Fruit And Vegetables In Your Healthy Diet

Fruit and (non-starchy) Vegetables

The main purpose of food in a healthy diet is to provide necessary substances for the body to keep itself fit and efficient. The body will stay healthy if the supply of protein and starch in the diet is adequate, and that of nutrients in the diet (vitamins, minerals, trace elements and enzymes) is plentiful.

The cause of widespread ill-health in the West (especially with age) is that too little attention is paid to the nutrient content of our diet - which is maximised by eating plenty of healthy vegetables and fruit; and too much attention is paid to the quantity of protein or calories consumed.

If your healthy diet includes a large proportion, and a good variety, of foods which are nutrient-rich - fruit and vegetables - then the diet will almost certainly contain enough protein and calories.

Eating too many calories in the diet is extremely common and is not healthy, contributing to an overweight condition in many people. Eating too few calories, on the other hand, is very rare in anyone eating reasonable amounts of food in their diet.

Nutrient-Rich Foods In A Healthy Diet
Fruit and non-starchy vegetables contain a large quantity and variety of nutrients. These are the foods which must comprise the greater part of a healthy diet. The larger the number of different fruits and vegetables in your diet, the more healthy it will be and the easier it will be to meet our nutritional needs.

By eating salad daily in the diet, it is quite possible to eat 8-10 different vegetables and fruits during the course of a day. This is very healthy. This may sound a large numbert, but it is usual to have moderate amounts of four, five or more vegetables in one salad alone. If, in addition to this, you are 'sprouting' healthy and nutritious seeds and beans, (a great addition to a healthy diet) these can be added to the salad giving, perhaps, eight or more healthy vegetables in just one salad.

Once fruit and vegetables from your healthy diet have been eaten, chewed and digested well, plentiful vitamins, minerals and trace elements are absorbed into the blood stream, with a very healthy result.

Sources Of Fruit And Vegetables
Foods freshly picked from the garden are ideal for our healthy diet; but few of us have the luxury of our own well-stocked vegetable patch. Supermarket 'fresh' foods are reasonable - but be aware that they may be 6 months old or more thanks to modern storage methods. However, these foods are probably richer in nutrients than tinned or frozen vegetables and fruit and so need to form part of a healthy diet for most of us.

Raw vs. Cooked Food In Your Healthy Diet
Any form of cooking will destroy some nutrients. So, the aim should be to eat as much fruit and as many vegetables as possible raw in our diet, or with only minimal cooking. Salads should be an everyday part of a healthy diet.

A very few people may find that raw foods really do not suit them and so should not be part of their diet - or only a small part. For example, those with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) may find that raw foods are unsuitable. In these cases, it may be possible to introduce raw foods to the diet slowly, preferably together with measures to treat the underlying condition. Professional help will probably be beneficial.

A few other people are not suited constitutionally to having raw foods in their diet. They just do not feel good when eating too many of them. It may still be possible to eat raw foods in the diet, but the proportion of raw to cooked will be lower. A small mixed salad can be eaten with a cooked meal containing plenty of lightly cooked non-starchy vegetables, for example. For most people, though, the 'raw is best' principle is best for a really healthy diet.

Super Nutrient-Rich Foods To Supplement The Diet
Certain foods are extra-rich in nutrients, and including these in the diet will make it extra healthy. Some of these are: aprouts, juices, and natural supplements.

Sprouts: An easy-to-produce and healthy supplement to anyone's diet is to grow sprouted seeds, grains and pulses in the kitchen. These are cheap, highly nutritious, and convenient.

If you ever make too many sprouts to be able to eat them raw, they can be eaten lightly steamed, or added to a stir-fry, casserole or stew near the end of cooking.

Juices: Fruit and vegetable juices are also very rich in nutrients and so tremendously healthy. Fresh juices can be prepared if you have a juicer. Include juices in your diet every day.

Bottles or cartons of fruit and vegetable juices are very nutritious, though not as high in nutrient content as freshly-extracted juice, so not quite so healthy. Drink a variety of juices for maximum nutrition. A litre of juice provides the equivalent of a good snack, and is healthy compared to many other snacks.

If you want to buy a juicer, here is a website which shows the various features of juicers on the market:

http://www.discountjuicers.com/juicers.html

A UK supplier of some juicers:

http://www.wholisticresearch.com/shop/home/

Supplements: Certain supplements supply high amounts of nutrients naturally, rather than in the chemical form which multi-mineral/vitamin tablets provide. The natural supplements are of a lower quoted potency than most mineral/vitamin tablets, but as they are much more readily absorbed, they can provide a similar benefit. They are a great daily addition to your healthy diet - alternative between them and try to include some regularly in yoru diet.

Examples of these natural supplements are:

• Wheat grass
• Chlorella
• Spirulina, and
• Barley grass

These supplements are rather like concentrated and nutritious green vegetables and supplement a healthy diet well. Being dried, they are not as rich in nutrients as the fresh product would be. But they are still healthy, and are very convenient.

Seaweed can also be included as a supplement to your healthy diet. It can be found in shops as a snack, and is very nutritious.

The next page considers Starch and Protein

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