"For your health, eat 5 fruits and vegetables a day" . This slogan is surely already very familiar to you. If not, I regret to report that wherever you have been for the past few years, it was probably not on planet Earth.
It is indeed about 6 years since the WTO (World Health Organization) launched its punch campaign to try to get the Western population to react to their much too low fruit and vegetable consumption. The consequences of such under-consumption are there:the decrease in the consumption of fruit and vegetables is accompanied proportionally (even today) by an increase in the number of health problems such as obesity, cancer, heart attack etc…
Of course, fruits and vegetables are not the miracle foods that will give you health and eternal life. Nevertheless, they are the best way to get closer to this fountain of youth.
Eating fruits and vegetables is the assurance of having your daily vitamin quota and to have fishing from morning to evening. They are particularly rich in vitamin C. Being an excellent antioxidant, it helps fight against skin aging. Exit therefore the organic anti-wrinkle cream to be spread 3 times a day between 12 p.m. and 6 p.m., but only on full moon evenings if the sky is clear, otherwise it will be less effective! So why complicate your life and empty your wallet on such products when an apple can be just as effective in the long term.
Their richness in calcium and potassium also help fight osteoporosis. Since potassium is the opposite of sodium, it compensates for any excess salt and thus prevents water retention. Again be careful, this remains valid within the limits of reason. Eating a tomato will not make your body forget the salt shaker you emptied on your plate. Eating enough fruits and vegetables has also been shown to help fight certain types of cancer, including breast, stomach, prostate, and colon cancer.
Next, fruits and vegetables contain a lot of amino acids to create a good acid-base balance. We talk less about it, but it is an essential parameter to ensure good health for the body.
Finally, fruits and vegetables are the best way to keep the line and fight against overweight . They are full of pectins. Once in the stomach, this fiber turns into a gel and captures sugars and fats. Pectin is also an excellent appetite suppressant. Fruits and vegetables are also very rich in water and swelling in the stomach, they will give you a feeling of satiety for a minimum of calories. And this unlike high-calorie chocolate bars which generally only fill the stomach for a few moments. For comparison, an apple provides an average of 60 calories, while a 100g chocolate bar provides you with around 450.
But is this campaign really effective? If the polls showed that the population, affected by the message, seems to show good will to improve their food hygiene, they also revealed that their interpretation of the slogan "5 fruits and vegetables a day" was, let's say... relatively random. The expression can obviously be confusing, so let's be clear:swallowing 5 grapes does not mean that you have eaten 5 fruits. Conversely, this does not mean that you have to eat 5 fruits AND 5 vegetables a day (but that is not forbidden!). I can already see the reassured look appearing on the faces of those who already found it very difficult to fit an apple between two fast foods. It is true that it is easier to stick to it in summer, when salads and fresh dishes are in season. But everything being a matter of habit, it is quite possible to stick to it. Here is a simple example of a daily menu incorporating the 5 fruits and vegetables expected by the body:
- Breakfast : have a glass of orange juice, and replace one of your sandwiches with a fruit rich in vitamins such as kiwi or orange.
- Lunch: get into the habit of replacing the deli starter with a raw vegetable starter. Accompany your meat with a portion of cooked vegetables and starches.
- Snack : as we said above, fruit has the best nutrition to calorie ratio. The benefits of bananas are no longer a mystery:nutritious and excellent for health, they are a snack of choice. The fruits as a whole also have this advantage of being able to be transported everywhere with you.
- Dinner : a soup as a starter to warm up after a day's work. You can then accompany your fish with a portion of raw vegetables, and finish your meal on a sweet note with a piece of fruit.
If you are also part of the big family of those commonly called "late bedtimes", you may be familiar with this little craving that sets in and starts to tug around midnight. A dilemma then sets in inside you:on the one hand your stomach singing loudly for satisfaction, on the other your reason telling you that eating at this time is hardly recommended. Play the mediation card by satisfying both. An apple, or even a tomato or a carrot will be enough to satisfy your stomach, without torturing your mind with possible guilt.
