Make every Monday the day you recommit to living your healthiest life. Sign up for our free Healthy Monday newsletter full of tips on reducing stress, eating right, getting into an exercise routine, and more.
About.com is a proud participant of Healthy Monday, a project of Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.
Of course, we've always known that we should eat our fruits and vegetables. But science has finally caught up with common sense.
A study in the UK of 16,792 men and women aged 40 to 79 years old investigated people's eating habits and health outcomes. The more fruits and vegetables people ate, the better their overall health. It didn't matter if the people were smokers or had illnesses.
How Much To Eat?
Adding 2 additional portions of fruits and vegetables a day increased the chances that someone would be in good functional health by 11 percent. Make that your goal -- to add two servings of fruits and vegetables a day.How To Do It?
All you have to do is double your veggies at dinner and eat an apple or other piece of fruit as a snack.More on Healthy Aging and Longevity
Sources:
Myint PK, Welch AA, Bingham SA, Surtees PG, Wainwright NW, Luben RN, Wareham NJ, Smith RD, Harvey IM, Day NE, Khaw KT. Fruit and vegetable consumption and self-reported functional health in men and women in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer-Norfolk (EPIC-Norfolk): a population-based cross-sectional study. Public Health Nutr. 2007 Jan;10(1):34-41.
