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He Said, She Said: Is Eating Any Type of Fruit & Vegetable Good For Health?

By many accounts, the American diet is in crisis. Our plates and portions are oversized, and our fat, sugar, and salt intake is stratospheric. Only a few of us, it seems, are getting the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables – as low as 11% according to some studies.

But the more we know about the benefits of fruits and vegetables, the more inspired we are to change our habits. Fruits and veggies hold the nutritive power to lower cancer risk and decrease our chances of getting diabetes. They contribute to a healthy heart and brain and help us maintain our weight. Eating fruits and vegetables has a positive effect on almost every organ in the body by helping to preserve their function, prevent disease, and allow us to live longer, better quality lives.

Many of us are making efforts to get our recommended servings. These efforts can leave us wondering: is that salad at dinner really providing the nutrients we need? Does the tomato sauce in a pasta dinner mean we’ve logged a serving? Is it better to grab a bowl of wild blueberries or a carrot? That orange or that potato? The more we improve our eating habits, the more we want to know how important our fruit and veggie choices are, and if eating any serving is better than none at all.

He and She weigh in on the question, and provide their evidence.

Q: Does it matter what fruits and vegetables we eat as long as we eat them?

He: No. Getting the recommended number of servings of fruits and vegetables will provide important health benefits no matter what those fruits and vegetables are. Here’s why:

Reason #1. It is recommended we eat a wide variety of fruit and veggies that span the color spectrum. The more fruits and vegetables, the lower the risk of developing heart disease, some cancers, and lower there risk of diabetes and weight related illnesses, end of story. The USDA Food Plate specifies no types of fruits and vegetables. Even the Mediterranean diet, for instance, touted for its dietary excellence, emphasizes not specific kinds of fruits or vegetables, but that more are eaten, and eaten with with lots of olive oil, nuts and plenty of fish.

Reason #2. When we fill up on fruits and vegetables, they take the place of less healthy foods. For most Americans, eliminating high calorie foods, sugary snacks, fast foods, and processed foods in favor nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables is the key to better health. Whenever we are making the choice to eat any fruit or vegetable, we are eating a whole, natural food, not a processed one, and that means better health and more powerful disease prevention, period.

Reason #3. In the future, a simple saliva test will determine our susceptibility to certain diseases, and it will be affordable and accessible to everyone. We’ll understand then how certain hereditary risk factors can be counteracted by specific food choices. However, today, most of us simply don’t know which nutrients will promote a desirable gene reaction. Until we know more about our genetic makeup, we can’t be sure of how to target the best fruit and veggie Rx for our personal health, and getting our servings and eating widely across the color spectrum is the best advice.

Reason #4. Focusing on good foods, bad foods, and better foods is simply counterproductive. Any and all foods can be part of a healthy diet. They key to good nutrition is balance and moderation, with a focus on portion control. What’s more, there are virtually no unhealthy fruits or vegetables. As long as they are not processed, fried, or interfere with medications, allergies or other conditions, all are good for you. Enjoy!

She: Yes. Making smart nutritional choices about which fruits and vegetables you eat is vital to good health. Here’s why:

Reason #1. Some foods are just better than others when it comes to disease prevention, and if you are eating for good health, why not eat the best? For instance, targeting high-antioxidant, deeply colored foods will help with prevention as we age more effectively than less colorful, lower antioxidant fruits and vegetables. Eating nutrient dense, high antioxidant foods like wild blueberries has been found to combat free radicals and prevent diseases aging, some types of cancer, and heart disease. This fruit has also been found to improve cognitive function. If you have disease prevention in mind, says EmpowHer, and you’re reaching for an apple or orange for breakfast, you may want to reach for blueberries or strawberries instead.

Reason #2. As He pointed out, we must eat variety, and the best fruit and veggie choices are those that span the color spectrum, including rich greens, deep blues, bright oranges and reds. Making a conscious decision to “eat across the rainbow” is important for food in general, and especially fruits and vegetables. And while we may agree on that, the fact is, focusing on broad fruit and vegetable servings without digging deeper into nutritional quality can lead to deficits and less effective disease prevention. Not making an effort to eat specific types of fruits and vegetables that provide the highest nutritional value can lead to eating only those we love or are used to, or those that stretch the budget more effectively. That can often mean missing out on valuable nutrients, antioxidants, phytochemicals, and vitamins that are crucial to our health. That tomato sauce has valuable lycopene, but that’s just a piece of the puzzle. Those potatoes are potassium-rich and full of vitamins, but their value can be negated by portion size and preparation.

Reason #3. One reason to choose your fruits and veggies carefully is that high Glycemic Index foods should be eaten in moderation (or paired with other things that have a low GI.) The Glycemic Index ranks foods according to its effect on blood glucose levels, and some fruits and vegetables may score higher on the GI scale. For optimum health, especially for those people with diabetes and weight concerns, we must understand glycemic measurements, obtain a list of foods and their Glycemic Index scores, and eat accordingly.

Reason #4. For some dried fruit, fruit juices, or fruits with additives, the nutritional benefits are outweighed by high calorie or sugar content. The truth is, not all fruits and vegetables are created equal, and weighing your food choices carefully – even when it comes to fruits and vegetables – makes good, healthy sense.

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Did You Know? Antioxidants combat inflammation in the body which prevents diseases like cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s, and provide major anti-aging and disease preventing benefits.Wild blueberries top the list of health promoting properties over most other fruits. Read the latest news about how blueberries, especially wild blueberries, protect the body.

Are you filling up on the healthiest foods? See what superfoods will change your life.

Are You Maxing Out Your Fruits & Veggies?

6 Ways to Strrrrretch Their Nutritional Value

It’s the stuff of late-night commercials: What if we could max out on nutrition without maxing out on food? With food prices on the rise and fruit and vegetable serving requirements firmly set in stone, extracting the most nutrition and disease prevention from our food purchases is just good sense. The key is to make the nutrients we are already eating go the extra mile. Is it possible to put the stretch on nutritional value?

It’s no dietary miracle, but we found a few legitimate ways to get more super in our superfoods and squeeze more health from our healthy eating. So go ahead –max out, don’t pig out. Here’s how:

1. Go ahead — cook it a little.

While we tend to think of raw foods as the most nutritious, it’s not always the case. Carrots and tomatoes seem to be the exception: gently cooking them actually allows more nutrients to be released, turning golden veggies nutritional gold. While a sliced tomato can appear to make the perfect nutritional plate, cooking tomatoes, as with sauces, is actually better: it breaks down the cell walls making those beneficial vitamins and phytochemicals more easily available for absorption by the body, and it increases the level of lycopene — an antioxidant thought to help prevent certain types of cancer, heart disease, and vision loss.

Boil your carrots? Simmer your tomatoes? Crush your garlic? You can find these and some other under-the-radar tips to Boost Your Veggie Power to get the best nutritional bang from famously healthy foods.

2. Chop it up.

While keeping food intact before you prepare it is the best advice (resist the urge to pre-slice or chop for convenience), chopping at the time of preparation can help maximize the absorption of carotenoid nutrients, like those found in carrots. Research indicates that chopping or grating breaks down the plant material: the smaller the particle size, the better the absorption of beta-carotene. That goes for squash, kale, and sweet potatoes too, all great beta-carotene delivery systems.

3. Get the Skin(ny).

Even the grape-peeling diva Mae West would balk at a request to peel a wild blueberry. Just as well, since their skins are a must-eat: their high skin-to-pulp ratio is what makes them an antioxidant powerhouse! But when it comes to fruit, some skins are quick to be removed for easy snacking; veggies like eggplant, cucumbers, radish – even potatoes – are often stripped for cooking. In most cases, resist the urge to peel – the skins hold the nutrients, especially when they are dark in color.

In fact, some nutritional information suggests that even the seemingly non-edible skins of fruits like bananas or kiwi can help combat cancer—and that dumping the stalk and the core of foods means missing out on prevention properties that could be better in our bodies. Here’s the scoop on how to eat the nutrient-dense skins of some unlikely foods.

Of course, anticipating eating the skins of fruits and veggies is another good reason to choose organic produce. But be sure to wash fresh fruits and vegetables carefully before cooking and eating either way.

4. Use your fresh, or make use of frozen.

It’s a fact of life: time is the enemy. Produce that is sitting in your refrigerator is being drained of its nutrients. What’s more, food that sits on trucks during transport and then on grocery store shelves are no less susceptible to this nutritional leakage. The solution? Buy produce as fresh as possible and consume it soon afterward. But if going fresh is just frustrating, there’s another alternative for preserving nutritional value: IQF freezing of fruits and veggies preserve all the nutrients of fresh until the moment you want to use them, with no waste. And, they are frozen at their peak, which means no sitting on trucks or shelves – it gives your the best nutrition for your buck and the ultimate convenience.

Did you also know that serving foods promptly is the best way to get the most nutrition? The longer they stand, the more nutrients are lost.

5. Find your superfood’s sidekick.

Ready for an anti-anti-fat tip you can get behind? Research suggest that adding a little fat to your tomatoes helps absorption of nutrition. To get the most out of a tomato and boost your lycopene intake, you need only drizzle it with a little olive oil, or add an avocado. It might be nice to know you can forget the low-fat dressing – it’s the fat you need to enhance your plate!

The power of combining food doesn’t stop at the tomato. Certain food pairings provide more nutritional benefits and fight disease. The idea is to find the food combinations that create synergy and maximize nutrition benefit. These ideas from CBS.com present some dynamic duos that up the nutritional content. Tasty suggestions include spinach salad with mandarin oranges and fresh squeezed lemon dressing (an iron-vitamin C combo), and red wine sangria with mango and kiwi (it’s a combination of resveratrol and vitamin E).

You can find out more about synergistic foods for optimum health from our previous post, Food Synergy: Nature’s Meal Plan where we give you the background on these nutritional allies.

6. Avoid cooking culprits.

It comes as no surprise that frying food is a way of negating nutritional value. Deep frying causes continuous oxidation of oil, and that is a source of free radicals, those black hat agents that wreak havoc on healthy cells. Protective antioxidants, whether in the food or the oil, are depleted during the process of oxidation, so the benefit is lost, even for vegetables.

The best cooking method to preserve nutrients? Steaming, of course. It preserves both flavor and nutrients. Stir-frying, microwaving, broiling and high-temperature roasting are also good options, with boiling being a nutrient obliterator. (The microwave is sometimes blamed for taking the nutrients out of food, but it may be the water they are cooked in – no evidence yet suggests it’s the microwave itself.)

Eager to max out on health? While integrating these health-enhancing ideas can help put the super in your superfoods, our best advice is not to worry how you’re eating your fruits and veggies, as long as they end up on your plate.

The American Plate

Rethinking It Can Change Your Health & Your Life

by Ronmerk

Why rethink the plate? Focusing on the plate means focusing on something concrete. Our health is not about abstractions like calories, pyramids, and nutritional labels, but about what is actually on that circular piece of pottery directly under our faces.Whether its paper, porcelain, or in the shape of a Chinese take-out container, the plate is essential to our eating. It holds our food, and in some cases, literally guides us. Through regular, realistic consideration of our plate, we can cut carbs, increase veggie intake, reduce calories, increase nutritional value and prevent and manage disease.

It’s time to think critically about your serving vessel. Actually looking down at the food you are eating can be an education in portion, color, and origin that can lead you down a road lined with nutritional gold. Here are four ways of rethinking, retooling and re-appreciating your plate.

The Better Plate

For most of us, a better plate means understanding “portion distortion” traps. For example, to help keep portions in check, WebMD shows us that a serving of mashed potato should be the size of a light bulb and a tablespoon of mayo is the size of a poker chip, and such visual renderings can be a wake up call. That a muffin can be four serving sizes and a large soda can be at least two is something that goes unnoticed with mindless eating and eating on the run. There are plenty of ideas for helping to keep us honest when it comes to portions, like these ideas from MSNBC that include breaking down leftovers, or divvying up purchases of snack foods before the mindless eating hits that can turn bowls bottomless.

Another popular way to achieve potion control is putting the shrink on the crockery itself. Research indicates that smaller dinner plates actually translate into smaller meals without affecting satisfaction. It makes sense—calories saved when your plate goes from 12 to 9 inches can add up over time, and studies show we eat what’s in front of us regardless of our appetite. One portion control tip famously put into practice by the reputedly thin French is leaving food on the plate, something best practiced when dining out. “Cleaning the plate” is an antiquated maxim of misdirected moms, not for the nutritionally conscious that can see when their devotion to moderation is being compromised. Leave it – Mom won’t mind. A few bites can save 100 calories; leaving a quarter of your meal can save 500.
In a supersize world, understanding portions can be an important epiphany, but there are other ways to assess a plate that don’t involve portions. It has to do with the origins of the foods we are eating. What part of your plate has a local origin? What part is farm raised? What is organic and what is processed? How far did it travel and who prepared it? The What’s On Your Plate project addresses some of these critical questions through the eyes of two eleven-year-olds from New York City as they go on a quest to understand what’s on all of our plates.

The Divided Plate

We have the Swedes to thank for introducing us to The Plate Method, a simple eating system that was developed for the treatment and prevention of diabetes and also has weight loss benefits. Another method that focuses on serving sizes, it aims to simplify the eating life for those managing diabetes. By focusing only on sizes and categories of servings, originators of the Plate Method contend that healthy eating will follow.

The method works by dividing a 9-inch plate into sections that can be devoted to non-starch veggies (half), a section devoted to lean meat, fish or chicken (a fourth), and a section for bread, rice and noodles (a fourth). A half bowl of fruit and low-fat or skim milk can be added. Evidence shows it can help diabetes patients, and it can be a helpful, simple tool for those overwhelmed with a new diagnosis and need a plan but find it difficult to do it without help.

The New American Plate

According to the American Institute for Cancer Research, the key to healthy eating is all about the plate, not about pyramids. They urge a fresh way of the thinking when it comes to the plate, one termed The New American Plate. The New American Plate is meant to begin an evolution of the old American plate. You know the one – it features an oversize piece of protein and a giant lump of starch with a satellite of tiny veggies. This old plate has been serving up sizes well beyond those recommended by the USDA, and the growing portions are ready for a makeover. By using these guidelines, the AICR maintains that we can lower our cancer risk and manage weight at the same time.
The New American Plate includes guidelines for what percentage is filled by what food, and allows foods that pack the best nutrition punch to take over. It’s all about recognizing and using standard portions, not oversize ones. Meals are made up of 2/3 (or more) vegetables, fruits whole grains or beans, and 1/3 (or less) is made up of animal protein. Learn more about the New American Plate, at the AICR website.

The Colorful Plate

We know one of the tenets of nutrition is to put a rainbow on your plate. It seems that when it comes to a fashionable dinner plate, not-beige is the new black. Are the foods on your plate assuming a palette of beige and brown? That’s the color of meat and potatoes, and it could indicate your plate is out of style.

Just in time to help you start thinking about plate aesthetics, March is National Nutrition Month®. The theme this year is “Eat Right With Color”, and it’s meant to spread the word about naturally occurring colors in fruits and veggies that are packed with nutrition. The goal is to be mindful of what is on your plate for every meal of the day, and challenge yourself to brighten it up. You know the color run-down if you read this blog: blue foods are colored by natural plant pigments called anthocyanins; leafy greens have beneficial lutein, folate and vitamin B; orange and yellow foods contain beta-carotene; and reds – consider the nutritious tomato – are full of valuable lycopene. The broader your rainbow, the more nutrition and disease prevention you are putting in your body. Find out more about Eat Right with Color.

Time to improve your plate quotient? Whether you prefer a portion makeover to being origin conscious or you’re leaning toward a color overhaul, knowing your plate means coming to grips with what you choose to fill your nutritional tank. Being conscious of your crockery is the first step to rethinking your personal plate in a way that will last you a long, healthy lifetime.

Fruit Inspired International Fare

Colorful Plates for Every Meal of the Day

We are deep in the mid-winter doldrums and it’s the perfect time to check in on your nutrition.

Are you meeting your serving requirements for fruits and vegetables?

Have you been relying on a fruit cup as an afterthought to accompany a meal in an effort to meet your servings?

Worse yet, have you been thinking of blueberries and other fruits as simply a garnish rather than a valuable featured ingredient in your meals?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, it’s time to jolt your thinking from same-old to colorful-new.

We’ve highlighted the unusual and the exotic in recipes that take their inspiration from all over the globe to create nutritious and indulgent meals with an international twist. These recipes, some of which are new arrivals to WildBlueberries.com (recipe-central for unique, nutritious mealtime ideas), will jump start your mid-winter cooking ennui. They feature the powerfully antioxidant-rich wild blueberries (in addition to some other fruits and vegetables) in a way that showcases their versatility, color and palatability.

Starting with an all-American breakfast and ending with a captivating dessert from a country known for its extraordinary cuisine, we’ve constructed the ideal day of international wonders on a plate. All dishes are easy to make and feature real food, along with some underappreciated tastes. Of course, this is just and example of how you can infuse your meals with a little dynamism – search through other wild blueberry recipes by meal and occasion and fill your days with intercontinental delish.

Have a delicious trip!

Breakfast: Sweet Wild Blueberry Omelet Rolls

Start the day in the States! This is not your grandmother’s egg dish, but they are still quintessentially American. Farm-fresh eggs and wild blueberries from a Maine or Canadian barren come together to appeal to your early AM sweet tooth. It’s a unique take on a breakfast roll-up that gets your day going with a serving of fruit right from the starting line.

Lunch: Mini-Naans with Wild Blueberry Pear Marmalade

We love this Indian-inspired dish: Low-fat yogurt and a colorful pear and wild blueberry marmalade makes a wonderful light lunch or snack (perfect to follow a breakfast of satisfying omelet rolls) in conjunction with homemade min-naans (made ahead – there will be rising). It’s a perfectly on-trend dish, as naan is a popular side or pizza foundation for those who love it and want to save calories (they can run under 100, depending on the size).

Snack: Kumara Crisps with Wild Blueberry Vanilla Chili Marmalade

Discover New Zealand’s sweet potato – a bright yellow gem from down under, it is known to be rich in antioxidants and high in vitamins, and it provides a nutritionally-rich snack in salads and as a side. This unique recipe, which requires peeling, slicing and frying (or baking), satisfies a need for chips in a delicious new way, especially when paired with a yogurt-based dip.

Salad: Quinoa Salad with Wild Blueberries

Quinoa, with its South American origins, is the food of the moment, lauded for its nutritive value. It enlivens this salad recipe which ends in an geographically eclectic mash-up thanks to the inclusion of zucchini and complement of Havarti and baguette. Say si, oui or you betcha to this healthy, hearty, veggie-rich salad with a zing of blue.

Dinner: Tandoori Chicken Sticks with Wild Blueberry Fig Sauce

Figs get there due in this light-fare recipe and make an ideal fruit combo in a dish that takes us East. This is an easy, low-fat entrée that wakes up dull chicken by skewering and bathing it in healthy, vibrant fruit.

Beverage: Wild Blueberry Caipirinha

Looking for a Brazilian kick? Look no further than a Wild Blueberry Caipirinh. Leveraging the health benefits of wild blueberry juice (not to mention the taste) with the exotic cachaça, a Brazilian liquor popular in tropical drinks, this cocktail is a fun, colorful way to start a special meal. At 180 calories, it’s a special addition to a diet built on moderation, not deprivation.

Dessert: Wild Blueberry Mascarpone Semifreddo

For dessert, head to Italy with a gorgeous, indulgent semifreddo awash in bright color. With a hint of chocolate, a generous helping of marscapone, and garnished with pistachios, wild blueberries and mint, this dessert takes fruit to a whole new level of amazing. What a way to kick off a color-inspired, transnational meal!

Find more recipes for breakfast, snacks, entrées, drinks and desserts that include wild blues and array of colorful fruits and ingredients.

Study Finds More is Better for Heart Health

A heartening new study for those concerned with cardiovascular health made news this week. The study from University of Oxford found that those who consumed eight or more servings of fruits and vegetables per day were 22% less likely to die from heart disease than those who consumed three or fewer servings.

The research all but turns the fruit and veggie mantra from mythical home remedy to scientifically proven health advice, especially when it comes to the heart. According to the report, on the strength of the study doctors reportedly feel, “it may erase and remaining doubts concerning fruits and veggies, and cardiovascular health.”

Add a Serving, Reduce Your Risk

While the recommendation is for eight servings, researchers have shown that every serving of fruits and vegetables above three reduces the risk of dying of heart disease by 5%. It’s an encouraging aspect of the research for those who feel overwhelmed by the recommendation of eight servings a day. While eight may seem like a lot, the bottom line is: more is better. And, what some of us may not know is that three ounces of fruit is a serving, so eating a large apple, orange, banana, or 3/4 of a cup of blueberries means you’ve knocked two servings off your list, making eight a little more achievable.

As one report points out, even diet organizations like Weight Watchers don’t count the calories from fruits and veggies – they are essentially free caloric intake. In addition, eating more fruits and vegetables probably means you are not eating those things that are detrimental to your health. These foods take up lots of room in your stomach, and the effect on weight can contribute to heart health as well.

There’s simply no downside to adding more fruits and vegetables to your diet. It’s a win-win no matter how you slice it, dice it, sprinkle it or peel it.

Watch the video and read the article about the connection between heart health and fruits and vegetables.

Do it for your heart! We’ve got 31 ways to get fruits and veggies into your diet.

New Heart Data “Scary & Disturbing”

Not meeting heart health criteria? Unfortunately, the chances are pretty good that you aren’t. Recent findings from the American Heart Association characterize the extent to which we are taking care of our hearts in pretty ugly terms. Following the presentation of the latest data at an annual meeting of the American Heart Association, an AHA spokesperson called the country’s success at meeting goals for heart health – goals that will save our lives – both scary and disturbing.

The AHA outlines seven steps to heart health (here from WebMD), and following most of these steps – the benchmark is six or seven – has shown in studies to decrease the risk of dying by 56%. These guidelines break it down into steps that help you get to know your digits – things like BMI, blood sugar and cholesterol – and get them into alignment for your heart’s sake. If you think you might be a grim statistic, now is not the time to be ashamed. Be motivated. Take a moment to get heavy on Life’s Simple Steps toward increasing your chances of living a longer, healthier life.

One the AHA’s seven steps toward protecting our heart is meeting requirements of a healthy diet. This important heart healthy step is broken down into these five components to make “healthy diet” a little less vague and more achievable:

Eat more than 4 1/2 cups of fruits and vegetables a day.
Have oily fish such as salmon, trout, and herring at least twice a week.
Eat sweets sparingly.
Have three or more servings of whole grains a day.
Eat fewer than 1,500 milligrams of sodium a day.

The AHA recommendations include meeting four of five of these keys to fulfill healthy diet requirements.

Simple principles for some pretty serious stuff. But we know simple isn’t always easy. If you feel like you’ve got to start from scratch when it comes to your heart, seven steps can seem like a lot. But remember, there is no reason not to start with one: the AHA reminds us that for every step we take, we’ve decreased our risk of dying by 18%.

Canadians Count to Ten for Health

Canadian food guidelines have been published, and Canada isn’t off the hook when it comes to getting their fruits and veggies. Recommendations for the amount of fruits and vegetables that Canadians should consume come in at 7-10 for adults. It’s in alignment with American guidelines, which represents a departure from the previous 5-A-Day campaigns of the past.

Winter is the perfect time to keep fruit and vegetable servings in mind – even with great opportunities in frozen, it’s the time of year that presents the most challenges when it comes to recommended servings. It seems that when the ground is frozen, the produce that comes from it just isn’t on our mind like it is in the summer. But it’s a mind set that’s easy to change; winter presents plenty of options. As the Canadian recommendations remind us, a single serving is one half cup of fresh, frozen, or canned fruit or vegetables, or one half cup of 100% juice. A cup of raw leafy vegetables or salad counts as a single serving, as does a single piece of fruit.

If you’re from the States, you can take a lesson from those just slightly North, offered up by Canadian Red Seal chef Gordon Desormeaux – that’s Chef Dez to you.

Chef Dez has some helpful advice about how to achieve the recommended servings. Here’s a great one: Get it in your cart. He suggests buying the recommended serving amounts for each member of your family for the number of days you are shopping for. For example, a family of four will need 84 servings of fruit and vegetables combined, for the next three days, based on an average of seven servings each. He suggests buying them before proceeding to the other departments and aisles, and building meals based on those initial selections. Keep items like bulk frozen fruits (think wild blueberries) on your shopping list that can be used whenever you need them.

Here’s a sampling of some other F&V tips we love from the Great White North to slip in your back pocket. Thanks Chef Dez.

Serve every piece of chicken or fish on a bed of sautéed spinach leaves.
Have fresh lettuce, tomato, and onions on hand at all times to give an instant Mediterranean flair to your sandwiches.
Buy something completely new to your family at least once per month.

Take Off! You can consult the Canada Food Guide for more information, no matter where you hang your hat.

Shake Baby Shake – For Your Heart!

So you’ve decided the risk of dying from heart disease is not one you are willing to take. You’ve decided to attack these seven steps from the AHA with a vengeance. You know your blood pressure numbers, you’ve quit smoking, you’re getting your exercise, and now you’re focused on maintaining a healthy diet.

Start by getting your servings. There are loads of ways to integrate the F and the V into your life. Here’s one we just heard about especially for the tech savvy that can curb your instinct for grabbing a “bad” snack when a better one will do – just shake it! JuggleFit is an app for iPhone and iPad created to help people beat holiday weight gain and start eating better by focusing on the array of possible snacks your can enjoy when cravings hit.

Here are the basics: shake your phone, and it turns into a virtual slot machine which eventually lands on one of 200 snacks or “mini-meals” that use three basic ingredients. All focus on the simple and the mostly healthy, whether you choose something sweet or something savory. Shake it up to find Greek yogurt, wheat germ and blueberries, or maybe avocado, lemon and garlic (recipes and calorie counts are included). It’s worth a try – JuggleFit is free now through December 12, and surrounding yourself with options that motivate you can start the snowball rolling toward reducing your chances of dying from heart disease. Simple as that.

A Month of Fruits & Veggies: Real Help for the Serving Impaired

Tired of chewing the same old carrot stick in order to get a serving of veggies into your day? We know the feeling: with daily recommendations of fruits and vegetables coming in at 1 to 2½ cups (depending on your age and gender) getting your daily servings can seem daunting. But keep the faith! With this Idea-a-Day list made for any month (start now, or hang it on your fridge for July) you’re guaranteed to find at least one new way of getting a daily serving every day of the month.

So ditch the bare celery sticks and start mixing it up. Try one new idea every day, or combine 2 or 3 ideas together with your own regular servings of fruits and veggies for a month of better health and disease prevention. (Feeding a family? Many are kid-friendly!)

Idea-a-Day: An Easy, Printable List for a Whole Month of Fruits & Veggies

Day 1: Start your day with a glass of juice.

Day 2: Pile lettuce leaves and tomato slices on your sandwich for lunch.

Day 3: Have slices of avocado with a half piece of pita bread for a snack.

Day 4: Add ½ cup salsa to a dinnertime baked potato.

Day 5: Munch a pear before going out to dinner (it will replace the “bread” course when you get there).

Day 6: Eat six strawberries for breakfast on yogurt or cereal.

Day 7: Eat fifteen grapes with lunch.

Day 8: Have four slices of onion (no deep frying) with dinner or a sandwich.

Day 9: Add a half of a baked sweet potato to your plate during dinner.

Day 10: Serve fresh berries topped with cream for dessert.

Day 11: Mix 100% fruit juice with club soda for a healthy soft drink.

Day 12: Send yourself a fruit basket at work for munching.

Day 13: Make a smoothie at home with bananas, blueberries and a little non-fat milk.

Day 14: Sprinkle ½ cup of wild blueberries on a salad.

Day 15: Put a colorful helping of wild blueberries on a piece of fish.

Day 16: Puree zucchini, peas and greens and add to marinara sauce.

Day 17: Add dried fruits to oatmeal. (Raisins count.)

Day 18: Serve apple sauce as a side dish at dinner.

Day 19: Freeze grapes and eat them as a cool snack.

Day 20: Eat a half of an avocado with lime juice and little salt for lunch (no dish necessary!).

Day 21: Throw in extra broccoli florets to dress up a green salad.

Day 22: Add a stash of frozen vegetables to canned or homemade soup.

Day 23: Buy frozen vegetable blends to steam in the microwave oven for quick side dishes.

Day 24: Top pizza with spinach, peppers, olives and tomatoes.

Day 25: Bake apples with cinnamon for a warm dessert.

Day 26: Combine apple slices with raw almonds or peanut butter as a mid-morning snack.

Day 27: Munch blueberries and nuts – synergy is the new caffeine!

Day 28: Have a bowl of snap peas ready for after-work crunching.

Day 29: Use about-to-be-tossed vegetables in a veggie stir-fry for dinner.

Day 30: Make delicious hummus or dip for an hors d’oeuvre – use the broccoli and the “sticks” as your delivery system and ditch the chips.

Day 31: Put chutney on your pork, duck or beef.

TELL US: Got your own favorite way to sneak the good stuff into your diet? We want to know!

Try the Fruit & Veggie Experiment

Try this experiment: Take a piece of paper and make three columns. In the first column, list the meals or snacks you ate yesterday. In the second, list the veggies or fruits (if any) that were part of each meal or snack. In the third, write what could have been included. Here’s a sample:

Then, put it into practice. Try sneaking in a fruit or veggie into as many meals or snacks as you can. This is not a suggestion to replace food (you can, but let’s start small). It’s a way for you to do one of the most powerful things you can do for your health: start getting your daily requirement of fruit and vegetables. It might be easier than you thought.

There are lots of ways to help you get your requirement. Here are 10 to get you started:

Add broccoli to your pasta dish
Ask for grilled asparagus with your entrée
Order a veggie sandwich or wrap
Thaw a serving of frozen fruit overnight for use the next day
Make low fat spinach dip on Friday night
Have a parfait for dessert
Have the roasted beet appetizer
Add two thick tomato slices to your sandwich
Serve your entrée or side on a bed of greens
Dress your salmon, tuna or chicken with wild blueberries

Trying the fruit and veggie experiment could change the way you look at food. It could even change your life.

The Mediterranean Diet & Stroke Connection: Incentive to Get Your Fruits & Veggies?

A new study out of Columbia University Medical Center reveals that adhering to the Mediterranean diet may help seniors avoid strokes, and ultimately dementia. A Mediterranean-like diet can lead to reduced strokes in the part of the brain that leads to reduced cognitive function in later years, according to the study. The Mediterranean diet focuses on eating whole grains and fruits and vegetables, and has been popular over the years for some of its delicious essentials, such as fresh food, seafood, olive oil, nuts – even wine.

This new connection to the Mediterranean diet to neurological disorders is good news, but whether or not we couch eating low fat foods of high nutritional value in “diet” terms, the need for getting fruits and veggies is crucial at a time when their absence in the American diet is clear. Fruit and vegetable consumption has always been low, but today, some nutritionists consider the current climate a “perfect storm” against good nutrition. The nutritional data indicate only 33% of Americans eat the recommended servings of fruit, and 27% eat the recommended amount of vegetables. And, these are benchmarks that should be attainable. They are not, for instance, for every person to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables. In fact, national objectives require 75% of Americans to eat only two or more daily servings of fruits and vegetables – and no state has met this requirement.

There is no reason not to eat healthy food. What we eat is directly related to diseases of aging like heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, Alzheimer’s and other dementias, and some cancers. Plus, a poor diet will show up in energy levels, concentration, poor dental health and susceptibility to viruses and infections. However, fast food availability and advertising for highly processed, low nutrient foods has contributed to this perfect nutritional storm and has led to skyrocketing rates of obesity, which aggravates every disease of aging.

Will the latest news of the benefits of the Mediterranean diet do anything toward turning the raging tides? Anything that puts the focus on the needs of fruits and veggies in the diet is a positive step. But it will take efforts toward affordability, availability and education to calm the gale-force winds of this nutritional storm.

Take the poll below and see where you stand when it comes to getting your fruits and veggies. Then, go to Fruits and Veggies Matter to find out how many fruits and vegetables your body needs.