5 Fabulous Tips for Fruits and Vegetables
Eating fruits and vegetables is one of the best ways to maintain good health. Fruits and vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet. They contain vitamins, phytochemicals, and minerals that can protect your body from diseases like diabetes, cancers, and heart diseases. Ideally, you should consume five kinds of vegetables and two kinds of fruits each day.
People are shifting to fruit and vegetable snacks instead of fast food and candy bars. It is essential to understand the nutritional value of the foods you are eating to get the most benefits. Many people follow the rule of including at least five servings of fruits and vegetables in their daily diet. Be sure to include a variety of fruits and vegetables instead of sticking to only specified varieties.
Understanding the nutrient value of each fruit and vegetable can help you develop healthy food choices. Some common vegetables and fruits that may be included in your diet are corn, iceberg lettuce, potatoes, apples and bananas.
These are nutritious but you should also eat others for added nutritional benefits. Eating fruits and vegetables rich in vitamin A, beta-carotene, vitamin C and fiber can help your body to guard you against numerous diseases.
It may be confusing when you try to make a good choice of fruits or vegetables for your consumption.
The following 5 Fabulous Tips for may help you make great choices of fruits and vegetables for your daily consumptions:
(I) Include at least one orange and one dark green vegetable to your daily diet to get some vitamin A and folate.
Orange vegetables include squash, carrots, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, or yams. You can substitute orange-colored fruit for an orange vegetable though the amount of vitamin A will, of course, vary.
Orange colored fruits include cantaloupes, nectarines, mangos, papaya, apricots, and peaches. Dark green vegetables include dandelion greens, broccoli, arugula, chard, mustard greens, collards, spinach, kale or romaine lettuce.
(II) Do not compromise on your nutrition even when you are short on time.
Pre-bagged vegetables, like leafy greens, baby carrots or green beans can be easily prepared for a salad or tossed for a quick stir-fry.
(III) Frozen or canned vegetables have some nutritional value but fresh is usually considered the best choice.
Frozen foods retain most of their nutrients.
Select only canned vegetables with low sodium content. Or, you can drain these vegetables to lower their salt and sodium content.
When choosing frozen fruit packed in juice, select unsweetened frozen fruit. Fruits in sugar syrup contain more calories.
Other fruits are sometimes packed in pear juice because it is sweeter than many other fruit juices.
(IV) Choose vegetables and fruits over just buying juices.
Fruits and vegetables eaten whole contain more fiber and help with easier digestion.
An occasional vegetable juice drink may be beneficial. However, avoid vegetables juices with high salt content.
Choose 100% fruit juices over fruit-flavored drinks. “Fruit juice drinks”, (they may contain very low amounts of the actual juice), cocktails or punches.
(V) Choose vegetables and fruits prepared with little or no added fat, sugar or salt. Some products, like vegetable chips, ketchup, fruit candies, fruit jams or spreads and vegetable or fruit drinks or punches may have a high level of sugar or salt. It is best to avoid these foods. Also, avoid poutine, French fries, zucchini sticks, tempura, and onion rings if you can get, for instance, a baked sweet potato or potato or have a plate of salad instead.
To find out more fabulous information about how to incorporate a healthy lifestyle with more fruits and vegetables order your copy of Fabulous Fruit and Vegetables today.
How to Buy Fruits and Vegetables on a Budget
Eating fruits and vegetables is one of the best ways to maintain good health. Fruits and vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet. They contain vitamins, phytochemicals, and minerals that can protect your body from diseases like diabetes, cancers, and heart diseases. Ideally, you should consume five kinds of vegetables and two kinds of fruits each day.
Doctors and health practitioners recommend increasing the fruit and vegetable servings at your table. But, it sometimes proves difficult on your household budget to purchase increased amounts of vegetables and fruits.
These tips can help you to fit a variety of vegetables and fruits within your existing household budget with some planning and foresight.
If you live near a farm, purchase your weekly supply of fruits and vegetables from the farmer. Alternatively, you can plan your shopping for the end of market day.
Normally, vendors prefer selling their wares at discounted prices at the end of the market day rather than taking the leftover produce back home.
Always buy the seasonal produce of fruits and vegetables. These are comparatively cheaper than out of season produce. Clementines or tiny tangerines are cheaper during Christmas while pears and apples are cheaper during the fall.
Some farms offer sale of produce through a program called Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Pay the annual fee up-front to become a member of this program.
You may then receive boxes of the growing produce regularly, such as every week.
Most grocery stores offer weekly sales. Try purchasing only the fruits and vegetables available on this sale list to benefit from the discounted prices or through special rebates available on this produce. You get to enjoy a variety of fruits and vegetables without it being a burden on your budget.
Another way of saving on grocery budget is to make bulk purchases. Most wholesalers offer heavy discounts if you purchase fruits and vegetables in bulk. Go shopping with a neighbor or a friend and split your purchases. You get to enjoy various fruits and vegetables at much lower prices.
Frozen fruits and vegetables are sometimes cheaper than fresh vegetables and fruits. Many are under the wrong impression that frozen fruits and vegetables are low on nutrients. The nutrient value is claimed to remain much the same in frozen and fresh fruits and vegetables.
When choosing and buying frozen fruits, it is best to go for store brands. Most stores run sales most of the time when you may get your stock of vegetables and fruits at nominal costs.
Sometimes, it may be best to get frozen fruits and vegetables if they are not grown locally and have to be shipped from great distances.
If you purchase both frozen and fresh produce, make sure that you use your fresh produce earlier than the frozen ones. Frozen ones will stay good for a much longer period than the fresh fruits and vegetables.
Another way of saving on your grocery budget is to buy fruits and vegetables and chop it yourself instead of purchasing pre-chopped vegetables.
Purchase vegetables without any seasonings like salt, butter, or sauces. It is always best to add all seasonings just before you have your meal, or according to your taste.
It therefore is not any extra burden use these tips to include more vegetables and fruits in your diet.
Just plan carefully and make your purchases accordingly to get the best out of every dollar you spend on your fruits and vegetables.
To find out more fabulous information about how to incorporate a healthy lifestyle with more fruits and vegetables order your copy of Fabulous Fruit and Vegetables today.
The Color Food Guide for Fruits and Vegetables
Eating fruits and vegetables is one of the best ways to maintain good health. Fruits and vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet. They contain vitamins, phytochemicals, and minerals that can protect your body from diseases like diabetes, cancers, and heart diseases. Ideally, you should consume five kinds of vegetables and two kinds of fruits each day.
Some people claim that some of the benefits of certain foods may be indicated by their color. I have not researched this for proof, so I just include this information as a theory and no more than that.
(a) Red colored Fruits and Vegetables
Red colored fruits and vegetables are claimed to be good for your heart.
Some of these fruits and vegetables contain lycopene and anthocyanins which some people claim may have anti-aging and cancer protecting properties.
Red-colored fruits and vegetables are also promoted by some people as having properties that may improve your memory and help to some extent with the incidence and effects of urinary tract infections.
Red-colored fruits include cranberries, cherries, red grapes, raspberries, red pears, watermelon, pomegranates, strawberries, pink or red grapefruit, and beets.
Red-colored vegetables include red peppers, tomatoes, red radishes, radicchio, red leaf salad, fresh rhubarb, red-skinned potatoes and red onions.
(b) Green colored Fruits and Vegetables
Green colored vegetables and fruits may aid in easy digestion and allow for better absorption of vitamins and nutrients.
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These fruits and vegetables are rich in lutein and indoles, which some people say make them great antioxidants. They contain vitamins that may help to build your bones and maintain the quality of your eyesight.
Green colored fruits include green grapes, green apples, honeydew melons, kiwifruit, green limes, green pears, and artichokes.
Green colored vegetables include broccoli, Chinese cabbage, green beans, celery, brussel sprouts, green cabbage and asparagus.
(c) Yellow colored Fruits and Vegetables
Yellow or orange-colored fruits and vegetables are claimed by some to be rich in vitamin C which may improve your body’s immune system, lower the risk of some cancers, safeguard your vision and help with some of the effects of natural aging problems. Some of these fruits and vegetables contain antioxidants, bioflavonoids, phytochemicals and carotenoids.
Yellow colored fruits include yellow apples, cantaloupe, yellow figs, tangerines, grapefruit, cape gooseberries, lemons, oranges, mangos, nectarines, papayas, yellow watermelon, pineapples, pears, apricots, golden kiwifruit and peaches.
Yellow colored vegetables include carrots, yellow peppers, yellow beets, pumpkin, yellow-skinned potatoes, butternut squash and persimmons.
(d) Purple or Blue-colored Fruits and Vegetables
Purple-colored vegetables are claimed by some to be very rich in antioxidants and contain large amounts of phytochemicals like
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phenolics and anthocyanins. These vitamins claimed by some to be help reduce cancer risks, improve your memory and keep your skin looking young and healthy for longer.
Purple-colored fruits include elderberries, purple figs, purple grapes, dried plums, raisins, and Quetch plums.
Purple-colored vegetables include purple asparagus, purple cabbage, eggplant, and purple carrots.
(e) White colored Fruits and Vegetables
White colored fruits and vegetables claimed by some to reduce cholesterol levels and prove beneficial for your heart.
White colored fruits include white peaches, bananas and white nectarines.
White colored vegetables include ginger, garlic, mushrooms, cauliflower, Jerusalem artichokes, and onions.
To find out more fabulous information about how to incorporate a healthy lifestyle with more fruits and vegetables order your copy of Fabulous Fruit and Vegetables today.
Garden Planters – The Tips You Need To Know To Grow Vegetables In Them
If you’re itching to get your green thumb on, but want to do more than grow flowers, you should consider your own vegetable and fruit gardens. You may be thinking your backyard doesn’t have good enough soil to grow great vegetables and fruits. That may be true, but you still don’t have to give up. Instead, create a better yard, through garden planters.
You don’t want to pay a fortune to add layers of right topsoil to your whole yard when you really only need the richer soil in the specific places where the plants are going to be growing. You may not have done the research before, but it could be hundreds to thousands of dollars to have a complete layer of topsoil placed on your yard. So, why not just create smaller rich planting venues with garden planters?
Instead of trying to prepare a whole yard, you can decide where you want your garden to grow and put garden planters in the right formation. Then fill them with potting soil or topsoil that the plants will thrive in, and plant away.
If you really want to dress up your garden area, you can choose some of the more decorative garden planters out there. Some can go with the theme of your yard, being made to look like a number of animals outdoor scenery pieces that blend in with your natural backyard look. Others will look like they are finely sculpted pieces of stone that were meant to be in a statuary.
Not everyone wants that look through. Some want it to look like they planted their back yard with a very traditional and simple garden. Even if you don’t want to see the garden planters, you can still have them in the yard; you just need to make sure they are not visible. In this case you will want to get the simple and economical garden planters and bury them in the backyard, with the top right at the surface of the ground. Then you still have the same rich ground to plant in, but no evidence.
Another beneficial part of using garden planters is that you can be the envy of the neighborhood by having the first harvestable garden on the block. While they will think you put out a lot of money to have full grown plants imported, so you could drop them in the ground as soon as it was ready, you will know that you really started some of those garden planters early on in the pantry or another room in the house. It’s also nice to know that when you have a desire to do a little gardening that even Mother Nature and her freezing fury can’t stop you, you just need to relocate the already growing plants when the outside temperature is ready for them.
With the help of garden planters you’ll be able to enjoy gardening all year round and also reap the rewards of fresh fruits and vegetables on your dinner table.
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