Better Choices for Selecting Fruits & Vegetables
Including Healthy Snacks, Purchasing Tips and Growing Your Own
Jan 11, 2009
Eating more fruits and vegetables is a goal for many people. While processed foods may be handy, easy to store and relatively inexpensive, certain varieties may also add to a person's daily intake of salt, sugars and may contain preservatives and additives. Fresh fruits and vegetables are the best choices, but frozen fruits and vegetables are another good alternative to fresh as long as the label states there is no added fats, salts or sugars (just the vegetable itself, for example). Here are some tips for purchasing and incorporating fruits and vegetables into everyday diets.
Offering Healthy Snacks
After school can be a time for active snacking and activity time, so offering fruits or vegetables for children is great. This also goes for adults wanting a snack late at night or during the day. Having a bowl of apples, oranges or bananas within easy reach of the homework is simple. Mini carrots or carrot sticks, radishes and celery sticks is something easy and inexpensive to prepare. If it is nescessary to keep shelf stable fruits and vegetables on hand, always read the labels. Applesauce may be a quick and delicious apple snack, but some varieties have high fructose corn syrup or colorings. The better choices are those varieties of fruits and vegetables with limited sugars and salts, or those that contain all natural colorings and flavorings rather than imitation.
Go Organic for the Popular Items
While organic foods are pesticide-free and all natural they are usually more expensive. Instead of busting a budget for all organic produce, a great choice is to choose organic fresh fruits and vegetables the family eats daily or often. Do children eat apples by the bushel? This would be a great item to purchase organically grown. Just knowing one item that the family eats on a regular basis is free of pesticides can be reassuring for parents and may get some adults to eat more fruits on a regular basis as well.
Better Choices with Canned or Frozen Produce
Canned or frozen produce is handy when planning meals in advance and for bulk purchasing. While they may keep longer than fresh produce, some varieties may be loaded with sugar, salt or additives. The better choice when buying canned or frozen fruits and vegetables is selecting those varieties packaged with just the item itself. Frozen vegetables are often processed with nothing added, and canned vegetables varieties can be found salt-free and sugar-free. Frozen fruits are sometimes processed with sugar, but IQF (individually quick frozen) varieties are available where the item is quick frozen without sugar.
Easily Fortifying Recipes
Quick mixes for fruit muffins and pancakes like blueberry or banana for the most part contain highly processed colored and flavored bits of imitation fruits. Making the recipe at home from scratch with the real thing is a better choice. Plain recipes such as muffins and pancakes can be easily fortified with frozen or fresh blueberries, chopped peaches or mashed banana. Vegetables are easily incorporated into quick breads. Frozen cut corn or freshly chopped bell peppers can be stirred into cornbread mixes for added color and flavor and can give an added nutrient boost as well.
Grow Your Own
The best way to add fruits and vegetables to a diet is to always have them on hand. If planting and taking care of a vegetable garden is daunting, try growing a single item in a large flower pot or a wine barrel cut in half. Even apartment dwellers can find room for a simple narrow planter box for growing lettuces or fresh herbs. Starting off with a single item that can be used in recipes and having it handy whenever it is needed makes it that much more likely it will be used. Try growing spinach and baby lettuces for use in salads and sandwiches and for quick sautées. Bell peppers and tomatoes can be found in the garden section already started and are easily adapted for patio planters.
Make every choice count for the recommended daily amounts of fruits and vegetables. Read 6 Tips for Eating Healthy for more ideas on making better food choices.
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