From an early age, parents
tell their children over and over, it's essential to eat fruit and vegetables
every day so they'll be healthy for the rest of their life. It's never too
early to create positive habits. If you have Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes or other
health issues, these ideas are even more critical.
These tips will help make it
much easier to eat more fruit and vegetables:
1. Learn how much you need
to eat for your body type. It does vary and the taller and bigger you
are, the more you must eat to retain the same balance. You can't get fat by
eating your vegetables and fruit as long as you're also eating other healthy
foods to help make your meals tasty.
2. Don't look at the volume
of fruit and vegetables needed as a mountain. Treat it like a series
of hurdles. Add one extra piece of fruit or vegetable each day. Keep doing it
until you reach your goal and then maintain it for the rest of your life.
3. Find different ways to
add these foods to your eating plan. For example, you can finely grate
zucchini, carrot or other similar foods and add them to your stews, pastas,
meatloaf or chili recipes.
4. Don't stick to the usual
vegetables and fruit. Have mango, kiwi or other more exotic fruits
that you can buy in your local supermarket. If your taste buds are happy,
you'll feel happier about the smart choices you make.
5. Make your blender your
new best friend. Make yourself a delicious smoothie packed full of
your favorite ingredients - different fruits that mix well and taste delicious.
6. Some of the fruits and
vegetables are also good for spreading on sandwiches, rolls, other flavored
breads and crackers. You can mash-up avocado or puree spinach after
it's cooked. Experiment until you find foods you enjoy.
Tzaziki, hummus, yogurt and
other dips are great ways to make your diet more diverse and help you avoid
less healthy foods. If you don't want to use bread, use carrots or celery
sticks and just dip them in. You could spread dip onto a banana just for
something different.
7. Add fresh fruit to your
breakfast cereal instead of sugar or honey. Blueberries or
strawberries go well with oatmeal, as does almost any other fruit you wish to
use. Oatmeal is good for breakfast and you can't afford to miss the first and
best meal of the day; the meal that kicks off your energy levels.
These are only a few different
ways you can include more vegetables and fruit in your eating plan over a
reasonable period of time. Make the changes gradually then they will become a
healthy habit.
Type 2 diabetes is not a
condition you must just live with. By adding more fruit and vegetables to your
eating plan, its possible to protect your heart, kidneys, eyes and limbs from
the damage often caused by diabetes, and eliminate many of the complications
you may already experience.
