You’ve likely been told to eat your greens since before the first meal you can remember eating, and for good reason.
Vegetables, and fruits too, are packed with essential vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that will help to keep your body in tip-top condition, protect against cancers, and bolster your immune system.
Not only that, but vegetables offer tonnes of dietary fibre which help to keep your digestive system in good shape, bind up your poops, and aid in your nutrient absorption.
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It’s typically recommended that we eat five portions of the stuff each day, ideally with each portion being a different colour. The idea there is that different colours typically signify different nutritional content, so having that variety should help you to cover all your bases.
However, it’s estimated that only 1 in 10 American adults are getting the recommended intake of 2 to 3 cups each day, marking out a significant shortfall in the amount of greens being chomped through in the States.
“Consuming the daily recommended amount of vegetables ensures you receive the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants for good health—[reducing the] risk of chronic diseases and [improving] wellbeing,” said dietitian Sue-Ellen Anderson-Haynes, in conversation with Real Simple.
She continued: “The amount of vegetables you should eat depends on many factors such as your sex, age, [and] physical activity.
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“In general, adults should aim to consume about two to three cups of vegetables per day. A rule of thumb is to make half your plate veggies—this way you will meet or exceed that recommendation.
“Currently, only 1 in 10 adults are meeting the daily fruit and vegetable recommendations according to the CDC.”
Getting more vegetables into your diet doesn’t need to be difficult. There’s plenty of variety out there, and even if you’re not particularly fond of eating them there are sure to be some that you’ll be happy to eat on the regular.
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If you need a bit of convincing, you can be confident that getting more vegetables on your plate will help you to feel healthy in the short-term, as well as boost your odds of healthy ageing.
“Consuming vegetables daily not only gives you an outer glow but inner glow as well: allowing maintenance of a healthy gut microbiome, reducing risk of inflammation, supporting a healthy weight, satiety, bowel regularity, and providing [heart] disease risk reduction,” explained Anderson-Haynes.
It might be too late to grow up big and strong, but it's never too late to start making healthier choices.
Rachael Davis