Week #1: Nutrition - Focus on Fruits & Vegetables

I'm starting with this because it's the top "issue" for the majority of my clients. We all know that a healthy diet should contain lots of fruits and veggies, however most people I know do not meet the USDA recommendations for their daily intake. I believe the main reason for this is that our busy lifestyles have led to a cooking style that does not focus on fresh food. The typical vegetables served up with dinner are often just microwaved frozen chunks or an emptied can, presented with no pizzazz and little flavor or texture. Is that true for you as well?

With just a little bit of creativity, you can serve up delicious vegetable dishes!

Let's talk a little about how many vegetables & fruits are enough. The USDA now uses the ChooseMyPlate graphic to describe daily intake of food groups. You can find this graphic and other information provide by the U.S. Department of Agriculture or USDA at http://www.choosemyplate.gov.

For many people, this graphic makes meal planning easier. However, it has its drawbacks. It can be difficult to use if you don't eat regular meals every day and it gives no guidelines about snacks.

When it comes down to how many servings of fruits and vegetables you should eat per day (meals and snacks), I suggest that for the average person, 2-4 servings of fruits and 3-5 servings of vegetables per day would be appropriate. Note that while fruits and vegetables are often grouped together into one food group, they are not interchangeable. Eating 9 servings of fruit per day would not be a healthy option. This is because fruits tend to be quite high in sugar; and fruits and vegetables have different vitamin profiles, making both important. When it comes to eating fruits and vegetables I have 2 suggestions:

1) Eat more vegetables than fruit.

2) Variety really is the spice of life. Yes it prevents boredom, but it is also the best way to get the variety of vitamins and minerals your body needs.

If you are not a big veggie eater, this can seem like a lot, I know! Don't let this overwhelm you. Remember, you don't have to do it all today! Let's break it down.

First, let's start by looking at what a serving size is:

A typical serving size of a fruit is about 1 cup cubed fresh fruit, ½ cup dried fruit or 1 cup fruit juice. Examples of this would be 1 small orange, ½ a grapefruit, 2 plums, ¼ cup raisins.

A typical serving size of a vegetable is 2 cups leafy vegetable, 1 cup others and 1 cup vegetable juice. Examples of this would be 2 cups raw spinach, 1 cup steamed broccoli or cauliflower, 1 large sweet potato.

Check out the USDA website for further information regarding the MyPlate graphic, food groups and serving sizes. There is a lot of good, up to date information there.

http://www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/

Second, take a moment to think about what you typically eat. How many fruits and vegetables do you eat on a typical day? It may be helpful to use the Food Tracker provided as Appendix 2 or write out everything you ate for the last couple of days to give yourself a realistic view of your eating habits (be sure to accurately assess serving sizes). Make a copy of Appendix 2 or print it directly from my website at:

http://www.holisticwellnesswithtracy.com/90-days-to-holistic-wellness-goal-list.html

In my experience, people grossly over estimate their ingestion of healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables.

Because this is such an important item, I would recommend that if you discover you are far away from meeting the USDA guidelines, you may want to consider spending a couple of weeks on this step before moving on, to slowly work on adding more fruits and veggies into your diet. Add 1 additional daily serving this week, and then 1 more daily serving next week. (Another option would be to add 1 daily serving this week and revisit this week's action later in the 90 day process, by adding additional repeat weeks in-between others). Meeting the USDA minimum requirement is very important, so make this change a priority! But remember, you are more likely to stick with the changes if you make them slowly. You may not be ready to fully meet the USDA recommendation for weeks or months ... just make steps to move in that direction now. Remember, change is an ongoing process.

Ideas for adding more fruits &vegetables to your diet:

- Start your day with a piece of fruit for breakfast. I love to eat ½ grapefruit with breakfast. If you eat on the go, a banana, apple or grapes make great travel foods.

- "I should've had a V8". Remember that commercial? Have a serving of vegetable juice as a morning snack. V8 has a low-sodium, spicy blend that's pretty tasty. Add a little dab of horseradish and a stick of celery and you have a virgin Bloody Mary! Or if you are feeling real adventurous, get a juicer and make your own!

- Add Green Leaf lettuce and a couple slices of tomato to your sandwich. Or, get more adventurous and add roasted red peppers, onion, and cucumbers.

- Have a cup of vegetable soup for lunch (look for a low sodium version or make a big batch of soup from scratch).

- Make a veggie omelet for Sunday breakfast – fill it up with every vegetable you love. I like mine with broccoli, bell pepper, onion, mushrooms and a sprinkle of cheese.

- Start dinner with a side salad. Iceburg is good, but other lettuces are so much better. Include greens like spinach, romaine and arugula. Look for prewashed, bagged salad greens to speed up dinner preparation. Experiment!

- Instead of a soda, grab an orange juice.

- Munch on raw veggies as an afternoon snack. Bored already, thinking of nothing but carrot sticks? Include pea pods, green beans, cauliflower, grape tomatoes, celery, bell peppers, even asparagus! Dip them in a yummy flavored hummus. Have these all prepped and ready to eat in your refrigerator for easy snacking all week long.

- Fill half your plate with veggies. Beware, steamed gets boring – roast and grill your veggies for better flavor! Short on time? Look for pre-chopped veggies in your produce department. They cost a tad more, but they can be quite the time saver. Visit my blog for simple recipe ideas: http://www.holisticwellnesswithtracy. com/blog/category/recipes

- Pizza for dinner? You can do better than just pepperoni! Veggies make delicious toppings!

- Have a veggie entrée like grilled eggplant parmesan or Mediterranean stuffed portabella mushrooms.

- Make salad for dinner. Imagine a beautiful green salad with red bell...