Why choose fruits and veggies?
Fruits and vegetables are “nutrient-dense” foods- they provide a lot of nutrition (vitamins, minerals, fiber and antioxidants) and don’t provide a lot of calories. Conversely, a food like a donut is “calorie-dense”- it provides a lot of calories but almost no nutritional value.
Eating a variety of colors and kinds of fruits and vegetables can lower blood pressure, reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke, prevent some kinds of cancers (like mouth, throat, esophagus and stomach cancers, prostate cancer and lung cancer), lower the risk of eye and digestive problems and positively impact blood sugar.
How? It all goes back to the vitamins, minerals and fiber.
LINK TO FIBER ARTICLE Their fiber feeds the healthy gut bacteria, helps “flush” you out (reducing the risk of colon cancer), and keeps blood sugars balanced. Further, fiber can help with weight loss, reduce belly fat and total body fat and helps reduce bad cholesterol.
And those vitamins and minerals? Here’s how they help:
- Vitamin C helps strengthen the immune system, keep the skin healthy, heal wounds, and reduces levels of stress hormones like cortisol. Vitamin C also helps people bounce back faster from stressful situations.
- Vitamin A helps strengthen the immune system and keeps the skin healthy. It also helps keep eyes healthy and can help strengthen night vision if it’s poor.
- Lutein and zeaxanthin help protect kids’ eyes.
- Folate helps the body produce red blood cells. Hopeful mamas should get adequate folate as well as it helps prevent birth defects.
- The potassium in fruits and vegetables helps negate the effects of a high sodium diet and helps lower blood pressure and prevent hypertension.
Fruits and veggies are good for the brain too: Their carbohydrates can help boost kids’ mood by promoting the production of a chemical in the brain called serotonin. Serotonin is known as the “feel good” chemical and improves mood.
And it’s not just a temporary mood boost, they may also help ward off depression:
Studies have compared “traditional” diets, like the Mediterranean diet and the traditional Japanese diet, to a typical “Western” diet and found that those who follow a more traditional diet have between 25% to 35% lower risk of depression. Scientists attributed this to the large amounts of vegetables and fruits (as well as unprocessed grains, and fish and seafood with only modest amounts of lean meats and dairy) traditional diets have. The western diet tends to be low in fruits and veggies (and high in meats and inflammatory sugars).
Which fruits and vegetables are the best? The truth is they’re all good and offer a variety of different health benefits, vitamins and minerals, and antioxidants, so my answer is almost always “whichever ones your kids will eat”. To get the most benefit, try to get your kids to remember to “eat the rainbow”.
It may be slightly cheesy but it gets the message across: remember to eat plenty of different colors of fruits and vegetables to get all the nutrition produce has to offer.
Different colors provide different antioxidants and while many have multiple kinds of antioxidants you can almost always be sure you’re getting certain antioxidants based on the color your eating:
- Red has lycopene, a powerful antioxidant that helps reduce the risk of prostate cancer and breast cancer
- Green contains chlorophyll, vitamin A, zeaxanthin and lutein. Chlorophyll helps your skin stay healthy, may help ward off some cancers and removes heavy metals from the body. Lutein and zeaxanthin help filter harmful blue light while helping protect and maintain healthy cells in the eyes. They’re also good for heart health and skin. Leafy greens also contain a lot of water, which helps keep you hydrated and contributes to beautiful skin and hair.
- Yellow/Orange fruits and veggies have beta-carotene, an antioxidant that helps protect eye health and protect against sun damage while keeping your skin healthy, boost your immune system and protects the heart and cardiovascular system.
- Purple contains anthocyanins which are cancer blockers and offer heart protection. Anthocyanins also reduce the risk of cognitive decline, cardiovascular disease and cancer.
- White veggies are also beneficial as they contain allicin which helps fight cancer and heart disease, reduces inflammation and fights hypertension. Think onions and garlic, cauliflower and mushrooms for healthy white options.
When we talk about fruits and vegetables we often use the term “antioxidants”. Here is a little more to help you understand what an antioxidant is.
- Free radicals are molecules that are missing an electron- in an effort to become ‘whole’ again they steal electrons from other structures in the body. The chemical structure/tissue from where the free radicals stole the electron is left seriously damaged and it becomes a free radical and tries to steal electrons from its neighbors, resulting in a vicious cycle of damage.
- The body produces “free radicals” when exposed to pollutants (radiation, pollution, smoke) or when it breaks down food. They are a natural part of life and often the body can get rid of them on its own. However, when there are too many free radicals they contribute to aging and may contribute to heart disease, cancer and other chronic diseases.
- An antioxidant stops the free radicals from doing damage and stealing electrons- it voluntarily provides an electron without becoming damaged or dangerous. It protects the cells from the effects of free radicals and their destruction.
- There are many different kinds of antioxidants, fruits and veggies of different colors provide different antioxidants. Coffee, green tea, chocolate, red wine, herbs, spices and other kinds of food also provide antioxidants. The key is to eat a variety of foods and focus on fruits and vegetables.
When there are not enough antioxidants in the diet, inflammation in the body can occur. Inflammation is an important part of the immune system and is beneficial for things like warding off disease (think of a fever or the redness and swelling that occurs when you get a splinter- those are all examples of beneficial inflammation). But, too much inflammation (also known as chronic inflammation) is bad for your brain. When inflammatory responses last too long it can lead to cognitive impairment instead of brief memory disruption, depression instead of reduced mood, fatigue instead of inactivity, and chronic pain instead of acute pain.
Guess what- Your gut is your first line of defense when it comes to reducing inflammation and one way to keep the gut healthy is by feeding it foods full of antioxidants and fiber to feed your healthy bacteria- that means plenty of fruits and vegetables, fermented foods and reducing the amount of processed foods and sugar.
HOW TO BUY:
Look for fresh, in-season produce. Pick produce that is firm, perky and heavy for its size. Be sure to pick deeply colored produce (think red peppers, kale, beets, berries, carrots, etc.)
Tip: a great way to tell what is in season is the price, generally when produce is in season there
will be lots of it and it will be cheap. Think of corn at the height of summer- you can often get 4-
5 ears for a dollar, whereas when corn is not in season, it is much more expensive.
If the produce you are looking for is not in season, head to the frozen food section- frozen produce was picked at the height of the season when it was ripest, healthiest and most flavorful. Studies show that frozen fruits and vegetables retain most of their nutrients.
And finally, remember that canned fruits and veggies are better than none. Opt for veggies canned without added sodium and fruits canned in water or 100% juice.
WHAT ABOUT ORGANIC?
Organic produce and conventionally grown produce have the same nutrient composition. It’s more important to eat more fruits and vegetables than to eat fewer organically grown fruits and veggies. However, if you are concerned about pesticides in your fruits and vegetables, but don’t want to spend an arm and a leg buying all organic produce, there is a way to meet in the middle.
The dirty dozen is the list of fruits/veggies most likely to be contaminated with pesticides (if you choose to buy organic, this is the best place to spend your hard earned money). They include: strawberries, spinach, nectarines, apples, grapes, peaches, cherries, pears, tomatoes, celery, potatoes and bell peppers.
The clean fifteen is the list of fruits/veggies LEAST likely to be contaminated with pesticides (save your money and buy these conventionally grown). These include: avocados, sweet corn, pineapple, cabbage, onions, frozen sweet peas, papaya, asparagus, mangoes, eggplants, honeydew melons, kiwi, cantaloupe, cauliflower and broccoli.
Tip: farmers markets are a great place to source organic produce. Many farmers do not have the organic designation but still practice organic farming practices- talk to the farmer or those in charge of the booth to learn about their practices.
HOW TO EAT THEM:
- Add some healthy fats. Cook veggies in a little olive oil, smear some peanut butter on your apple, add nuts or oil to a salad, or top a veggie dish with avocado. Fats help your body absorb fat soluble vitamins A, K, D, E & antioxidants in fruits and veggies meaning you get more antioxidants (like lycopene & beta-carotene) which help fight cancer, slow cognitive decline, and prevent heart disease.
- Pair iron rich fruits and veggies (like spinach, edamame and beans/lentils) with vitamin C which will help your body absorb more iron. Vitamin C rich foods include tomatoes, broccoli, strawberries, oranges, bell peppers and more.
- Pair calcium rich produce (like broccoli or kale) with vitamin D (like salmon or mushrooms grown under UV lights) which will help your absorb the calcium.
- Enjoy your fruits and veggies both cooked and raw- some vitamins, minerals and antioxidants are damaged by heat when they are cooked, while others become more “bioavailable” which means they body is able to use them more efficiently. For example, the lycopene in tomatoes and watermelon is more readily absorbed when cooked. When they’re raw, their vitamin C is but their vitamin C is most available when raw. The bottom line, however, is that eating fruits and vegetables in any form helps.
- The one way to skip fruits and veggies? Fried. Frying fruits and veggies causes damaging free radicals, which are highly reactive & can injure cells in the body- increasing the risk of cancers and chronic disease. The antioxidants in the vegetables get used up during frying so they can no longer assist in the body.
FRUITS AND SUGAR:
One of the reasons fruit gets a bad rap is the amount of sugar in it.
But here’s the thing: the sugar in fruit is not the same as table sugar. Whole foods, including fruit, vegetables, grains and dairy all contain some naturally occurring sugar. These foods also contain fiber, essential vitamin and minerals and antioxidants.
Because your body digests fruits (and other foods with natural sugars) slowly provide your body
with a steady supply of energy. The antioxidants in these foods also help to combat the impact of the sugar and including foods high in antioxidants, like fruit, has been shown to reduce the risk of diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.
However, that doesn’t mean it’s ok to just eat fruit all the time, even natural sugar is best in
moderation.
The bottom line? Don’t be afraid of fruit, but don’t go overboard either- 2-3 servings of fruit each
day is plenty.