For Week 4 of our Wellness Challenge, try to have a bowl of fruit in the morning and a healthy serving of vegetables in the evening. Complete 5 of 7 days to be successful. At the end of the week, let us know how you did on our Facebook post.
Fruit is a healthy option any time of day, but it’s especially good for breakfast. You can literally “break your fast” with fruit, since it is easy to digest and contains fiber that will help you stay full until lunchtime. According to the CDC, 12% of Americans are eating the recommended about of fruit per day, and only 9% are eating enough vegetables. You can visit USDA’s MyPlate Plan to get individualized recommendations for how many fruits and vegetables to eat daily.
Benefits of Fruit and Vegetables
The benefits of eating a large variety of fruits and vegetables are numerous and include lower blood pressure, reduced risk of heart disease, cancer prevention (certain types), improved digestion, healthy skin, and many more.
Skip the Fruit Juice
Fruit juice sounds like a healthy option, but the problem is its high sugar content and lack of fiber. Fruit juices will still have some beneficial vitamins and minerals, but they lack the natural fiber in fruit that prevents blood sugar spikes.
Convenient Ways to Add Fruits and Vegetables to Your Diet
Find recipes online – There are no shortage of delicious and easy to make vegetable-based dishes online. Browse a website like allrecipes.com and see if anything looks good.
Blend up smoothies – Grab a blender, throw in a bunch of fruit of your choice (fresh or frozen), some baby spinach or kale, and some ice (and non-dairy milk if you want it thinner). Then simply blend it up and enjoy a quick and healthy smoothie. You can also search online to find many delicious smoothie recipes.
Meal prep healthy snacks – Take some time on Sunday to fill up several small containers with fruit or vegetable-based snacks. Then you’re good to go for the week with minimal hassle.
Buy pre-prepared fruits and veggies – Half the battle of eating more fruits and veggies is taking the time to prepare them. Buying pre-prepared fresh fruits and veggies from the grocery store may be pricier, but will be worth it if it removes a barrier from eating healthier.
Grab some freeze-dried fruit – Freeze-dried fruit has a light and crunchy texture that’s delicious. And as a bonus, freeze-drying preserves many of the nutrients found in fresh fruit, and more than conventionally dried fruit. Make sure sugar hasn’t been added to the fruit.
Buy cold-pressed vegetable juice – Pasteurizing or creating a juice concentrate both include processing produce at high temperatures. This heat can destroy many beneficial vitamins. Cold-pressed juice, that means it has been processed using high pressure to destroy potentially harmful bacteria, while maintaining most of its vitamins. There are some decent cold-pressed juices in major grocery chains, but the highest quality vegetable juices will come from health-focused grocery stores and specialty juice shops.
Juice at home – Grab several types of healthy vegetables such as celery and leafy greens and go to town juicing them. However, juicing isn’t going to do you any good if you aren’t able to choke down the juice you make. That’s why it’s always a good idea to add in some carrots to your vegetable mix to add a bit of sweetness. There are many brands of juicers. Do some research and read reviews to see which ones are most effective and easiest to clean.
