September is 5-a-Day Month, that's the five fruits and vegetables every day campaign. The campaign calls attention to the need for us to eat fruits vegetables and remain active for overall well being. Cathy Scanlon, RD, a registered dietitian in Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center, says a serving size of fruit is:
- one small piece of fresh fruit
- ½ cup of canned fruit or unsweetened fruit juice
- ¼ cup dried fruit
One serving of a non-starchy vegetable is:
- one cup of raw vegetables
- ½ cup of cooked vegetables
- Starchy vegetables are generally ½ cup
How to get five fruits and vegetables a day in a diet what everyone wants to know. "People tend to think of adding five or more fruits and vegetables to what they are already eating. They ask me how they can keep from gaining weight by doing this. Also some people are under the impression that they need to eat both five fruits and five vegetables. What is meant by five per day is a total of five servings per day of both fruits and vegetables.
"For example you may eat one vegetable and four fruits and the next day two vegetables and three fruits. I tell people that fitting this in their diet this will usually involve choosing a fruit and/or vegetable in place of something else," says Scanlon.
"For example, you may eat a regular soda pop and a bag of chips for a snack at work. This gives you about 300 calories and no nutrition. If, instead, you ate a cup of mixed raw vegetables (two servings) and dipped them in two tablespoons of regular ranch dressing this will give you only about 115 calories, lots of vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, and a small amount of protein.
"The small amount of fat that the dressing will add great flavor and the combination of vegetables and fat from the dressing will fill you up more than chips and pop so your won't be hungry again so quickly, which will help keep you from overeating."
Fruits and vegetables help prevent cancer by the action of the phytochemicals (the good chemicals that are found in plants). "So far there have been a few hundred phytochemicals identified but researchers think there may be thousands of them.
"Phytochemicals do their work inside the cells of our bodies and each of the phytochemicals has a somewhat different job. One of their jobs is to protect cells against the damage caused by free radicals," she says. "They also prevent cancer cells from multiplying.
"Phytochemicals come in different colors and another one of their jobs is to provide the pigmentation for the different colors in fruits and vegetables. This is why you hear so much about eating a variety of fruits and vegetables and to include as many colors as you can because if each phytochemical does a little bit of a different job to prevent cancer, or fight cancer at the cellular level you want as many of them as you can get. Theoretically, you can stop cancer before you even know you have it.
" I need to say here though that if a person does develop cancer, the focus of the diet can change because the best way to fight cancer and get through cancer treatment more successfully is to not lose weight too fast."
Phytochemicals can prevent cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stroke and obesity, diverticulosis, and even cataracts. "Once again this goes to the many jobs phytochemicals have such as lowering cholesterol, helping to prevent the damage done to the arteries of the heart and body by free radicals.
"Eating some fruits and vegetables is better than eating no fruits or vegetables and eating a variety of fruits and vegetables is much better than eating only some, especially if you eat a variety on a consistent basis.
"We never know when a cell or the DNA is our body may take a certain turn that can lead to a problem with our health. But if we eat the best we can on a consistent basis, our cells are much better equipped to defend against damage," says Scanlon.
The 5-a-day diet has shown that people who eat a plant-based diet are not as overweight or obese as those who do not include five or more a day. "Of course we all know that there is a direct relationship between weight and health risk. Being overweight or obese affects a person's life on many levels and in many areas. Eating five or more per day may help the GI tract function better by providing more fiber as well as food for the "good" bacteria in our intestines that can help prevent infectious diseases.
"Vitamin supplements don't do the same job as the whole food. Research has shown that taken by themselves, vitamins do not have the same affect on the body as they do when they are located in the food. One of the reasons, it is believed, is that the vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals in food all work together to accomplish their various jobs," she says.
Even when some vitamin supplements have added phytochemcals or antioxidants (some vitamins and phytochemicals are also antioxidants) they still don't work the same.
"Smokers who get good amounts of vitamin C and beta-carotene in their diets have a lower risk of developing lung cancer compared to people who smoke and do not eat enough vitamin C and beta-carotene in their diet.
"Research studies looked at using vitamin C and beta-carotene supplements to see if taking them would have the same effect as a diet rich in vitamin C and beta-carotene on lowering the lung cancer risk for smokers as it does when eaten in the diet.
"The results of these studies show that smokers who take beta-carotene supplements have a significantly greater risk of developing lung cancer than smokers who do not take beta-carotene supplements. As a matter of fact, a famous study in Finland had to be stopped early when it was determined that the study was leading to an increase in lung cancer in the smokers who were in the study.
"Physicians and dietitians do not recommend taking beta-carotene supplements if you are a smoker, if you breathe second-hand smoke on a regular basis or if you are at an increased risk for developing lung cancer for other reasons," she says. |
