Don't live a lie. Eat more fruits and vegetables - tnonline.com

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Dealing with people who say one thing and do another is difficult. So why are people sometimes that way with themselves?

Six years ago in a press release heralding an online health and wellness survey, the Nielsen Company revealed that 75 percent of respondents believe “you are what you eat.” Yet a Medical News Today article published four years later declared that ultraprocessed foods account for nearly 58 percent of the calories consumed in the U.S.

If you truly believe you are what you eat, eating ultraprocessed foods should be a rarity, a twice-a-week treat maybe, not such a regularity that the majority of your cals come from them.

That’s because they are empty calories, defined in the MNT article as being “generally high in energy, fat, and sugar or salt, and low in fiber,” foods like sugary drinks, pretzels, potato chips, white breads, ready-made meals, processed meats, desserts, and sweet snacks.

A French study cited in the MNT article supports the you-are-what-you-eat belief. It found for every 10 percent increase in the consumption of ultraprocessed foods there is a 14 percent increase in mortality risk.

Moreover, a 2019 article published in PLOS Medicine found a correlation between the increased the risk of colorectal, stomach, lung, and breast cancer and the “regular consumption” of ultraprocessed foods (referred to as “food products with a lower nutritional quality” in the paper).

Here’s another food-based example of people saying one thing and doing another. Despite 75 percent of Nielsen respondents believing “you are what you eat,” a 2017 CDC study found only 10 percent of U.S. adults eat the recommended daily amount of 1.5 servings of fruit and 2 servings of vegetables per day.

Falling short of these totals, says Seung Hee Lee Kwan, Ph.D., lead author of the study, puts you at risk for chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease. The press release about the study adds “eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables daily can help reduce the risk of many leading causes of illness and death, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, some cancers, and obesity.”

So I should add yet another dietary disconnect: The Nielsen survey found that nearly 80 percent of respondents claimed to be choosing specific foods to battle obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, and hypertension. So why wouldn’t far more than 10 percent of adult Americans not only be meeting the CDC recommendation but also adhering to the World Health Organization’s more ambitious advice to eat 400 grams of fruits and veggies daily (about 5 U.S. servings)?

Because most adult Americans don’t actually eat the way they should and don’t like admitting it. If you’re guilty of this, there’s only one thing to do.

Stop talking a good game and start playing one.

Good games don’t get played by accident, though. They result from good game plans.

So as soon as you’re done reading this article, take some time to think about what you ate over the last three days. Write down your meals and snacks as best as you can.

If you averaged around 10 servings of fruits and veggies per day and are presently pleased with your overall health and body weight, feel free to pour another cup of coffee (sans cream and sugar, of course) and read the rest of the newspaper.

If your average is lower, keep game planning while having that second cup of joe.

Let’s say you fell short of the CDC’s suggested 3.5 servings of fruits and veggies per day. Reread your three days’ worth of meals and look for places where a fruit or vegetable could replace an ultraprocessed food.

Do the same if you exceeded the 3.5-serving average but are overweight. Fruits and vegetables are mostly water by volume and contain a fair amount of fiber, so they fill you up on fewer calories.

For those who don’t like the taste of most vegetables, create a list of them you don’t eat now because you couldn’t tolerate them in the past.

Pick a few to try again, but change the method of preparation.

I’ve counseled Brussels sprouts haters, for instance, to no longer boil or steam them, but to cut them in half, spray them with a bit of fat-free cooking spray, sprinkle some garlic powder on top, and roast them. More often than not, their hate abates and they like the new taste enough to start making roasted Brussels sprouts as an occasional side dish.

Don’t be surprised if you find that you like some vegetables raw that you once despised when served another way.

Growing up, I absolutely abhorred steamed spinach, so I didn’t eat any for a long time. Same with steamed arugula.

But now I add a full bag that’s a mixture of both to my daily salad.

Well, most of a bag. I like the taste of the two together so much that I usually eat a few handfuls while I prepare my salad.

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Don't live a lie. Eat more fruits and vegetables - tnonline.com
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