Functional Food

How many servings of Fruits and Vegetables should you be eating each day?

Since you were young, you’ve likely been reminded to “eat your fruits and veggies”. It’s true, fruits and vegetables are some of the most nutrient dense foods you can include in your diet, providing an array of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients to fuel various health supporting pathways and functions from within.

Now according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), women ages 19 to 32 should be consuming 2.5 to 3 cups of vegetables each day while women of any older age can stick with 2 to 3. For men, 3 to 4 cups is recommended, but for men 60 or older, 2.5 to 3.5 is suggested. Most people should be consuming 5 to 13 servings of fruits and vegetables each day. This breaks down to about two different vegetables and three fruits. Serving sizes vary depending on your vegetable of choice, and from canned to juiced to raw it can be helpful to know what classifies a serving. According to the American Heart Association (AHA) in order to get the proper volume of leafy greens you should be eating one cup each day. Fresh, frozen, or canned vegetables require about a half a cup, ass well as raw vegetable juice.

Cruciferous vegetables can be more difficult to determine as you can necessarily imagine packing a head of cauliflower or broccoli into a half cup, so the AHA explains that five to eight florets can be counted as a serving. One raw carrot or eight baby carrots will count towards your five a day, and a half of a bell pepper will work towards that as well. All vegetables ultimately offer some benefit to your body, but at the top of the list are the leafy greens which provide a significant impact on longevity. Consuming one serving of leafy greens such as kale, spinach and collards each day have shown to support cognitive function, and our brain health is critical as well. Now when I think about consuming 5 to 13 servings of fruits and vegetables daily that sometimes sounds like an overload. But it can actually be quite simple. Some companies have an easy way to get those daily servings in a convenient packet. The company I use is called Neolife, it has been around since 1958 and still going strong. They have this product called Pro Vitality. Convenient on-the-go packets and each packet provides powerful nutrients that support:

-Cellular health for abundant energy

-Powerful antioxidant protection

-Optimum immune strength

-Heart and brain health

-Flexible and healthy joints

-Clear vision

-Youthful skin, hair, and nails

-Natural genetic anti-aging function.

with 21 essential vitamins and minerals, lipids and sterols from whole grains, carotenoids from fruits and vegetables, and omega-3 fatty acids from fish.

-Tre-en-en Enhance your energy: this is the worlds first and only whole grain lipids and sterols supplement proven to enhance energy and vitality by optimizing cellular nutrition. Protect your cells- optimize your immunity: with the protective power of carotenoids from tomatoes, carrots, spinach, red bell peppers, strawberries, apricots, and peaches. Each capsule provides the complete carotenoid value of an optimal serving of a wide variety of carotenoid– rich fruits and vegetables just one more way to help your meet the recommended dietary intake of 5 to 13 servings of fruits and vegetables every day. Omega-lll salmon oil plus balance and regulate your cells– maximize good health: complete with standardized amounts of eight omega-3s. It is suggested all adults eat 2-3 servings of fish each week for optimal health. Not many get that in a month let alone a weeks time. Thats where this Omega-lll salmon oil comes in. Eight omega-3 total omega-3s per serving.

-ALA, SDA, ETA(3), ETA, EPA, HPA, DPA, DHA

EPA- 460mg, DHA- 480mg, DPA- 50mg, with 5 other healthful omega-3s- 80mg

-Essential vitamins & mineral complex Nourish your cells- more than just a multi this proprietary blend of 21 essential vitamins and minerals helps the dietary gap prevalent in many of todays diets!