By Staff
Other View
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a goal.
They want to get 75 percent of America's adults to eat two servings of fruits and three of vegetables each day by 2010.
But a telephone survey of more than 305,000 adults showed that fewer than a third of us are eating those recommended amounts.
Senior citizens were more likely than others to follow Mom's advice to eat more veggies, with slightly more than a third of that group eating three or more servings each day. Younger adults, age 18 to 24, ate the fewest vegetables. Nearly four-fifths of that age category scraped the veggies to the side of their plates – if they had vegetables on the plate at all.
Likewise, seniors also ate the most fruit, with nearly 46 percent eating two or more servings of fruit daily. People age 35 to 44 ate fruit the least, with fewer than 28 percent eating the recommended amount of fruit each day.
Susan Krause, a clinical dietitian at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, said people are eating more refined sugars or choosing protein instead of fruits and vegetables. Most just choose their meals for convenience.
It only takes a little water to get most fruits ready for consumption. Frozen selections make serving vegetables easier, too.
Dare to be different. Work some more of the good stuff into your diet. You'll feel better and be healthier in the long run, too.