Fill up on colorful fruits and vegetables
Fruits and vegetables are the foundation of a healthy
diet. They are low in calories and nutrient dense, which means they are packed
with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber.
Try to eat a rainbow of fruits and vegetables every day and with every
meal—the brighter the better. Colorful, deeply colored fruits and vegetables
contain higher concentrations of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants—and
different colors provide different benefits, so eat a variety. Aim for a
minimum of five portions each day.
Some great choices include:
- Greens. Branch out beyond bright and dark green lettuce. Kale, mustard greens, broccoli, and Chinese cabbage are just a few of the options—all packed with calcium, magnesium, iron, potassium, zinc, and vitamins A, C, E, and K.
- Sweet vegetables. Naturally sweet vegetables—such as corn, carrots, beets, sweet potatoes, yams, onions, and squash—add healthy sweetness to your meals and reduce your cravings for other sweets.
- Fruit. Fruit is a tasty, satisfying way to fill up on fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants. Berries are cancer-fighting, apples provide fiber, oranges and mangos offer vitamin C, and so on.
The importance of getting vitamins from food—not pills.
The antioxidants and other nutrients in fruits and vegetables help protect
against certain types of cancer and other diseases. And while advertisements
abound for supplements promising to deliver the nutritional benefits of fruits
and vegetables in pill or powder form, research suggests that it’s just not the
same.
A daily regimen of nutritional supplements is not going to have the same impact of eating right. That’s because the benefits of fruits and vegetables don’t come from a single vitamin or an isolated antioxidant.
The health benefits of fruits and vegetables come from numerous vitamins,
minerals, and phytochemicals working together synergistically. They can’t be
broken down into the sum of their parts or replicated in pill form.
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