New Studies Up the Ante for Recommended Consumption of Natural Foods
Half of the metro stops in Paris have advertisements encouraging citizens to “Eat at Least Five Fruits and Vegetables a Day.” Yet the average American eats only threeservings per day.
Furthermore, recent studies show that we should be eating as many as seven servings per day, with an emphasis on vegetables.
“Eating at least seven portions of fresh fruit and vegetables a day was linked to a 42% lower risk of death from all causes. It was also associated with a 25% lower risk of cancer and 31% lower risk of heart disease or stroke. Vegetables seemed to be significantly more protection against disease than eating fruit, they say,” reveals a study discussed in The Guardian.
Are you above the curve? The benefits include longer life expectancy and lower risk of cancer and heart disease.
Yet keep track of it for a few days and you might be surprised how easy it is to miss the mark.
Resolve yourself to eat more than seven fruits and vegetables per day, for seven days in a row, and see how your mood changes.
Seven Tips for Seven Servings in Seven Days:
- Choose items that are in season—you might find your grocery bills go down!
- Try eating fruit or berries for dessert
- Avoid frozen and canned fruit, as the benefit is ambiguous for these
- Use frozen vegetables in soups, stir-frys, and smoothies
- Like coffee, beer, and cigarettes, most people can develop a taste for raw vegetables they hated as a kid (such as brussels sprouts) by repeated exposure. Spread your veggie wings!
- Try creative vegetable eating: blended zucchini hummus, cauliflower rice, or shredded cabbage noodles are all fun twists on traditional foods using vegetables
- Sorry, potatoes do not count. They are a starch.
Image: Some rights reserved by Micahel Cannon