Did you know that June is Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Month and a perfect time to start focusing on the many benefits they bring when added to your diet?
According to the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, individuals should include more fruits and vegetables in their daily diet by aiming to eat 1.5- to 2-cup-equivalents of fruits and 2- to 3-cup-equivalents of vegetables each day. Follow this “handy” guide to portion size.
“Fruits and vegetables are nutritious, can be filling, provide your body with many important nutrients, as well as fiber, and often are a significant source of fluid,” says U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Heidi Clark, a registered dietitian for the Surgeon General’s Associate Corps Chief for Dietetics. However, despite the various benefits of reaching intake goals, many people, service members included, may be unaware of the ways fruits and vegetables can promote health, or they may find it challenging to fit the recommended number of fruits and vegetables into their daily food intake.
In celebration of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Month, we interviewed seven nutrition experts from around the Department of Defense to collect some facts about the importance of fruits and vegetables in the diet and ideas about how both service members and civilians can incorporate more of them into their daily meals.
U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Saunya Bright, a registered dietitian for the Office of the Air Force Surgeon General, highlights how eating more fruits and vegetables is a great way to help maintain a healthy body weight and meet needs for many dietary vitamins and minerals.
“Vegetables are low in fat and calories and are rich in nutrients, including vitamin A, vitamin C, folate, potassium and fiber,” said Bright. “In fact, the vegetable and fruit food groups are the two lowest calorie food groups and the most nutrient dense.”
Bright says fruits and vegetables give you the most bang for your nutritional buck.
“It's worth making the effort to include more of them into your regular eating plan,” said Bright. “Fruits are super easy to add. Most of them don't need to be cooked, so you just have to wash them or peel them and eat them.”
“Eating them is key, though,” says Jennifer Meeks, a public health nutritionist with Defense Health Agency Public Health in Portsmouth, Va. “Don't just buy them and let them rot in the bottom drawer of your fridge.”
This may be particularly important for service members, as a 2015 study published in Military Medicine suggested that approximately one-quarter of soldiers in the study failed to meet Army body composition standards, while more than half failed to meet the daily required intake of several important vitamins and minerals, also called micronutrients.
“Soldiers often seek advice an appropriate macronutrient recommendations (carbohydrates, fats and proteins) but often don’t consider their consumption of micronutrients throughout the day,” says U.S. Army Capt. Stephanie Meno, a registered dietitian and Nutrition Domain lead with Army Holistic Health and Fitness.
Bright says an easy way to help ensure that the need for these micronutrients is being met is to eat a variety of whole fruits and vegetables daily.
“Eat a ‘rainbow’ of color variety by incorporating dark green, red and orange vegetables,” says Bright.
Meeks says meal planning can help ensure you’re getting the right mix with every course.
“Meal planning should also include planning out your vegetable side items,” says Meeks. “Don’t just stop with the main course; there’s room for an extra serving of vegetables at almost every meal.”
Clark says an easy way to accomplish this is by using the USDA MyPlate model, which recommends half of each meal plate consist of fruits and vegetables.
“Envision your dinner plate and envision half of that plate made up of a salad with spinach, tomatoes and carrots next to a small pile of berries,” says Clark. “Or try a plate half full of bright stir-fried carrots, spring peas, broccoli and bok choi. It’s a colorful plate and a healthy plate!”
In addition to helping service members manage their weight and meet dietary needs for important vitamins and minerals, fruits and vegetables can also support physical activity and training.
“One easy way to incorporate additional servings of fruit each day is by including them in pre-, during- and post-workout meals and snacks,” says Meno. “Fresh, dried, and pureed fruits are great sources of carbohydrate to fuel and recover from activity. They are also often less expensive and more accessible than sports gels.”
A 2019 review published in the Journal of Physiology suggests carbohydrates, plentiful in starchy fruits like apples and bananas, are important fuel for muscles and need to be replenished after physical training and even possibly during long-lasting bouts of physical activity. The sugar found in fruits, called fructose, can be an effective way to provide extra carbohydrate to muscles.
Additionally, the various nutrients and beneficial chemical compounds commonly contained in fruits can even help to minimize muscle damage resulting from strenuous activity when consumed as a post-workout snack, as described in a 2021 review of 25 studies, published in the European Journal of Sport Science.
“Fruits and vegetables are high in antioxidants,” says U.S. Army Maj. Brigette Schoonover, a registered dietitian and director of the Performance Nutrition Program for the 82nd Airborne Division Sustainment Brigade. “Antioxidants help the body combat the demanding effects of oxidative stress that happens through physical activity. Eat a variety of dark colored fruits and vegetables (such as kale, spinach, collard or mustard greens, beets, berries, carrots and sweet potatoes) to support performance and recovery.”
Christi Logan, a registered dietitian and Human Performance advisor with U.S. Special Operations Command Preservation of the Force and Family, agrees.
“Consumption of a variety of deeply colored fruits and vegetables mitigates inflammation and metabolic strain stemming from operational and environmental burdens service members endure daily,” says Logan.
Eating certain types of fruit can also contribute to a better night’s sleep, which can in turn promote improved performance and mood, and it makes for a healthy snack before bedtime. Schoonover recommends adding 4 to 6 oz of tart cherry juice or a cherry yogurt parfait 1 to 2 hours before bed.
“Research suggests tart cherry may lead to better and longer sleep, as it naturally contains the sleep promoting compounds tryptophan and melatonin,” says Schoonover. “Plus, its high antioxidant content aids recovery and may reduce muscle soreness from intense physical activity. When choosing products, look for the words ‘tart,’ ‘sour’ or ‘Montmorency cherry.’ Enjoy the juice or make a yogurt parfait with frozen or dried tart cherries and Greek yogurt.”
Finally, fruits and vegetables are powerful allies in the prevention of cancer and other diseases like heart and cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
“Research has shown that fruits and vegetables are a major source of nutrients, and they are linked to lowering our risk of chronic diseases and protecting against certain types of cancer,” says Bright. “Given that obesity is an important risk factor for the development of chronic or long-term diseases like heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure, all of which can become life-long, eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables can go a long way towards helping to manage weight and ensure adequate micronutrient status, both of which can lower the risk for these types of diseases.”
In fact, a 2018 study of U.S. service members published in BMC Public Health reported that service members who had healthy diet patterns, including higher amounts of fruits and vegetables, were less likely to have a medically-diagnosed health condition like high blood pressure or diabetes. And while many younger service members may not even be thinking right now about their risk for cancer, it is never too early to lower the risk for future cancers.
A 2017 review published in the International Journal of Epidemiology examined 95 research studies and concluded that diets rich in fruits and vegetables, particularly green-yellow vegetables and cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower, significantly lowered cancer risk.
“I was on the World Cancer Research Fund and discovered their summary of evidence linking diet to various kinds of cancer,” says Clark. “Even as a pretty experienced nutrition professional, I was amazed at the ties between diet and cancer risk. There is global evidence that diets rich in non-starchy vegetables, foods containing dietary fiber (like fruits and vegetables), foods containing vitamin C and vitamin A (like fruits and vegetables) all are tied to reduced cancer risk.”
Joanna Reagan, a Public Health nutritionist with DHA Public Health in Aberdeen, Md., recommends signing up for a local Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, program or purchasing produce from your local farmers’ market for easy access to seasonal fruits and vegetables.
“CSA is a great way for you to buy local, seasonal produce direct from a farmer in your community,” says Reagan. “Typically, you pick up your food ‘share’ at a convenient drop-off location in your neighborhood. Produce items vary according to the season. You can get strawberries and sugar snap peas in the spring and watermelon and bell peppers in the summer. It might expand your variety of produce items and helps to promote local produce. Some programs will even deliver directly to your doorstep.”
Meeks has a few more tips to help get fruits and vegetables on to your plate:
1. Keep it simple and don't overcomplicate things.
- A serving of fruits and veggies is about the size of your fist. Try to add a fistful of fruits or veggies at every meal.
- For individuals who worry about fresh fruits and vegetables going bad before they can be eaten or about the time needed to prepare vegetables at each meal, frozen vegetables (single ingredient, no sauces) and fruits are terrific things to have on hand. These are picked and frozen when they are in season and can easily be added to any meals.
- If you hate chopping vegetables, buy them frozen and already chopped.
2. There are ways to mask the taste of leafy green vegetables that don’t diminish their benefits.
- From the produce section, have a jumbo box of fresh baby spinach in your fridge. This lets you have a nice base for any salad you might want to add. Alternatively, you can grab a few handfuls of fresh spinach and throw it into any sauce or soup you're heating on the stovetop. Cooked spinach wilts and shrinks quickly, so you won't even taste it, but you get the benefit of an extra serving of dark green veggies.
To summarize, a diet high in fruits and vegetables has numerous health and performance benefits for both service members and civilians alike. For more tips and tricks for incorporating fruits and vegetables into your day, visit HPRC Online for performance nutrition resources.
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