Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition
Extension
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523-1571
Healthy Heart Beats
October-December 2007Vol 29, Issue 4
Dining a la Health
Fruits and Vegetables can Boost General Health
Many of you may not always make fruit and vegetable consumption a priority. If you feel like you're likely to fall short on that score consider setting a goal to increase your intake and make small changes over time. It will likely seem easier, too, if you can build on the positive aspects of your current diet. Think about the fruits and vegetables you already like and start by adding those more often to other favorite dishes. Here are some simple tips to help you get started.
- Add any form of fruit-fresh, frozen, canned or dried-to a simple salad. Sweet fall pears and chopped apples can add just the right touch to leafy greens. If you're using canned fruit, choose fruit canned in juice without added sugar.
- Hungry for a sweet snack? Reach into your backpack or briefcase for dried fruit. Today's options are plentiful-dried berries, apricots, peaches, and nectarines-to name a few. Mix them with nuts or toss in whole grain cereal for crunch. Instead of stocking your desk drawers at work with salty, high fat snacks, consider an assortment of dried fruit.
- Keep your fruits and veggies in plain sight. If they're refrigerated, consider moving them to a more visible shelf. If they don't require refrigeration, exchange the salty, sweet, high-fat snacks for dried and canned fruit on the snack shelf. Fill a bowl on the kitchen counter with colorful fresh fruits and veggies that can be kept at room temperature. That will encourage you to grab something healthier when you're on-the-run.
Tweak your recipes to find ways to add more veggies. Pre-prepared soups and pasta dishes lend themselves easily to this. One quick idea is to add cooked carrots or peas to macaroni and cheese-a typical kids' favorite. If your kids aren't fond of veggies, consider using veggie purees to pump up nutrition in casseroles.
Here are a few words of caution. Sometimes too much of a good thing isn't good. In essence don't cancel out the good nutrition by overdoing it on sugar, fat and salt.
- Though dried fruit is healthy and nutritious it's also a concentrated form of sugar so it's not good to think you can eat all you want. If you're thinking that you could have a cookie for the same number of calories, it's not a fair trade. On the other hand adding dried fruit to a cookie certainly boosts its nutritional value.
- Veggies slathered with butter and salt don't rank high on the list of healthy choices either. Have you ever tried spraying your cooked veggies with butter flavored oil spray and sprinkling with herbs? It can be quite tasty as well as healthful.
In conclusion, consider setting a goal to try a new fruit or vegetable on a regular basis. If you have children in your family, involving them in produce selection or preparation is a great first step toward getting them to eat more fruits and veggies, too.
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