You May Not Need As Many Fruits and Vegetables As You Think You Do
Many people find it difficult to stay healthy in this day and age. With the price of food and how easy it is to eat fast food, people are veering away from eating their fruits and vegetables, which is significantly impacting their health.
To get you back on the right track, here are the daily intakes of fruits and vegetables and the benefits of changing your diet.
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Daily Intake
According to Braceyourhealth fruits and vegetables are essential parts of your diet and should be eaten every day. In fact, they’re so important that they can reduce the risk of several diseases that are plaguing the world.
So just how much should you be getting? The USDA recommends that you have at least five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables per day in order to start feeling those benefits. And what exactly are those?
Vitamins and Minerals
Fruits alone have a lot of the essential vitamins and minerals that you need, such as vitamin C, potassium, and folate. These help the cells of your body to stay firm, maintaining blood pressure, and the functioning of the cells respectively.
Vegetables contain other vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin A and iron. Vegetables also contain roughage which keeps you regular and reduces the risk of colon cancer, as well as making you feel full for a lot longer so that you minimize the chance of snacking between meals.
Promotes Weight Loss
Fruit and vegetables are relatively low in calories in comparison to other foods that are out there. They’re also high in water content and fiber, which keep you feel full for longer without the need for carbs. It’s also better to eat whole fruits and vegetables rather than the pureed kind so that you’re getting even more fiber content. Skip the fruit and vegetable juices too unless you can’t help it; a lot of filler is added to these juices to make them taste better, which increases the overall calorie content.
Lowers the Risks of Certain Diseases
As was mentioned before, keeping your body regular reduces your risk of certain types of cancers. There is not only because of the fiber, but vitamin C and folate also protect your cells from invasion, strengthening the cell walls so that they can fight back against free radicals.
The same things happen to cells in other organs, such as the heart and the liver. This means reduced risks of heart disease as well as diabetes. Eating a lot of citrus fruits increases the acidity of the blood, which prevents the formation of kidney stones.
It can be difficult to get the right number of servings in your diet every single day of the week, but making the change is a great start, especially with the new year coming. You’ll find that you’ll have more energy every day when you add just a few servings of vegetables and fruit to every meal. Take care of your body and it will take care of you.
