Eat Your Fruits and Vegetables
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Posted On :
Oct-12-2009
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Article Word Count :
521
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Perhaps when you were younger, your mom always told you to eat your fruits and vegetables. This is usually accompanied by the threat that if you don’t finish those greens in your plate, you will have to stay at your room or you won’t be given desert.
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Perhaps when you were younger, your mom always told you to eat your fruits and vegetables. This is usually accompanied by the threat that if you don’t finish those greens in your plate, you will have to stay at your room or you won’t be given desert.
Unlike some of the things you may have heard from your mom, this is not an old wives tale. It has been proven that eating plenty of fruits and vegetables can help prevent cardiovascular disease and stroke, control your blood pressure, prevent certain types of cancer, avoid painful ailments, and ward off cataract and macular degeneration, two common causes of vision loss.
But what exactly is meant by “plenty” of fruits and vegetables? It is definitely more than what most Americans consume everyday. Excluding potatoes (which should not be considered as a vegetable but as starch), the average American only has three servings of fruits and vegetables per day. The latest studies on nutrition call for anywhere between five to thirteen servings of per day. Each serving is equivalent to about 2½ to 6½ cups.
Fruits and vegetables and cardiovascular disease
Studies show that a diet rich in vegetables and fruits can significantly lower the risk of stroke and heart disease.
To date, the largest study was done as part of the Nurses Health Study and Health Professionals Follow Up Study by Harvard. It had more than 100,000 participants whose dietary habits and health were followed religiously for fourteen years. According to the study, higher daily intake on the average of fruits and vegetables can lower the possibility of developing heart disease.
Compared with those who had less than 1.5 servings of fruit and vegetables per day, those who had 8 or more servings were 30 percent less likely to suffer from a heart attack or stroke. In particular, green leafy vegetables like spinach, lettuce, broccoli and mustard greens are effective in preventing heart disease.
Fruits and vegetables and high blood pressure
Those with high blood pressure are automatically at risk for heart disease and stroke. However, proper diet has been shown to lower blood pressure to acceptable levels.
A clinical study examined the effect of a diet rich in vegetables, fruits and low-fat dairy products on blood pressure. Researchers discovered that when people who have high blood pressure followed this diet strictly, their systolic blood pressure was reduced by about 11mm Hg while the diastolic blood pressure was reduced by almost 6 mm Hg.
Fruits and vegetables and cancer
Many studies have previously shown that there is a possibility that some types of vegetables and fruits can protect against certain kinds of cancer. A report by the American Institute for Cancer Research and the World Cancer Research Fund show that non-starchy vegetables like broccoli, lettuce, bok choy, garlic, onions and cabbages, may be able to protect against cancer of the throat, lungs and esophagus.
Tomatoes are proven to help protect men against cancer of the prostate, mainly because of the lycopene, which is the pigment that gives tomatoes a red hue.
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Article Source :
http://www.articleseen.com/Article_Eat Your Fruits and Vegetables_4106.aspx
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Author Resource :
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Category :
Health and Fitness
:
Health and Fitness
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