Healthy eating can be the last thing on a very long list of other items when family life becomes busy. With the school run, work, packed lunch and dinner on the table, convenience can take over.
Healthy eating can be the last thing on a very long list of other items when family life becomes busy. With the school run, work, packed lunch and dinner on the table, convenience can take over.
The positive side of this is that it doesn’t require a drastic overhaul of your eating habits to make your diet healthier. Fruits and vegetables are some of the easiest foods to add nutrients, fibre, flavour and variety to the meals we eat.
All of these count: an apple with breakfast, a lunchbox with some carrots, or some frozen peas eaten with dinner.
But more importantly, there is no single “superfood” to turn to. The key is to eat a diverse menu of fruits and vegetables on a regular basis. Variety is a good way to eat for a balanced diet, as different colours and types contain different nutrients.
Key Nutrients Found in Fruits and Vegetables
Fruits and vegetables contain an impressive mixture of vitamins, minerals, fibre and naturally occurring plant compounds.
- Foods rich in vitamin C (like oranges, strawberries, peppers and broccoli) are important for normal immune function and for helping the body absorb iron, according to WOWMD.
- Found in leafy vegetables, broccoli, peas and certain fruits, folate is a part of normal cell division and blood formation.
- Bananas, tomatoes, spinach, and other plant foods are a good source of potassium, which is important for proper functioning of the nervous system and muscles.
- Dietary fibre, too. Pulses, apples, pears, vegetables and berries are good sources of fibre to help with daily fibre needs. Fibre aids in a normal digestive system and helps improve the satisfaction of a meal.
You’ll also find compounds such as carotenoids and polyphenols in colourful plant foods. The very easy rule is: change the colours of your plate rather than trying out which compound is included in which vegetable.
Health Benefits of Fruits and Vegetables
Fruit and vegetables are a feature in nearly all healthy eating guidelines.
A single large systematic review and meta-analysis of 95 prospective studies looked at the association of fruit and vegetable consumption with cardiovascular disease, cancer and death. The higher intakes were linked to reduced risk for cardiovascular disease and premature death.
Fruits and vegetables can also help with digestive health as they are high in fibre. They can add to meals without the need for a complicated recipe or specific ingredients.
The take-home message: Fruit and vegetables are best utilized as part of a broad, balanced lifestyle, not as a diet.
How Many Fruits and Vegetables Should You Eat?
The well-known tip for the UK is 5 portions of different fruits and veggies every day.
Five portions of fruit and vegetables are about 400g for adults. Children should also try to have 5 portions – but the amount of food per portion will depend on their weight and height. If you have children, a good guideline is something in the palm of their hands.
The five portions can be from fresh produce as well. Frozen, canned, and dried foods can count also.
Five a day is a good minimum number to strive for, not a game. It’s okay to miss it every once in a while; don’t let a day’s diet get ruined by an occasional miss. The key is developing repetition–able habits.
Best Ways to Add More Fruits and Vegetables to Your Diet
Attempting to change everything at once is often more of a challenge than it should be to eat healthy. It’s easy to fit small changes into family life.
In the morning, have porridge topped with fruit or sliced banana. Place apples, satsumas or grapes where they’re easy to see so they’re the first choice of snack.
Fill sandwiches and wraps with lettuce, cucumber, grated carrot or tomatoes at lunchtime. Another simple way of taking in several vegetables at once is to make soup.
Eating at night can be as simple as that. Throw mushrooms into pasta sauce, peas into rice, spinach into chilli, or extra veggies into pasta sauce.
Frozen vegetables should be singled out. They don’t need to be peeled, cut, or fret that they will turn bad in the refrigerator before anyone can eat them. That’s important on a busy Tuesday evening.
The pressure may be too much, and repeated exposure to the vegetable can be more realistic for children who are hesitant to eat it. Place a small quantity next to familiar foods and give it a chance to get used to it.
Whole Fruits vs. Fruit Juice
Fruit juice may come from fruit, but nutritionally it is not quite the same as eating the whole thing.
Whole fruit retains its natural fibre structure and generally takes longer to eat. Juicing or blending breaks down that structure and makes it much easier to consume a large quantity quickly.
UK guidance recommends limiting fruit juice, vegetable juice and smoothies to a combined 150ml per day. Even if you drink more, it only counts as one portion of your five a day.
That doesn’t mean juice needs to be banned from the breakfast table. It simply makes sense to treat it as one option rather than a substitute for several servings of whole fruit.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
A frequent error is assuming that fresh is always better. Frozen vegetables and fruit can be a convenient and inexpensive, nutritious option, especially when fresh food may spoil.
Still another is eating too many vegetables and hardly any fruit. Another extreme is undue emphasis on fruit and inadequate intake of vegetables. Both are acceptable foods to incorporate into a healthy diet and should be consumed in a variety throughout the day.
It’s also simple to throw off the balance of healthy foods and make them less nutritious. Vegetables served in creamy sauces or with large portions of fruit, which also have a high sugar content, are not the same as their simple counterparts.
Last but not least, avoid the catch of appearances of “super foods”. Carrots, Cabbage, Frozen Peas, and Apples are also healthy foods in addition to blueberries and kale. A cheap vegetable that you are eating every day is more useful to your family than a pricey ingredient that’s gathering dust in the fridge, according to Consumer Health Digest.
FAQs
Do frozen fruits and vegetables count towards five a day?
Yes, frozen fruit and vegetables can count towards your five portions and are useful when you want convenient options with a longer shelf life.
Does dried fruit count?
Yes, around 30g of dried fruit can count as one portion. Because dried fruit is concentrated in natural sugars and can stick to teeth, UK guidance suggests eating it as part of a meal rather than regularly between meals.
Do potatoes count as one of your five a day?
Ordinary potatoes generally don’t count because they are usually eaten as the starchy carbohydrate part of a meal. Sweet potatoes, however, can count.
Is it better to eat vegetables raw?
Not necessarily. Both raw and cooked vegetables can contribute valuable nutrients. Cooking may reduce some heat-sensitive nutrients while making other plant compounds easier for the body to use. Eating vegetables in several different ways is a sensible approach.
What if my children refuse vegetables?
Keep introducing small amounts without making every meal a battle. Pair unfamiliar vegetables with foods they already enjoy, involve children in shopping or cooking, and experiment with different textures and preparation methods.
Conclusion
You don’t need fancy ingredients, a perfect meal plan, or to make dinner a nutrition lesson to add more fruits and vegetables to your diet.
The single biggest differences are easy things for most families to do: keeping fruits visible, making an extra vegetable serving of something you already eat, serving frozen vegetables when time is limited, and trying to add a bit of new food each week.
Try to eat 5 portions of fruit and veg a day, but don’t think you need to get 100% of these every night. A healthy lunchbox is not a meal that is decided on one day or night; it’s a diet that is planned out over weeks and months.
The best plan is the one you can stick to in your household. Eating well is no longer boring when it is a regular part of breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack time.
References:
- Fruit and vegetable intake and the risk of cardiovascular disease, total cancer and all-cause mortality-a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective studies:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28338764
- Best Fruit and Vegetable Supplements: Expert Top Picks | Consumer Health Digest:
https://www.consumerhealthdigest.com/nutrition/best-fruit-and-vegetable-supplements.html
