On August 10, 2011, Chef Donald Miller, Notre Dame Food Services Executive Chef and Jocie Antonelli, Notre Dame Food Services Nutritionist and Registered Dietician, presented the benefits offered by summer fruit: Fruits are one of the five main food groups. This group is full of vitamins, minerals, fiber, enzymes, phytonutrients, and more. In fact, fresh fruits (and vegetables) are so full of nutrients, it is almost impossible to count by hand. The Handbook of Phytochemical Constituents of Generally Regarded as Safe Herbs lists nearly all fresh fruits and vegetables as having roughly 10,000 nutrients! This is why we must eat our fruits and vegetables, rather than trying to rely on taking vitamin and mineral supplements.
The recommendation is for most folks to try and eat 2 servings of fruit daily. A serving size is about a tennis ball sized piece of fruit. Another approach is to follow the USDA’s recommendation, MyPlate. The Food Guide Pyramid has just recently been replaced with the MyPlate concept. It suggests making, “at least half your plate fruits and vegetables”. Also, within this group, try to get as much variety as possible. The more variety you consume, the wider array of nutrients you are making available to your body. One way to get more variety is to eat various colored pieces of fruit, think orange, red, yellow, green, purple, etc….
By eating more fresh fruits and vegetables, you are taking a very important step to improving your health. To help increase your intake, visit Greenfields for your next breakfast or lunch date. You’ll be sure to have many delicious menu items from which to choose. So have another piece and enjoy!
