On the Table: It's Time To Work More Fruits and Vegetables Into Daily Meals
By Angela Allen, The Columbian Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
With the discipline required to follow the government's month- old dietary guidelines, why isn't the measly one teaspoon of salt and paltry six ounces of meat getting me down?
Oddly, the big numbers are bugging me.
Nine servings of fruits and vegetables? How is anyone supposed to eat that much?
First, nine servings is equal to four and one-half cups. The health police are fully aware that most of us would not consume that many vegetables on a daily basis. So, the guidelines' fine print breaks down nine servings into two cups of fruit and three cups of vegetables.
The logic?
"Eating more fruits and vegetables helps control weight," said Dee Sandquist, registered dietician at Southwest Washington Medical Center and the new American Dietetic Association media spokesperson for the Southwest Washington and Portland areas. "They help you feel fuller on fewer calories."
And the government is dogging two-thirds of us to take off pounds.
"Bottom line," said Sandquist, "fill half your plate with fruits and vegetables, one quarter with protein and the last quarter with whole fiber-rich grain food."
So take it slow, fruit by fruit, vegetable by vegetable, said Atlanta-based registered dietitian Susan Nicholson. She is the nationally syndicated columnist of "7-Day Menu Planner" and "Double- Duty Dinners."
Plan what you're going to eat "and not necessarily with the cold air of the fridge in your face." In other words, think ahead, or just think.
A serving is not super-sized: one cup of raw veggies or a half cup cooked, a half cup berries, a grapefruit half, a small apple.
One by one
For breakfast, knock off two servings of fruit. With yogurt or cereal, pile on half a banana or one cup berries, and drink one- half cup of orange juice.
That's two.
Nicholson calls a midmorning break "an opportunity" for an apple, or prepackaged carrots.
Three.
Lunch: Most soups offer a serving or two of vegetables. Add extra veggies, such as the ones left over from the night before. Sandwich? Thicken it up with more vegetables than lettuce. Tomatoes and onions work. Tuck tomatoes, squash, or other chopped vegetables into burritos, tacos, pita pockets and wraps, Sandquist suggests. "Let your imagination be your guide."
Or eat a big salad with sections of tangerines or sliced apples or pears. "Go easy on the dressing, the mayo and the fruit syrup," Nicholson says.
We're up to five.
Afternoon snack: Fruit. Painless.
Six.
Then there's dinner. "It's pretty easy to have a salad," Nicholson says. "The grocery stores make it simple with prewashed greens no dirt, no worms."
That makes seven or eight, depending on the salad size.
Cook a vegetable for dinner.
"You'll easily get two or three servings at dinner," Nicholson said.
Nine.
And there are a few hours left in the day to eat even more fruits and vegetables, though ketchup doesn't count. The guidelines say to reach regularly for deeply colored vegetables, such as the often loathed spinach and kale.
Mix it up
"The idea is to mix it up so that you eat dark green, orange, red and all the colors of the veggie bin," said registered dietitian and food-science writer Maureen Callahan, who is based in Westminster, Colo. "That way you're tapping into a lot of different nutrients and phytochemicals."
So much virtue, so much vigilance.
"To eat everything we should," Nicholson said, "we have to want to do it. If we do it most of the time, that's what's important. Don't obsess. If you miss a veggie one day, you won't fall down dead."
Most of us are eating two or three servings a day.
"Let's work on getting it up to five. Set a goal, then increase it. Let's not worry how green or leafy the vegetables are at this point. Just get them in the body and get in the habit of eating them. We'll fine-tune after we're up to nine."
(Different guidelines apply to kids and smaller people.)
For more information, check out healthierus.gov /dietary guidelines or eat right.org and click on food and nutrition information.
Angela Allen writes about food, wine and nutrition. Reach her at 360-759-8005, or by e-mail at angela.allen@columbian .com.
Did you know?
Fruits and vegetables have an established role in helping fight heart disease, high blood pressure, type two diabetes, stroke and cancer, which account for more than 75 percent of U.S. deaths each year.
Fruits and vegetables have a proven role in weight loss and maintaining a healthy weight.
Source: 2005 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee