Friday, July 13, 2007

Fruits are our friends (and veggies too!)

The new recommendation for an optimal healthy diet includes 5-8 servings of fruits and vegetables. I don't know about you, but that's kind of a tall order considering I tend to eat only three -- lunch, dinner and maybe a snack. I'm trying, but it means a change in eating habits.

Snacking is probably the easiest place to start changing our habits. I'm keeping more baby carrots around to munch on, which are very easy to grab and go. The key is to stock your fridge with the things you're supposed to eat, and have them ready to go when you need them. Costco sells a three-pack of organic veggie platters complete with organic Ranch dressing for only $9.99. I drag them out when I watch TV so I'll munch on those instead of M&Ms or chips.

Fruit is another handy thing to keep around. Right now it's summer and fruit is bountiful. Later on they'll be more scarce and expensive, so one way to stock up is to use your freezer. Strawberries, blueberries, and peaches all freeze well. I like to sclice up the strawberries and peaches into useable portions and put them into baggies in the freezer. Later on I can take them out and throw the frozen fruit into a blender to make a yummy fruit smoothie.

We tend to grab what's available and snack on that. If we can make sure we have the right sorts of snacks on hand, then we can help ourselves meet that goal of 5-8 servings a day!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Heck I was a vegetarian for 11 years and didn't eat that many servings of fruits and vegetables lol