Despite Appeals, Americans Still Not Heeding Mom’s Advice

Despite repeated entreaties by the nation’s health authorities, physicians and nutritionists — not to mention, a mountain of evidence showing that the consequences of not doing so can mean the difference between a long life and one cut short by cancer or cardiovascular disease — Americans are still not heeding the warning.

What is this warning? It is best expressed as that simple admonishment our mothers repeated time and again at every noontime and evening meal: “Eat your fruits and vegetables.”

Unfortunately, many of us are not doing this. And there is plenty of evidence to prove just how bad this nutritional lapse has become.

Less than one-third of American adults eat the minimum recommended amounts of 5 fruits and vegetable servings per day — a shortcoming that has persisted for more than a decade, according to officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“They’re worried,” says Dr. Robert Keith, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System nutrition and health specialist, speaking about the pervasive concern among many of the nation’s health authorities for this stubborn apathy.

Like so many nutritional experts, Keith, who is also an Auburn University professor of nutrition and food science, has stressed time and again the role fruits and vegetables serve in safeguarding against chronic diseases — cardiovascular disease and certain forms of cancer.

And while he is the first to concede that reversing this trend will be a steep, uphill climb, Keith says it needn’t be that difficult for individual Americans. In fact, he says there are all sorts of creative ways people can begin working healthier dietary habits into their daily grind, without really noticing them.

Vegetables, for example, don’t have to be eaten plain — they can be mixed into casseroles or, at the most basic level, mixed with olive oil.

As for salads, Keith recommends replacing the more nutritionally puny iceberg lettuce with greener types of lettuce that pack a bigger nutritional wallop. Don’t just limit these salads to standard lettuce, carrots and tomatoes — consider including other vegetable items, such as broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber and bell peppers. That way, you’re exposing yourself to a larger number of antioxidants and phytochemicals, those ingredients in fruits and vegetables that provide a myriad of safeguards against chronic disease.

Also, if you’re a hamburger aficionado who insists on that burger fix at least once or twice a week, consider loading it with tomatoes, lettuce and onions.

For his part, Keith and his wife have worked out an informal strategy for eating healthy.

On evenings and weekends, one of them slices up a couple of fruits, samples a bite or two, and leaves the rest on the table for both to munch on throughout the rest of the evening or day.

“That’s one way to do it,” Keith says. “Instead of thinking to myself, ‘Wow, I’ve got to eat an apple or pear today,’ my wife and I have just worked out this approach where we end up getting what we need in the course of the day without really thinking about it.”

The same approach could be used with vegetables — for example, a plate of broccoli or cauliflower with a tasty, low-calorie dip, he says.

Juices are another option, though one disadvantage is that they don’t provide the daily fiber associated with many fruits and vegetables, Keith says. Also, remember that juices are higher in calories than whole fruit.

“Four ounces [of one of these juices] is a serving, and that’s not very much,” Keith says. “So if you drank a big 12-ounce glass of orange juice in the morning, that amounts to at least three fruit servings.”

Grape, orange, apple and cranberry are among several healthy juice choices, he says.

Also, never forget that breakfast is a very good time to include fruit — on whole-wheat cereal, for example, or separately.

Whatever the case, Keith says the important thing is for Americans to “change their thinking about fruits and vegetables.”

In fact, after sedentary lifestyles, obesity and smoking, Keith says inadequate consumption of fruits and vegetables is likely the biggest factor behind chronic disease.

“Almost every study that has that has reported on eating fruits and vegetables has found some positive effect,” he says. “Aside from exercising more, maintaining a healthy weight and not smoking, eating at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day is about the best thing you can do in terms of health.”

Posted by Jim Langcuster at March 21, 2007 04:02 PM | TrackBack