Nutrient Dense Fruits
and Vegetables

Add at least 5 servings of these nutrient dense fruits and vegetables to your menu each day.

Why should you do it? How about for a lean healthy body.

Blue and purple, such a blueberries, plums, raisins, eggplant and red cabbage, contains anti-aging antioxidants and improves urinary health.

Green, such as avacados, green grapes, honeydew, pears, limes, asparagus, broccoli, green onions, spinach, carrots, and zucchini, maintians strong bones and teeth and helps prevent birth defects.

White, such as bananas, cauliflower, garlic, ginger, mushrooms, onions, potatoes and white corn, lowers the risk of cancer and maintains good cholesterol levels.

Yellow and orange, such as apricots, cantloupe, grapefruit, lemons, papayas, peaches, pineapples, butternut squash, carrots, yellow peppers, yellow potatoes, pumpkins, rutabagas amd sweet potatoes, boost the immune system and improves vision health.

Red, such as red apples, cherries, red grapes, pink or red grapefruit, red pears, raspberries, strawberries, red watermelon, beets, red peppers and tomatoes, boost memory function and maintains heart health.

You don't need to memorize this information or count calories. Just be aware and add nutrient dense fruits and vegetables to your meals for optimal health.

Here are some ways to ease more of them into your diet.

• Add a handful of green leafy vegetables, sliced avocado or sliced apple to sandwiches.

• Drink 100% vegetable juice.

• Tomato sauce is an excellent source of phytochemicals. Use in spaghetti sauce, chili, salsas, soups, beans.

• Add extra chopped vegetables to soups.

• Save the water from cooking vegetables and add it to your soup. Replace the water in bread or other recipes with the vegetable water.

• Add dried fruits and vegetables to lunches. The healthful phytochemicals in fruits and vegetables are not affected by cooking, freezing, canning or drying. Dried produce has more fiber than fresh. Watch out for sugar content in dried fruit.

• Add pureed foods to dishes: pureed sweet potatoes to macaroni and cheese: applesauce substituted for part of the fat in desserts: any pureed fruit or vegetable to soup.

• Make dessert with fruits; sugar-free angel food cake with strawberries: cobblers and pies: canned peaches and gingersnaps: yogurt and fruit.