How to get 7 fruits & veggies every day – Healthy eating advice from Her…

Hi, I’m Herbalife nutritionist, Susan Bowerman. A few years back, Dr. Heber and I published the book “What Color is Your Diet?” In the book, we described 7 different color categories of fruits and vegetables, and encouraged our readers to aim for one serving from each color group each day. And while it sounds difficult, or maybe like too much food, it really isn’t. For one thing, those 7 servings could cost you less than 500 calories, and the serving sizes aren’t as big as you might think. Let’s see how you can get this done.

For breakfast, a cup of fruit added to your Herbalife Formula 1 protein shake or stirred into a dish of yogurt will get one serving out of the way right off the bat. Berries will give you a serving from our red-purple group that includes fruits like berries, plums and pomegranate.

At lunchtime, if you have a large salad with romaine lettuce and a sliced tomato, that’s 2 more colorful servings. The lettuce counts as a serving from our yellow-green group, which includes most leafy greens, and the tomato comes from the red group which also includes pink grapefruit and watermelon.

At dinner, if you have a cup each of steamed broccoli and asparagus with your meal, that’s another 2 servings. Our green group includes foods in the cabbage family, like broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower, and the asparagus represents the white-green group, which also includes foods like leeks, onions and artichokes.

We’ve only got two servings to go! Our orange group includes foods like apricots, mango, cantaloupe, winter squash and carrots. Snack on some baby carrots during the day and you’ve got that color taken care of. And lastly, a fresh orange for dessert after lunch or dinner comes from the orange-yellow group, which includes other citrus fruits, pineapple, peaches and papaya.

If you want to know more about which foods make up each of the “Seven Colors of Health”, you can find them posted onhttp://www.DiscoverGoodNutrition.com….

The Color Code System for Fruits and Vegetables
Color coding can be a useful device to introduce diversity into the diet. The different colors are important because the different plant chemicals they represent have different effects on the body. By eating regularly from each group, you will obtain a rich group of phytochemicals to help promote good health.

Color Group: Red (lycopene)
Foods: Tomatoes, pasta sauce, tomato soup, tomato-based juices (spicy or regular), and ketchup; pink grapefruit, guava and watermelon.

Color Group: Red/Purple (anthocyanidins, resveratrol)
Foods: Grapes, red wine, grape juice, prunes, cranberries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, pomegranate, plums, cherries.

Color Group: Orange (alpha- and beta-carotene)
Foods: Carrots, mangos, apricots, winter squash, cantaloupe, pumpkin, acorn squash, sweet potatoes.

Color Group: Orange/Yellow (terpenoids, Vitamin C)
Foods: Orange juice, oranges, tangerines, yellow grapefruit, lemon, lime, peaches,papaya, pineapple; Lemon, lime, and orange zest.

Color Group: Yellow/Green (lutein)
Foods: Spinach, avocado, collard, mustard, or turnip greens, green peas, green beans, green peppers, yellow peppers, cucumber, kiwi.

Color Group: Green (glucosinolates)
Foods: Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage or bok choi.

Color Group: White/Green (allyl Sulfides)
Foods: Garlic, onions, leeks, celery, asparagus, artichoke, endive, chives.

Adapted From: What Color is Your Diet? David Heber and Susan Bowerman, New York: Harper Collins, 2001

****

Herbalife nutritionist, Susan Bowerman explains how you can get 7 servings of fruits & veggies everyday. There are different color categories for fruits & veggies, as described in the book “Seven Colors of Health”. Aiming for one serving of fruits & veggies from each color category can help you reach your daily serving amount.

Advertisement

Great ways to season your veggies – Nutrition advice from Herbalife

Yogurt & Probiotics promote digestive health

By Susan Bowerman, May 13, 2010

If you’ve spent any time in the yogurt section of your local supermarket lately, you might see more and more products that highlight their “live active cultures” – a nice way of saying that the yogurt is full of bacteria.

While the idea of consuming bacteria in the diet may not sound appealing, probiotic bacteria found in yogurt and other fermented dairy products can promote digestive health.

Probiotics are beneficial bacteria that help maintain the proper balance of the microorganisms (called flora) that live in your digestive tract.  Your digestive system is home to hundreds of types of probiotics, and these helpful bacteria keep the growth of other, potentially harmful, bacteria at bay – thus promoting healthy digestion.

The bacteria in your system also help to break down foods that are resistant to normal digestion, allowing you to obtain more nutrients from your foods.  In the process, gas is produced – but we have other gas-guzzling bacteria that keep its production in check.  So, a healthy balance of these various intestinal ‘bugs’ is key to a well-functioning digestive tract.

One of the most common strains of probiotic bacteria that reside in your intestines is Lactobacillus acidophilus, which is found in yogurt.  When you eat yogurt that has ‘active, live cultures’ (the label will tell you), you can be assured that you are consuming this healthy probiotic.

Written by Susan Bowerman, MS, RD, CSSD. Susan is a paid consultant for Herbalife.

Sharing Susan’s article on Yogurt but please remember that we all also have two incredible Herbalife products to ensure healthy gut flora with Aloe Vera drink, a prebiotic and Florafiber, full of flora, acidolphilus, & lactobacillis