As a nutritionist, I educate many on the benefits of eating a plant-based diet. The importance of eating more vegetables cannot be over-stated! However, the prevailing culture of media bias and information confusion often pronounces the fresh food, in particular vegetables, as “toxic” or “harmful”… Please consider the alternative: highly processed and packaged foods with chemically altered additives that promote higher intakes of sugar, salt and fat in order to declare that package healthy. If your health is becoming more dependent on doctor visits and medicines, then it is time to visit the produce aisle and eat more vegetables!
This view of convenience foods as nutritious alternatives to the real thing is completely backward! No amount of processing can re-create the real thing in packaged form. Vegetables in particular contain all the vitamins and minerals, along with fiber and phytochemicals to boost the body’s use of those nutrients. And it is the vegetable category that is most missing from the diets of many today. Turn your health and become a plant eater! Your fresh produce should be purchased as locally as possible and organic as often as you can afford it. The importance of vegetables for supporting your health cannot be said enough times; eat your veggies!
So take a first step and begin eating one salad daily to boost your nutritional intake and energy in a big way. Be sure that your salad is generous and includes a variety of colorful vegetables (carrots, peppers, celery, tomatoes, etc.), 1 tablespoon of pumpkin seeds, 1 serving of protein (meat, fish, beans) and an olive oil based dressing (easy to add as 1 tablespoon olive oil plus 1-2 tablespoons balsamic dressing). This one meal option supports bone health, digestive function, mood and energy while contributing antioxidants, enzymes and phytochemicals to support your body in the stresses and demands of living a busy life. And by-the-way, for those of you who consider salad “rabbit food” please consider the energy that a rabbit has to bounce throughout its life.
And as a strong support to those days when the activity of life keeps you away from salad, broccoli, carrots, etc. then take Juice Plus daily! Juice Plus is a carefully processed and clinically proven product of fruits and vegetables, retaining all the vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals and enzymes present in fresh produce.
Learn more at: www.simplynow.juiceplus.com
