Viva Vitality: Eat more vegetables and fruits

By Julia Rowland on October 11, 2024.

Vegetables and fruits are full of nutrients that help our bodies stay in good health. Choose different textures, colours and shapes to fit your tastes. Vegetables and fruits have fibre and potassium. These nutrients help lower blood pressure and your risk of heart disease and stroke. Getting enough fibre has also been shown to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, obesity, colorectal cancer and other bowel issues.

Canada’s food guide recommends that half of what you eat at each meal should be vegetables and fruits. Depending on how often and how much vegetables and fruits you currently eat, this may feel like a big change. Luckily, any increase in consumption of fruits and vegetables can have health benefits. Small but long-lasting changes to your diet including increasing how much vegetables and fruits you eat has a big impact on your health.

Here are some ways you can include more vegetables and fruits in your meals and snacks:

– Keep frozen and canned vegetables and fruits in your house when possible. This can make it easy to add vegetables and fruits to meals and snacks. Add frozen vegetables into soups and stews or add canned vegetables to mixed dishes like casseroles. Frozen and canned fruit is great for adding to smoothies, to snack on by itself or in yogurt.

– Plan how you are going to use your produce before buying it. By creating a plan, you will be more likely to use the vegetables and fruit which means eating more and wasting less. If you have extra fresh produce, you can cut it up, put it in a freezer safe container and freeze the produce before it goes bad.

– Try unsweetened applesauce or fruit cups in your lunches. These travel well and don’t bruise.

– Keep washed and sliced carrots, celery, peppers, zucchini or cucumber in the fridge for a quick snack or to add to a lunch bag.

Try new ways to cook and use vegetables and fruits. Trying new seasonings, cooking methods or types of vegetables and fruits can help keep your meals interesting. You may find a new way you can enjoy them.

Julia Rowland is a registered dietitian with Alberta Health Services, Nutrition Services. Learn more at ahs.ca/nutrition.