I vaguely remember dinner as a child.
Mom would say, “Eat your spinach.”
I would reply, “No! It’s gross.”
My Moms’ retort usually came in the form of not excusing me from the table until I had eaten whatever vegetables she had been serving that night.
Mom was right, fruits and vegetables really are good for you.
Science has more recently discovered that a diet high in fruits and vegetables is not only healthy but can help prevent some life-threatening diseases such as heart disease, stroke and cancer. Still, some just can’t bring themselves to eat the green. In such cases just taking a supplement containing the same vitamins and minerals will accomplish the same thing.
“An apple a day really does keep the doctor away,” says Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S., author of The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth.
Other fruits and vegetables that could be deemed some of the healthiest foods on Earth include avocados, garlic, mushrooms, blueberries and Pomegranates.
So why are fruits and vegetables so healthy? Simple, they provide the body with a cornucopia of nutrients that the body craves: water, dietary fiber, minerals, vitamins and phytochemicals. They don’t taste all that bad either.
Fitting more fruits and vegetables into your diet (and your children’s’ diets) is easier than you would think.
- For breakfast, slice up a banana, strawberry or peach and throw it on top of your cereal or add fresh blueberries to your waffles and pancakes. Drink a full glass of 100% orange juice with breakfast.
- Always pack a small salad for lunch. Use a variety of vegetables in your salad to give it some flavor, try experimenting with different things: carrots, celery, cranberries, tomato, onion, avocado, bell pepper, peperoncini, cucumber, broccoli, garlic, etc.
- Make a side of fruit or vegetables for dinner. Corn on the cob, steamed broccoli or slices of pineapple will make great side dishes for any dinner.
There are a lot of different ways to get more fresh fruits and vegetables into your diet and the benefits of adding them are noteworthy. If all these benefits aren’t enough, new research has also suggested that people who eat a plentiful of fruits and vegetables are less likely to develop the eye diseases, cataracts and macular degeneration.
A proper diet, high in fruits and vegetables, would include fruit two to three times a day and vegetables in abundance.
