A balanced diet includes eating enough vegetables and fruits

The core is a sufficient variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, of which dark fruits and vegetables should preferably account for more than half.

I have been doing family catering for almost 3 years, and I encountered many pitfalls in the beginning. I always wanted to buy expensive imported fruits and vegetables, or I kept looking at the "anti-cancer magic vegetables" and "fat-loss champion fruits" posted on the Internet. Later, after talking more with friends who do nutrition education at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, I realized that the nutritional diversity of fruits and vegetables is far more important than the so-called "high nutrition" of a single variety.

I just adjusted the meal menu of an office girl last week. In order to lose fat, she ate boiled broccoli + cherry tomatoes. After eating it for two weeks, she became constipated and her hair cracks became much wider. I added purple cabbage, fast vegetables, and fresh mushrooms to the vegetables, and replaced the fruits with seasonal winter dates and ordinary red Fuji. Within two weeks, she said she was feeling much better. In fact, the type of nutrients she consumed before was too single, and she lacked many necessary trace elements and dietary fiber.

What everyone is arguing about now is the issue of whether fruits and vegetables can be eaten out of season. I have met many elders who would rather eat cabbage stored in cellars for more than half a month than colorful peppers grown in greenhouses out of season. In fact, both opinions have basis: people who are concerned about out-of-season vegetables and fruits are mostly worried that greenhouse planting of fruits and vegetables will not have enough light and accumulated temperature, which will reduce nutrition, and may cause pesticide residues to exceed standards; but now the fruits and vegetables that are officially on the market must pass pesticide residue testing, and the nutritional gap between out-of-season varieties is actually very small. If the only choices are cabbage and radishes in winter, it is better to eat out-of-season colored peppers and cucumbers to get more nutrients.

In fact, choosing fruits and vegetables is simple and easy, just like putting together a rainbow plate for the body. Green spinach and lettuce supplement folic acid and iron, red and orange tomatoes, carrots, and mangoes supplement carotenoids, and purple and black purple cabbage, mulberries, and blueberries supplement anthocyanins. Even types that are usually overlooked, such as oyster mushrooms and fresh edamame, can also supplement plant polysaccharides and amino acids that are rare in leafy vegetables. The more complex the colors, the more "nutritional eggs" you can get.

There is really no need to deliberately pursue imported organic varieties. I have specifically checked the nutritional information table before. The vitamin C content of ordinary oranges that cost 3 yuan per catty in the vegetable market downstairs is not much different from that of imported kiwi fruits that cost more than 20 yuan per catty. The price-performance ratio is much higher. The only thing I want to remind you is, don’t count squeezed juices and candied dried fruits as fresh fruits. Not only do they lose most of the dietary fiber, but they are also high in sugar. They really cannot be considered a qualified fruit intake.