Easy Ways to Get Your Five a Day

By:
Lynn Grieger

Are you one of the thousands of women who don't eat enough fruits and vegetables -- that seemingly unreachable goal of five servings each day? Stop worrying; you can meet this goal and eat plenty of healthy fruits and vegetables without fuss, trouble or hours spent in preparation. Here's how.

Keep a well-stocked kitchen. It sounds obvious, but keep the right foods on hand and you're more likely to eat them. Choose from fresh fruit and vegetables; fruit canned in its own juice; no-salt-added canned vegetables; dried fruit; pure fruit and vegetable juice (frozen or canned); and frozen fruit and vegetables. With all those choices, you're bound to have something delicious to eat.

Put produce on the table. If you include a fruit salad with dinner, your family is bound to eat it. The same goes if you add sliced raw veggies to your soup-and-sandwich lunch. If you want to eat more produce, make sure to include it in every meal.

Add produce to your cooking. Add sliced apples to pork roast, grated carrots and zucchini to spaghetti sauce, frozen mixed vegetables to your favorite pasta recipe. Top pound cake with strawberries, and add canned fruit to gelatin. It may be sneaky, but who cares?

Choose meals that are packed with veggies. Craving soup for dinner? Choose a chunky vegetable stew. Pasta on the menu tonight? Remember that tomato-based spaghetti sauce counts as a vegetable. Having frozen pizza for a weekend lunch? Buy one with added mushrooms, green peppers and onions; then add your own broccoli when you get home.

Make snacking fruitful. Keep baby carrots in a handy spot in the fridge. Place a bowl of seasonal fresh fruit on the counter where it just begs to be eaten. Toss small boxes or plastic bags of dried fruit in your car's glove compartment. When you want a snack, you don't want to wash and peel, you want to eat.

When all else fails, drink your produce. Choose 100 percent fruit and vegetable juices that are lower in sodium. A 12-ounce glass of fruit juice equals two servings of fruit -- an easy and delicious way to add produce to your diet.

Sample menu: an abundance of produce

Follow this sample meal plan to increase your fruit and vegetable consumption. Can you count all the produce servings in this menu?

Breakfast

• 6 ounces orange juice
• 1 cup oatmeal prepared with 1/2 cup blueberries
• 1 cup skim milk

Morning snack

• 1 cup red grapes

Lunch

• 2 cups chef's salad
• 1 cup chili
• 12 ounces apple juice

Afternoon snack

• 1 cup baby carrots
• 2 tablespoons fat-free ranch dressing

Dinner

• 3 ounces roast chicken, sauteed with 1/2 cup Granny Smith apples
• 1 baked potato topped with 1/2 cup salsa
• 1 cup steamed broccoli
• 1 pudding parfait (alternate layers of vanilla pudding, fat-free whipped topping and diced canned peaches in dessert glasses)
• 1 cup skim milk

Evening snack

• 2 cups popcorn, mixed with 1/4 cup raisins

Did you count the servings of fruits and vegetables? If you said 18, you're right. Wasn't that simple?

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