Nutrition Check: Celebrating fruits and vegetables

By Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN and Caroline Jury BS
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Let us rejoice National Fruits and Vegetable month by placing the rainbow on our plates. 

Both vegatables and fruits are wonderful sources of nutritional vitamins and minerals, fiber, and even water. Adding produce will make the plate extra colourful, add an incredible style, and supply extra well being advantages. The problem most people have lately is to get themselves and their households to eat these nutrient-dense meals. Here are some tricks to encourage them: 

1.  Be a superb instance. Both adults and youngsters be taught extra by observing their caregivers/friends; one other individual is extra more likely to eat them in the event that they see you having fun with vegatables and fruits.
2. If you’re taking your baby(ren) grocery purchasing, allow them to show you how to choose one or two greens or fruits for the week. This permits them to have shared choice making for meals and snacks that embody produce. It might take a bit longer than your ordinary grocery run, however it will give your baby(ren) a brand new appreciation of those wholesome treats.
3. Eating vegatables and fruits for snacks, why not? Some examples embody:
   1. Celery sticks, carrots, bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, squash slices or peas with pure peanut butter, hummus or a salad dressing of your alternative. To add some sweetness, add some raisins within the combine.
   2. Fruit slices or entire fruits (apples, bananas, avocado, mango, pineapple, papaya, melon)
4. Provide optimistic reinforcement by praising your baby, good friend, and relations once they eat fruit/greens, particularly if they fight one thing new. 
5. Try a brand new vegetable or fruit each time you go to the grocery retailer, or you can also make it one to 2 per week. Another possibility is to go to a non-chain grocery retailer to see what varieties it’s possible you’ll attempt. Some non-chain grocery shops embody worldwide markets (African, Caribbean, Spanish, Asian and many others.)

Exploring the totally different colours of vegatables and fruits is a wonderful approach to put the rainbow in your plate. It provides shade with a bonus of much-needed vitamins like nutritional vitamins and minerals to assist our our bodies be of their greatest situation, no matter our age. So what shade are you going to attempt at the moment? You may also go to Florida Medical Association’s Healthy Living Toolkit to get extra concepts of fruits and vegetable colours and their advantages: www.flmedical.org/Florida/Florida_Public/Docs/Healthy-Living-Toolkit.pdf

Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RDN, LDN, CLC, FAND is an assistant professor within the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Brooks College of Health, University of North Florida.