Doctors Advice from Web Medical Doctor

Produce For Better Health recommends eating 5-A-Day for ongoing Good Health!

The "5 A Day for Better Health" Healthy Eating program, which is sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Produce for Better Health Foundation (PBH), is an easy way to remember how many servings of fruits and vegetables to eat every day.

Any fruit or vegetable: frozen, fresh, canned, dried fruit, or juice counts toward a serving. Refer to the Food Guide Pyramid section for recommended serving sizes of fruits and vegetables.

Eating from 5 to 9 servings a-day of plant foods may reduce your risk of cancer, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and macular degeneration. Fruits and vegetables are high in vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidants, and phytochemicals. The anti-oxidants and phyto-chemicals in certain fruits and vegetables are showing promising results towards preventing free radicals or cancer-causing agents from damaging cells.

How to add more Fruits and Vegetables to your Diet:

Easy ways to add more fruits and vegetables to your diet include the following:

• Drinking fruit or vegetable juice, or eating fruit cocktail with breakfast.
  
  
• Having a fruit salad, a piece of fruit, or baby carrots instead of potato chips with a sandwich.
  
  
• Having vegetable soup or a garden salad with low-fat dressing as an appetizer.
  
  
• Stocking up on dried, frozen, and canned fruits and vegetables.
  
  
• Setting fruits and vegetables in bowls in the kitchen, making them more visible.
  
  
• Having microwave vegetables with your dinner.
  
  
• Taking pre-washed cut snacks of fruit and vegetables with you to work or shopping.

Nutrition Tip: At your next visit to the super market, buy apples and carrots for snack foods instead of goodies like cookies and potato chips. For extra convenience, select pre-cut or individually packaged fruits and vegetables such as raw baby carrots, fruit cups, small boxes of raisins, or pre-bagged salads.

DESERTS

Top a cup of fruit-flavored yogurt with fresh sliced fruit

Cantaloupe and watermelon balls with chopped crystallized ginger in syrup

Baked apples or pears for a healthy but sweet treat

Sliced strawberries and raspberries sprinkled with balsamic vinegar and powdered sugar