You want to improve your eating, but you just don't know if
you can eat a crock of broccoli or a head of romaine
lettuce. You want to reduce your heart disease risk, but
the idea of steaming vegetables for each meal just doesn't
sit well with you.
Not only do you feel guilty about not wanting to eat these
profoundly healthy products, you don't even know which
recommendations to follow-there are so many! You hear
amounts anywhere from 5 servings/day to 9-14 servings/day.
You hear these foods will treat anything from heart disease
to high blood pressure (which you will surely get from
reading articles about foods you don't like to eat). You
know all these things, and yet---you still don't know how
to manage any of this.
Let me try to help you.
First, let me explain where these numbers come from. The
"5 a day" is a recommendation from the National Cancer
Institute. Research suggests that following these
recommendations you may be able to reduce your risk of
certain types of cancer. Whether it is the plant chemicals
involved in cancer reduction, or the fact that eating more
fruits and vegetables means consuming less protein and
saturated fat (primarily from animal products), populations
of people following these guidelines seem to have lower
cancer rates.
The "9-14 servings/day" resulted from the DASH study, the
Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension. This study showed
that consuming between 9 and 14 servings of vegetables and
fruits each day helped reduce blood pressure as much as
certain medications. If you are taking blood pressure
medications, talk to your health care provider before
trying this diet-but it is certainly worth considering if
you have experienced side effects from your medication.
Before I go further, let me just tell you that if you want
to try this approach, you should know is considered a
serving size. This way you won't worry about spending your
entire budget at the produce counter. A serving of fruit
is about the size of a baseball or 4 ounces of juice; a
serving of vegetables is ½ cup of cooked or 1 cup of fresh
vegetables.
Now, let's talk about some ways to sneak these foods into
your daily meal plan.
What about using a banana instead of jelly the next time
you make a peanut butter sandwich? A medium sized banana
counts as two servings of fruit.
While it may not seem like much, how about a few pieces of
fresh spinach or Boston lettuce on your next roast beef
sandwich? It adds crunch, and also a half of a serving of
vegetables.
Do you like spaghetti? Why not try cooking some carrots
until they are really soft, then blending them in with your
spaghetti sauce? Sautéing onions in a little olive oil
also adds vegetables to your sauce-and helps reduce your
risk of chronic disease.
How about soup? One way I get my son to eat vegetables is
to cook LOTS of vegetables (carrots, broccoli, onions,
potatoes) in broth, then blending the entire mixture and
serving it in a bowl. Using frozen vegetables reducing the
cooking time, if you are in a rush.
If you want to add fruits, as well as bone building
calcium, how about fruit smoothies? You can mix frozen
berries (or unfrozen bananas) with low fat vanilla yogurt
and there you have it! A snack that's good for your heart,
your bones, and most importantly, your taste buds.
While I don't recommend drinking juices (fruit sugar is the
same as table sugar, as far as calories go; "natural"
doesn't really mean healthier), 4-6 ounces a day is the
maximum I tell anyone to drink. So if you need ONE more
serving, go ahead, have a small glass of orange juice (or
whatever juice you like).
Hopefully these suggestions are helpful for you. One of my
newsletters, has a wonderful, colorful handout entitled
"Eat From The Rainbow." When in doubt, think about the
rainbow, and see if you can find one fruit and/or vegetable
from each color, and add it to your diet.
Here's to your health!
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For free tips to becoming At Peace With Food, articles, and
links to nutritional resource websites, visit=>
http://www.AtPeaceWithFood.com/freetips.html
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