Fruit and vegetables in your diet have many positive effects upon health.
- Their high fibre content helps control blood glucose levels, may reduce cholesterol and probably reduces the risk of colon cancer and other cancers.
- They contain antioxidants and phytochemicals that may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.
- More than any other foods, they contain essentialvitamins and minerals that are vital for good health and disease prevention.
How much do I need?
Most of us are aware of the current advice of five portions a day. But fewer of us know that your five portions should come from a variety of sources every day.
Eating the same fruits and vegetables every day means you can still be deficient in whatever vitamins and minerals they don't contain.
Fruit
To gain the maximum benefit from fruit, eat it fresh and if the skins are edible, eat them too.
Dried fruits and fruit juices count towards your five a day. Use them in moderation, though, because fruit loses most of its natural fibre in the juicing process and dried fruits lose most of their vitamin C.
Try to eat two or three portions of fruit every day. One portion equates to 80g, which would be:
- one medium apple, orange, banana
- three tablespoons or so of chopped, cooked or canned fruit
- 150ml juice or smoothie (100 per cent fruit)
- one tablespoon of dried fruit (choose brands that have not been preserved with sulphur dioxide).
To boost your fruit intake, try some of the suggestions below.
- Combine more expensive, unusual fruits like mangos and papaya with common ones such as bananas in a liquidised fruit smoothie.
- Add chopped fresh fruit to your breakfast cereal.
- Combine fruit with low fat yoghurt and chopped nuts for a mid-morning snack.
- Round off a meal with a piece of fresh fruit or a portion of grapes.
- Avoid fruit juices that are not 100 per cent pure, including nectars, concentrates and cocktails or any juice that has added sugars.
- For a healthy dessert, bake apples or pears with cinnamon and top with sultanas and chopped nuts. Serve with live plain yoghurt.
Vegetables
Balance your vegetable intake between the orange/red and green varieties.
The more colourful your choice, the healthier it usually is.
As an easy rule, the darker and brighter the colour of the vegetable the more vitamins, minerals and fibre they usually contain. For example, spinach contains more nutrients than lettuce.
Make sure you balance the more starchy vegetables like corn, butternut squash, pumpkin, peas, root vegetables and sweet potatoes with less starchy vegetables like courgettes, green beans, spinach, broccoli and cauliflower.
You should aim for three portions of vegetables each day. One portion equates to 80g, which would be a cereal bowl of lettuce, but three tablespoons or so of carrots.
To boost your vegetable intake, try some of the suggestions below.
- Eat your vegetables raw as part of a sandwich filling or serve them with dips. You can make your own dip using natural yoghurt and finely chopped herbs.
- Juice raw vegetables such as carrot, tomato and cucumber for a quick and refreshing drink. Ginger and lemon can be added for taste. One to try is carrot, celery and apple.
- Overcook your vegetables, and they lose nutrients. For this reason, microwave or lightly steam vegetables rather than boiling.
- Salads are quick to make. Make them more appetising by adding items such as chopped nuts and cannellini beans, and a healthy dressing such as vinaigrette or a dash of olive oil.
- Homemade vegetable soup is an ideal way for the family to increase their intake of vegetables. Add lentils, beans or wholegrains like pearl barley to make it a complete meal. The soup can also be frozen in portions and used later on.
- Always include vegetables with your main meals. So if you eat pasta, have it with a simple side salad.
- Add fresh herbs to pep up vegetables. Use chopped mint to add to green beans, peas and mangetout, coriander in stir-fries, curries and casseroles, and rosemary or thyme with root vegetables
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