Fruit & Veggie Tales

I often hear people say that they don't like eating fruits & veggies. More often than not it is the "taste" that they seem to have challenges with, and then there are a few people who simply don't know how to store or prepare fruits and vegetables so they don't buy them and thus, don't eat them. I wanted to share with you some of the reasons I am a huge advocate of making fruits and vegetables the basis of a healthy eating lifestyle.

Why do I absolutely LOVE fruits and vegetables?

They are packed with vitamins and minerals.

Fruits are a source of “healthy” carbohydrates, fiber, potassium, & numerous vitamins, namely Vitamin C – a powerful antioxidant, as well as many important phytonutrients.
Vegetables are truly nature’s vitamin powerhouse. Loaded with antioxidants, carotenes, phytonutrients, fiber & numerous vitamins & minerals that are health promoting & health protecting.

They are high in fiber.

Fiber is not a food group, but a component of many plant based foods. The great thing about fiber is that it cannot be broken down by the body and thus does not contribute calories when consumed. There are two types of fiber found naturally in foods – soluble and insoluble fiber and each are important to ingest daily. Dietary fiber can help stabilize blood sugar levels, lower blood cholesterol and help prevent heart disease, slow down digestion helping you feel fuller for longer, and fiber also promotes regularity and thus a healthy colon. The recommended daily intake of fiber is 25-35 gram/day for adults. Fiber sources are fresh fruits, vegetables, beans & legumes, & whole grains. Note: If you are not use to eating much fiber, increase your fiber intake gradually over a couple of weeks. This will allow your digestive system to gradually adapt to the bulk of the fiber, otherwise you may deal with some less than desirable digestive issues if you increase your fiber intake too much, too fast.

They are low in calories, big in volume.

When weight management and/or fat reduction is the goal then it is imperative to consume less calories than we expend in a day. Eating low calorie, bulky foods means we can eat a greater volume of food while consume relatively few calories. Fill up for less, what a bargain. For example, a base-ball size piece of fruit like an apple or orange is roughly 60 to 80 calories compared to eating 5 saltine crackers or 1 fig Newton for 60 calories.
Vegetables are especially low in calories, with the exception of the starchy vegetables like corn, peas & potatoes which actually have a composition more similar to grains. This means you can really eat as many vegetables as you want without risk of consuming too many calories. For example, 1 cup of cooked broccoli has only 50 calories, 1/3 of a medium cucumber has 25 calories, & 1 cup cooked green beans has 30 calories, and you can consume several cups of raw leafy greens for well under 50 calories.


They are portable, great eaten raw and often come in their own packaging.

We live in a very fast paced society and most people I consult with say that “time” is the number one challenge or obstacle to them eating healthfully. I hear “I don’t have time to cook, I don’t have time to shop, I don’t have time to sit down and eat a meal, I don’t have time to….and what is underlying is “My health, my physical & mental well-being is not a high enough priority for me to take the time from all the other activities I’m involved in to take care of me properly.” In the end, all those hours worked, all that money, all of the status symbols, and well-meaning activities will mean little to nothing if one is not healthy. Eating well and exercising does take a little investment of time, yet it doesn’t really take as much as most people may think. Having said all that, fruits and vegetables are great “On The Go” foods that require little to no preparation, and are great eaten raw. Items like fresh bananas, oranges, apples can be thrown in a bag, briefcase or purse without any special container or packaging – a great ready to eat snack anytime, anywhere.

They are colorful, versatile, and simple to prepare.

The more colorful the better. The rich, bright colors of many vegetables and fruits are an indicator of high nutrient content. Just for the fun of it take one day and eat nothing but bland color foods like oatmeal or cereal with milk, bread with peanut butter, baked or mashed potatoes, rice, white pasta, cauliflower, cottage cheese, nuts, popcorn, chicken or turkey, tuna, cod or halibut, etc. You'll come to truly appreciate and love eating colorful foods if nothing else, just for the visual stimulatoin. So eat a rainbow everyday. Fruits and vegetables can be eaten by themselves or as a side dish, put in casseroles, soups, stews, breads, hot and cold cereals, as a topping or garnish, added to yogurt, cottage cheese or put in a smoothie. They can be eaten raw, steamed, grilled, broiled, stir-fried, baked, cooked in the crockpot or pressure cooker, and even microwaved (although I'm not a big fan of microwave cooking). Be creative and find new ways to incorporate fruits and veggies into your meals & snacks.

They are inexpensive.

Fresh fruits and vegetables are so inexpensive. I remember going to the grocery store with my roommates in college, you know the typical poor, starving students grocery budget. My cart was loaded with fresh produce and theirs were usually full of packaged, processed foods and of course, junk food. I’d end up with 6 or 7 grocery bags of food and pay around $20-25. They’d have 2, maybe 3 bags of groceries and end up paying at least double what I did. Not only that, I rarely got sick so my medical bills and time off from school & work were almost non-existent. Eating more fruits and veggies is an often overlooked and very essential part of a proper financial plan as well as a health plan.


Training the Taste Buds

Now for those people that whine about hating the taste of fruits and veggies or who complain about their kids hating them, I am going to be honest and blunt. First of all, our dietary likes and dislikes are a learned, conditioned behavior. We don’t come out of the womb craving chocolate and cheese fries, and our kids don’t either. We, along with the powerful assistance of the media, train them and ourselves to only want fast food or junk food. The more often we eat a certain type of food, the more conditioned our bodies come to expect it, it is in our system, much like nicotine or alcohol works in the system of someone addicted to those substances. If you are addicted to fatty, sugary, salty foods, it can be overcome and typically with relative ease. The following exercises are key to creating a healthier nutrition plan that incorporates loads of healthy, disease fighting foods – FRUITS & VEGGIES!!!!!

Exercise 1:

If you are re-training yourself to like fruits and veggies. Simply start by re-programming your mind through the use of positive self-talk. I promise it works. Write yourself messages and post them where you’ll see them, tell yourself several times a day things such as:

I am a happy fruit and veggie eater.
I am building vegetable loving taste-buds.
Everyday I crave fruits and veggies.
Fruits & veggies are my friends.
Fruits & veggies are my favorite foods.


Exercise 2:

For those people who have a food jag – meaning there are only a very select few fruits and veggies you claim to like. This week eat 1 different type of fruit/veggie that you either have never tried before, or haven’t eaten in a very long time, or claim to hate since childhood. I encourage you to eat at least a small serving of it everyday for 1 week and see how you feel about that food after 7 days. You will most likely be very surprised at the end of the week. Remember our tastes are a trained conditioned behavior, we have trained our taste buds to love and crave – refined carbohydrates, sweets, salty & fatty foods. We can just as easily train our body to love and crave the healthy, nutritious foods that will improve and protect our health.


Exercise 3:

If you are currently not eating any fruits and veggies or very little. Then set an objective for the next 1 to 2 weeks to eat just 1 additional piece of fruit and 1 additional serving of vegetables (non-starchy vegetables) each day. Track this in your food journal and celebrate your win each day that you succeed. Once that becomes a natural way of eating, add 1 more serving of fruit and vegetables each day. Baby Steps…Baby Steps…Baby Steps.



May this be the healthiest week you’ve every had.

Your Healthy Lifestyle Mentor -- Melissa Guthrie