Eating more fruit, veggies easy

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For years, we’ve been told to eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables every day, and then we were told to eat nine or more servings every day.

Knowing exactly what a “serving” is can be quite confusing. That’s why the new fruit and vegetable campaign is so exciting and so easy to understand: Fruits and Veggies – MORE Matters. That’s it. It’s that simple.

Research tells us that fruits and vegetables are critical to promoting good health. Eating more fruits and vegetables has been shown to reduce the risk of certain cancers and chronic diseases such as diabetes, colon cancer and cardiovascular disease.

Plus, fruits and vegetables are a great way to help lower your weight, or help maintain a healthy weight, because they are low in calories; most are fat-free, and an excellent source of fiber.

Unfortunately, about 70 percent of Americans don’t even meet the five or more goal. With the new campaign, the push is simply to eat more fruits and vegetables.

It doesn’t matter whether you choose canned, fresh, frozen, dried or 100 percent juice. The difference in nutritional quality of canned, frozen or fresh is minimal.

And many times, frozen fruits and veggies retain more vitamins and minerals than the fresh you buy at the grocery store. But when it comes to taste, you just can’t beat the locally grown fruits and vegetables available at farmers’ markets.

Choose a variety of colors including dark green, orange and red to give your body a wide range of the nutrients that that it needs. Try these tips to eat more fruits and veggies:

– Put a little less cereal in your bowl and a little more fruit.

– Top yogurt with a favorite fruit.

– Pack take-along snacks of dried fruits such as raisins, apricots or cranberries.

– Add beans, chopped apples, oranges, pears or raisins to your salad.

– Add broccoli, spinach, corn, beans or peas to your casserole.

– Have some soup – try to choose low-sodium soups when possible.

– Try eating at least two vegetables with dinner.

– Make a fruit smoothie with low-fat milk and frozen fruit.

– Dip baked tortilla chips in black bean and corn salsa.

– Buy ready-to-eat veggies such as baby carrots, broccoli/cauliflower blends, and salads.

Get creative and remember, more matters.

– Written by Jennifer Nance, R.D. and nutrition and wellness educator for University of Illinois Extension.