With various nutrition recommendations flooding the media, finding an appropriate diet regimen can be a daunting task. However, one fact has remained abundantly clear since the early days in the field of nutrition science: the more fruits and vegetables a person eats, the better. Many nutrition experts recommend consuming five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables every single day. This may seem like a nearly impossible feat, but some simple guidelines can make meeting the requirement of these nutritionally dense superfoods less intimidating.
Changing Behavior
The first step to increasing intake of fruits and vegetables is to establish a goal. This goal should be reasonable and individualized to one’s own preferences in order to encourage successful outcomes. Nutrition experts recommend consuming five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables every day. However, meeting this requirement may be too ambitious for people who currently only get one or two servings per day. In this case, it is much better to start small and work up to the recommendation than to dream big and fall short. Start with an attainable and specific goal. This can be anything from aiming to pack a vegetable snack for lunch daily to deciding to pick up a new kind of fruit each week at the grocery store.
Next, use psychology as a tool for increasing daily consumption of fruits and vegetables by utilizing a fruit bowl. Prepare a bowl of different fruits at the beginning of each week and make them easily accessible on the kitchen counter. This technique encourages choosing fruit as a healthy snack due to the fact that they are simply more visible and accessible. Any variety of fruits can be chosen to include in a fruit bowl, but items like bananas, apples, and oranges are typically selected for familiarity. This technique can also be applied with vegetables by slicing up some carrot or celery sticks and leaving them on the kitchen table for a between meal snack. Pairing them with a side of a greek yogurt vegetable dip is a great way to optimize their appeal. The key here is to prepare for success by planning ahead and making a healthy snack the obvious choice.
