An apple a day keeps the doctor away!” But what about a carrot or a strawberry?
For years doctors and dieticians have told us to eat more fruits and vegetables. Now they
think fruits and vegetables may even prevent disease. Eating foods like grapes, corn, and
spinach may keep us from getting sick.
How many fruits and vegetables should we eat? Experts say five to nine servings
each day will keep us healthy. This may sound like a lot. Some people in the United
States eat only one serving a day. But people from Asian and Mediterranean countries eat
many servings of fruits and vegetables. In these countries, fewer people get cancer or
heart disease than in the United States.
Here are some of the things doctors and dieticians have learned about fruits and
vegetables:
• Eating a diet full of all kinds of fruits and vegetables may cut our chances of getting lung
and colon cancer by 30-40%. It may also cut our chances of getting stomach cancer by 60%.
• Women who eat lots of brightly colored vegetables like carrots, spinach, tomatoes, and
corn may cut their chances of getting breast cancer by 30-70%. Brightly colored fruits and
vegetables have certain chemicals that fight diseases. Brighter colors mean of these good
chemicals.
• Spinach and yellow corn may prevent heart disease.
• Cranberry juice may prevent bladder infections. Women who take cranberry capsules
get 40% fewer bladder infections.
• Grapes help fight allergies, heart attacks, and strokes.
• Soybeans may prevent osteoporosis, a disease of the bones. They may also prevent
breast cancer. Eating only one serving of soybeans a week may cut the chances of
getting breast cancer by 15%.
• Garlic may keep us healthy and may prevent colds, flu, and even cancer.
How can we remember which fruits and vegetables to eat? One dietician say, “Eat a
colorful diet to stay healthy. Every day eat something orange like a mango, something
yellow like a peach, something green like broccoli, and something red like tomatoes.” If we
follow this advice, we may be able to stay healthy and live longer.
1 serving=1/2 banana, 1 small apple, or ½ cup peas