used with vegetables, cottage cheese, or gelatin recipes.


Along with vegetables, fruits also contain virtually no fat
and are entirely free of any cholesterol. When fresh fruits
are not in season, use dried, canned, or frozen fruits.
There is no much restriction on the use of fruits, which are
also certainly ideal for desserts, except avocado and
coconut, which are both very high in fat content and thus
should be used less.

Fruits and vegetables salads are very popular and often
served before a main course. However, a well-constructed
vegetable or fruits salad can be served as a meal all alone
in a low fat or raw food diet.

Aspic salads are excellent when prepared with vegetables or
vegetable juices. And gelatin salads are special favorites
to many, especially when made with fruit juices instead of
water. If cottage cheese is added to gelatin and aspic
salads, more protein and "body" results.

Eating fruits and vegetables may lower the risk of cancer,
particularly cancers of the gastrointestinal tract,
according to a high-level international review of research
findings. And also helps reduce the risk of heart disease,
high blood pressure, diabetes and cataracts.