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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – It is summer and fresh fruits and vegetables abound. Even the most humble fruit or vegetable is a complex collection of healthy, wholesome compounds which function in a dynamic and dependent way. You don’t need to understand all the science behind each compound or interaction to reap the health benefits. Just know that your current fruit and vegetable intake will protect you against health problems in the future because they are loaded with vitamins and minerals and are good sources of fiber.
More important, fruits and vegetables are an excellent source of phytochemicals. These are compounds which protect plants from bacteria, fungi, damaging free radicals, and high levels of ultraviolet light. When you eat fruits and vegetables, the phytochemicals wind up in your tissues and protect you as well.
The thousands of phytochemicals in fruits and vegetables can:
- Help protect you from heart disease, high blood pressure and stroke
- Reduce your risk for cancer
- Protect your eyes against cataracts and macular degeneration
- Protect your lungs against pulmonary disease
- Help to keep your weight down
- Support bone health and prevent osteoporosis
- Help to prevent birth defects
- Reduce a man’s risk of an enlarged prostate
- Keep your brain younger and protects against dementia
- Reduce skin wrinkling
Can you give me some suggestions on how to eat 5 or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day?
At first that may seem like a lot, but one serving is smaller than you may realize. Eating a cup of cooked broccoli or green beans for dinner counts as 2 servings. We often eat large fruits which could easily add up to 1 ½ to 2 servings. Most of us drink more than one serving of juice which is only ¾ cup or 6 ounces. And, a leafy salad at lunch or dinner could easily satisfy 3 to 4 servings. It’s actually much easier than you think to eat 5 or more servings of fruits and vegetables each day.
One serving equals:
- 1 cup leafy greens (spinach, kale, field greens, romaine, lettuce)
- ½ cup raw or cooked cut up fruits or vegetables
- ½ cup cooked dried beans or peas
- 1 medium whole fruit (apple, banana, orange)
- ¼ cup dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, apricots, cherries, mixed berries)
- ½ cup freeze-dried fruits or vegetables (corn, peas, blueberries)
- ¾ cup 100% fruit or vegetable juice
Take-out Tip – Order More Fruits and Vegetables
We take-out or eat out one third of all the food we eat but we rarely order fruits or
vegetables.
What’s the best way to cook vegetables to maintain their nutritional value?
It’s been estimated that 50% of vitamins are lost in cooking. There are things you can do to lessen the loss.
Microwaving is the kindest to vitamins – short cooking time, moderate heat and little water. Steaming is a close second. Stir-frying is also gentler on vitamins because it cuts down on water and vegetables cook quicker. The downside is you need to add some fat to your normally fat-free vegetable. Boiling is the most destructive. You can recycle some of the lost vitamins by using the vegetable water in soups, sauces and other recipes.
For maximum nutrition and taste – use fresh vegetables within 3 days of purchase, keep frozen vegetables frozen, and cook all vegetables quickly, using as little water as possible and keep the lid on for faster cooking. There is no such thing as a bad vegetable because all provide some vitamins, even when handled and cooked poorly, and nothing you can do in storage or cooking destroys minerals.
What do I do if I just hate vegetables?
If you are a dedicated vegetable-hater and have vowed to eat nothing green, fruits make a great alternative, offering many of the same benefits. Don’t like green beans? Have you ever considered sliced peaches or a dish of blueberries with dinner instead?
Every fruit provides a wide array of vitamins, minerals, and disease-protecting phytochemicals which add up with multiple servings. Don’t count out those fruits, like apples, that seem to be low in important nutrients, because the fiber found in apples is similar to the heart-healthy fiber found in oatmeal. Remember the old saying, an apple a day, keeps the doctor away. Well, an apple peel a day, may keep cancer at bay.
Cornell researchers have identified a dozen compounds – triterpenoids – in apple peels that either inhibit or kill cancer cells.
Bottom line: It is summer, make use of nature’s superfoods – eat fruits and vegetables.
© NRH Nutrition Consultants, Inc.
Jo-Ann Heslin, MA, RD, CDN is a registered dietitian and the author of the nutrition counter series for Pocket Books with sales of more than 8.5 million books.
Look for:
The Diabetes Counter, 5th Ed., 2014
The Fat and Cholesterol Counter, 2014
The Most Complete Food Counter, 3rd ed., 2013
The Calorie Counter, 6th Ed., 2013
The Complete Food Counter, 4th ed., 2012
The Protein Counter, 3rd Ed., 2011
The Ultimate Carbohydrate Counter, 3rd Ed., 2010
The Healthy Wholefoods Counter, 2008
Your Complete Food Counter App: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/your-complete-food-counter/id444558777?mt=8
For more information on Jo-Ann and her books, go to: www.TheNutritionExperts.com.
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