Colorful fruits and vegetables

What makes these colorful fruits and vegetables a key part of staying healthy and fit as you age (hold up different pieces of produce from basket)? These deeply colored fruits and vegetables supply a wide range of vitamins and minerals, fiber and special disease fighters called phytochemicals that your body needs to stay healthy and help fight diseases. Sounds like colorful fruits and vegetables are practically nature’s pharmacy. You just have to eat them – 5 A Day the Color Way.

Colorful fruits and vegetables are the prescription for getting some of the vitamins and minerals important for older adults:

1.  Vitamin A for healthy eyes, lungs and skin and to help resist infections.

2.  Vitamin C for healthy gums, for healing cuts and burns, and to help resist infections.

3.  Vitamin K for normal blood clotting and healthy bones.

4.  Vitamin E to protect our body’s cells and tissues from damage.

5.  Folate for healthy red blood cells and a healthy heart.

6.  Calcium for strong bones and blood pressure control.

7.  Potassium and Magnesium for blood pressure control.

Everyone needs at least one vitamin-A-rich and one to two vitamin C-rich fruits or vegetables

each day. You can do this if you eat your 5 A Day the Color Way.

Fiber

Fiber is another benefit we get from eating fruits and vegetables. Why is fiber important? Fiber helps keep us “regular” by preventing constipation. Diets high in fiber can help lower cholesterol and reduce risk of some cancers. Fiber works best when you drink plenty of fluids, so drink eight glasses (two quarts) ofwater or other fluids every day. Older adults should eat between 21 grams and 30 grams of fiber daily (21 grams/day for women age 51 and older; 30 grams/day for men age 51 and older; NAS 2002). If you eat 5 or more servings of fruits and vegetables daily and choose whole grain foods, you’ll get enough fiber and won’t have to count exactly how many grams you are eating each day. 

Phytochemicals  Now, the vitamins, minerals and fiber that fruits and vegetables supply are very important. Phyto means plant in Greek. Phytochemicals are the natural plant compounds that give fruits and vegetables their deep, dark colors (like collards, sweet potatoes, cherries and blueberries),  and their distinctive odors (like cabbages, onions, garlic and herbs). They are the very things plants use to protect themselves from pests (or bugs/insects) and sun damage. 

They also protect  us when we eat fruits and vegetables. In fact, they may be very strong disease fighters  or “phyters” – and help fight cancer, heart  disease, cataracts and diabetes complications (write on flip chart – phytochemicals: disease “phyters”). They may also help slow the effects of aging on memory, immune function, and inflammation. Like I said, veggies and fruits are practically nature’s pharmacy. How can you not eat these beautiful and powerful foods? Phytochemicals are also found in grains and beans, but they are not found in vitamin or mineral supplements. So, this is one more reason to choose a wide variety ofcolorful fruits and vegetables every day rather than depending on only a few foods or on vitamin tablets.

1.  One fruit serving =

a.  1 medium-sized piece of fruit (an apple or orange the size of a tennis ball).

b.  ¾ cup (6 ounces) 100% fruit juice (diabetes serving size = ½ cup or 4 ounces).

c.  ½ cup frozen, canned, or fresh cut-up fruit.

d.  ¼ cup dried fruit.

2.  One vegetable serving =

a.  ½ cup raw or cooked vegetables.

b.  ¾ cup (6 oz) 100% vegetable juice.

c.  1-cup raw, leafy vegetables (like lettuces, spinach).

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