If it’s hard to give up junk food, you should start by adding more fruits and vegetables
There are foods that are always on the cutting board of controversy as to whether they are good or bad for your health. Coffee, chocolate, wine, etc. On the other hand, there are foods that are highly emphasized for their good qualities. It’s just fruits and vegetables.
Coffee contains antioxidants, which play a role in removing active oxygen in the body, but at the same time, there are documents pointing out the disadvantages as coffee can promote diuretic action and gastric acid secretion due to its high caffeine content. Chocolate also contains antioxidants. However, health risks have been highlighted due to its high caffeine content and high calories. Research findings suggest that one drink a day is beneficial to health, and conflicting research findings have been published suggesting that even one drink is bad for the body.
Fruits and vegetables are undoubtedly the healthiest foods. Studies have shown that eating 400 grams of fruits and vegetables a day can help prevent chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease, dementia and stroke. Since it’s not easy to know what the harvest is, the USDA has proposed the slogan: “Fill half your plate with plant foods.” Unfortunately, Americans’ eating habits have not been improved easily.
In our food culture, which doesn’t eat less food on a plate, you can understand this by saying that you should eat about 2 cups of fruit and 3 cups of vegetables a day. What kind of positive changes will occur in our body when we replenish this amount?
Proven to improve physical and mental health
One of the powerful benefits of eating fruits and vegetables is the “prevention of cardiovascular disease.” According to a study published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, people who ate 500 grams of fruit and vegetables a day had a 16% lower risk of dying from heart disease than those who ate less than 50 grams.
What plays a big role here is “soluble fiber.” It lowers blood cholesterol levels and reduces the amount of glucose absorbed in the intestines. When sugar is rapidly absorbed in the intestines, blood sugar rises and insulin levels rise, increasing the risk of developing diabetes. Damage to blood vessels also increases the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Vitamin C also plays an important role. Studies have shown that it reduces the risk of death from cardiovascular disease by 21% by controlling the inflammation that damages the arteries. Various minerals in plant foods reduce the risk of stroke. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that consuming fruit and vegetables reduces the risk of stroke by 10-19%. Especially when your sodium intake is high, you should eat plant foods that are high in potassium. Sodium draws water into cells and raises blood pressure, but potassium draws water and lowers blood pressure to help protect cardiovascular health.
Eating fruits and vegetables is also beneficial for mental health. This means it may also help prevent or delay dementia. Leafy greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, kiwis, apples, berries, and citrus fruits have been featured in articles supporting brain health.
Flavonoids, a component of the yellow pigment in plants, increase blood flow to the brain, suppress inflammation and protect brain cells from the “amyloid plaques” that cause Alzheimer’s. Fruits and vegetables have various colors such as red, yellow, orange and green, and the ingredients that produce these colors protect cells and help prevent cancer.
“Junk food tastes better” Rather than immediately replacing it with fruits and vegetables…
Eating fruits and vegetables is also beneficial for weight management. To lose weight, you basically need to eat less, but that alone isn’t enough. You can manage your weight without any problems if you fill up on the necessary nutrients well. Fruits and vegetables are relatively low in calories but high in nutrients. Thanks to the fiber, it is also high in satiety.
Unfortunately, there’s a reason people haven’t been able to focus on eating fruits and vegetables since the 1980s, when obesity rates began to soar rapidly. This is because the consumption of processed foods that are easy to cook and easy to transport has increased rapidly.
Processed foods are relatively low in nutritional value, but they stimulate the taste buds so strongly that they arouse the desire to continue eating. It doesn’t work if you try to replace junk food with fruits and vegetables because they taste good. As a result, despite the US Department of Agriculture’s slogan, fruit and vegetable intake isn’t increasing well.
In this case, there is a way. Experts recommend making a habit of eating more salads or fruit each day rather than giving up junk food right away. This will help you gradually increase your fruit and vegetable intake and reduce your junk food intake.
