How fruits and vegetables can help you lose weight

Do you remember when you were a little kid, and parents were telling you to "Eat your veggies!"? You hated it. I know, because I hated it too. All you could think of as a child was when you get older you will never eat another one again! Who needs those things anyway?!

Well, the truth is that fruits and vegetables are a very important part of our diets. You basically cannot live without them. If you don’t think so, I suggest you go a week without eating any fruits or veggies, you’ll see then what I mean. You won’t lose any weight, that’s for sure.

The main problem today is that we tend to overcook veggies. When we overcook our veggies, they will either mush or they won’t have the taste they’re supposed to have. That’s the worst thing that you can do to them. You see, when you overcook a veggie, you lose almost everything that is actually good for you. This is very foolish and a waste of money too. Ideally, a person should eat 5-10 servings of veggies per day.

So what is one serving? How big is one serving? A medium sized apple, carrot or banana is one serving. So 5-10 of those doesn't sound too hard, does it?

Basically it is very easy to get the amount of daily veggies that you need. One way is by preparing all these night before. Just before you go to bed, peel and slice anything that you would want to eat the next day. This will not take much time at all. However, you might want to invest in a peeler. It doesn’t cost very much and it’s a great helpful tool. You can buy them at any shop that sells cookware. If you want, you can to cut your veggies and put them in small sandwich bags. Just cut up a variety of things and store them in the small bags.

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When you go to work, keep these fruits and veggies handy. Eat your fruits and veggies on your coffee break; don’t just rush to the nearest vending machine to get a bag of snack chips. You might want to add some salt to your veggies, so have a saltshaker in your desk or in your locker at work. You’d be surprised how a little salt can make veggies more appealing. You can think of these as snacks to go. Make sure you have these bags with veggies if you are going to take a long trip. I’d like to point out to you that soups are a great way to get a serving of your daily veggies. Be aware that some canned soups already have a lot of salt in them. So, if you can make your own soup, that is great and you should do that instead of buying canned soup.

Did you know that a small salad is also 1 serving of veggies? Yes. And when you go out to eat, just order a salad. Please make sure you don’t load it up with bad salad dressing. I’d suggest you go for oil and vinegar. Just put enough oil on your salad to counter act the acidity of the vinegar

If you want to gain maximum from eating fruits and veggies, you need to make sure that you are getting as many fresh fruits and veggies as possible! You see, when they are raw, they are the best for your body. Usually during the canning or freezing process they will cook them slightly. As an example, try eating a can of raw green beans straight from the can. Compare that to a raw green bean, and you’ll see what I mean.

I suggest to you that you eat as many raw veggies as possible. If you really want to cook them, just blanch them slightly. Please do not cook them until they are limp and colorless, because you will lose anything that is worth eating. Always remember - you’re eating fruits and veggies because they are healthy.

Here are some good ways to increase your fruits and veggies consumption:

• For breakfast, I suggest you put some fruit in with your cereal. This will give your cereal a sweet zing without adding a lot of sugar. It’s just great, I just love doing this. Also, don’t forget to make some juice with your fruits. Juice is a great way of eating your fruit. And make sure you get juice with pulp in it; it’s good for you!
  

• For lunch eat salads. Don’t forget – do not load your salads with bad dressings. You can have some veggie sticks handy, these will fill you up. If you’re having a desert, you can have a piece of fruit. This will be much better than eating ice cream, which is a big no-no if you’re trying to lose weight.
• For dinner, I suggest you go for vegetarian pizza or some similar meal that is based around veggies. Always look to try something new. Don’t forget to eat some fish. And why not try some plate that is full of greens and corn? This is good from time to time. You can also mix things however you like.

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So far, you probably understand that fruits and veggies are important in your diet. Very important thing to understand is that you need to make fruits and veggies fun! Always try to experiment and always try some different ways of preparing same kind of fruits and veggies. I suggest you get a cookbook or a favorite cooking site and learn how to eat your fruits and vegetables. If your diet is based around fruits and veggies, you will lose weight, that’s for sure.