Wellness Games Week 6:Eat your fruits and vegetables!

Last, but not least of the Wellness Games “Fruits and Vegetables.”

I am by no means an expert, but I’ve read several articles about the advantages of getting your daily vitamins in foods vs supplements. Pretty much all of them agree that it’s preferable to get as much natural nutrition in your diet as possible. Lucky for us vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fibers come in some very tasty forms!

The new food guide is in the shape of a plate, about 1/2 - 2/3 of your plate should be filled with fruits and vegetables.

·         There are so many fruits and vegetables that I haven’t heard of. The more I’ve branched out of my comfort zone with produce the more I love produce. For example, I don’t love cooked spinach, but there are so many other greens that I do love that have very similar nutritional value. Bok choy, kale, swiss chard, beet greens, mustard greens, brussel sprouts…. Try something new.

·         A general rule of thumb with fruits and veggies is the richer the color, the more nutrients. Also, fruits and veggies of a similar color or form often have similar vitamins, and nutrients. Get to know your body's needs, and find a natural way to supplement it. For example without enough vitamin B your body feels weak and fatigued. Eating more grapefruit, oranges, watermelon, asparagus, sweet potatoes, and other vitamin B rich foods will help you feel more energized. Here is a link to a chart of what vitamins do correlated with a fruit and vegetable source - http://www.healthalternatives2000.com/vitamins-nutrition-chart.html

·         There are also several ways to “sneak” fruits and vegetables into your everyday cooking, using applesauce or banana can often be used as an egg or butter replacements in baking. Add diced or shredded apples into oatmeal,  extra veggies on a sandwich, spinach in between lasagna layers, even a slice of fresh lemon or lime to your beverage gives a little vitamin c boost (the diet coke lime doesn’t count, it’s just chemicals). It doesn’t ALWAYS have to be healthy foods, you can sneak fruits and vegetables into many desserts too. For example, pumpkin anything is good and still counts in my book, pumpkin bread, pancakes, cookies. There are SO many ways to trick your kids or yourself into eating more fruits and veggies.

·         I started a Pintrest board of fruit and vegetable ideas: http://pinterest.com/darcibertelsen/fruits-and-veggies/  if anyone is interested in contributing to that board to help find/share recipes or ideas let me know and I’ll add you as a contributor. I’ll be adding more to the board throughout the week.

This is a great brochure, and has a chart showing how many fruits and vegetables you personally should eat a day, check it out - http://www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov/downloads/General_Audience_Brochure.pdf

Gold = 7 days of eating your personal recommended portions of fruits and vegetables.

Silver = 5 days of eating your personal recommended portions of fruits and vegetables.

bronze = 3 days of eating your personal recommended portions of fruits and vegetables.

Let me know how did at the end of your week, good luck!

Darci