on Dec 5th, 2009A simple way to get your 5 a day!
We all know we need to be eating our 5 portions of fruit and veg a day, but how many of us really do? And even for those of us that are, how can we be sure that our nutrition is varied enough?
Ask any nutritionist and they will tell you that when it comes to optimum nutrition… colour is king. The more varied the colour in your diet, the greater your vitamin, phytochemical and nutrient intake.
With this in mind, there is a simple system to ensure you are getting enough colour in your diet…
Introducing the traffic light system!
- Eat one or two portions of RED fruit / veg a day
- Eat one or two portions of AMBER fruit /veg a day
- Eat one or two portions of GREEN fruit / veg a day
The REDS- beetroot, cherries, cranberries, pomegranate, radishes, raspberries, red apples, red grapes, red onion, red peppers, rhubarb, strawberries, tomatoes, watermelon.
The AMBERS- apricots, bananas, carrots, grapefruit, mango, nectarines, oranges, papaya, peaches, pineapple, satsumas, sweet corn, sweet potato, tangerines, pumpkins, yellow peppers.
The GREENS- apples, asparagus, broccoli, celery, courgettes, green peppers, honeydew melon, kiwi fruit, leafy greens, limes, olives, passion fruit, pears, peas, spinach, sprouts.
And to really boost your nutrient intake try to add a portion of…
The PURPLES & BLUES - blackberries, blueberries, blackcurrants, dates, egg plant, figs, plums, prunes, purple cabbage, purple sprouting.
Making sure you eat it…
How many times have you seen your beautiful, full fruit bowl wither and die before your eyes? Too many! Why? Because fruit and veg just hasn’t got that “EAT ME NOW!” factor like chocolate or biscuits. If you are going to get that fruit into you diet you need to adopt the right mindset.
Don’t think “I’ll have a piece of fruit when I’m peckish”, it just won’t happen. You need to think “by the end of today I need to have eaten my traffic light!”. Challenge yourself to eat better, plan your meals and make sure you have access to it.
Liam – everythingZing.com
A lot of people don’t realize that you have to eat your vegetables to get you nutrients. Most people just don’t like the taste of vegetables, but ounce you get used to them they are not that bad.
I talked to a nutritionist before and he told me the same thing, the more color the better. I really like to season them up real good with different spices to give it a little kick.
@Patrick
Getting a variety of fruit and veg into your diet is an absolute must for heatlh, wellbeing and supporting your training goals. People who don’t like the taste of fruit and veg just have to suck it up and take them like medicine!
Spices are a great idea for improving the taste of veg, and for those who don’t like fruit try either smoothies or mixing the fruit with yoghurt.
Another tip for those who’ll eat fruit but not veg is to drink it! I’m not a fan of eating greens but I’ll happily drink them in a juice mixed with apple or pineapple and not even taste them. Invest in a good quality juicer such as the Philips Wide chute juicer – the good housekeeping best buy about £50+ from amazon – it comes with a free book by Jason Vale the juice master which has quite a few really good juice recipes that taste delicious and sweet despite being mega healthy! While I don’t go along with everything Mr Vale has to say it’s much better to be juicing than doing nothing – all you lose with juice is some of the fibre unlike cooking which can destroy enzymes and vitamins and cause minerals to be lost to the water.