English Reading Practice

What Happens to Your Body When You Eat Fruit and Vegetables

Most mothers aim to get as much good food into their children as they can. Of course what you consider as good food largely depends upon what you have been taught, and where your information has come from.

My mother was interested in health and nutrition. Every single day of the year, rain or shine or snow, we had a salad at lunchtime. This used to greatly surprise my school friends, for whom salads belonged to Summertime only.

However, in our mid teens these same friends were asking why I didn't have any spots, with more than a hint of envy. Your diet will always display itself on your skin!

Multi nutrients packaged by nature

Fruit and vegetables contain a wide range of vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids and antioxidants. Provided that the fruit and vegetables you eat are grown in organic conditions you can obtain a range of these vitamins and minerals from them.

Nature presents these in single foods where they work together for the best possible result. You will never find that a fruit or vegetable only has one beneficial vitamin or mineral, they may have more of one, but will also contain others. Instead of generalizing about this, two actual examples are: 

Bananas: these are high in potassium but they also contain 10 other minerals, and 14 vitamins.

Sweet potatoes: these are high in beta carotene or vitamin A, and vitamin C, yet also have some B vitamins and the minerals calcium and potassium.

Eating a variety of fruit and vegetables will give you a selection of these nutrients.

Fruit and vegetables quench thirst

The 'water' that we obtain from fruit and vegetables is life giving. Why? Because it cleanses our bodies inside in a way that normal water does not. Harvey Diamond writes of this in his book, 'Fit for Life,' which was written as a way to lose weight.

Yet it is far more than a weight loss plan, because it offers the way to balance your body internally, using the principles of healthy living, Harvey explains that high water content foods are the only ones that will cleanse and feed you. Only fruit and vegetables fall into this category – any other food is a concentrated food, for example grains, meat, dairy and legumes.

Just consider how important this is to the healthy function of your body. When you take in plenty of natural water in fruit and vegetables, it is having an effect on your cells. It is passing on all the information your cells need to reproduce perfectly, and to keep your body in top condition. This is not to say that you do not need to drink water, but rather, that this alone will not cleanse and nourish in the way that fruit and vegetables do.

How to eat more fruit and vegetables

Of course to keep the most life giving nutrients, it is important to not cook your vegetables or fruit to death! The more of these that can be eaten raw (or steamed) the better it is. Nature gives them to us as a complete food, as often some of the most important nutrients are just under the skin, so by peeling vegetables that only need scrubbing clean, you lose these.

If they are to be cooked, use coconut oil, as this is the only oil that does not spoil at high temperatures.

Eating seasonally and locally also means that you are getting the best quality, as the foods will not have been transported far. The closer to the vegetable garden your plate is, the fresher your food will be.

Fruit must be eaten ripe, not over or under ripe for the most benefit. If you have even tried to catch a pear like this, you will know it is not as simple as it sounds!

Also it is best to eat fruit before and not after other foods.

Two of the easiest ways to get plenty of fruit and vegetables in your diet is to juice them and /or make smoothies – dairy free for best health giving results. Rather than looking to common standard recommendations of 5 per day, your daily consumption needs to be at least 50% of your complete food intake, leaning towards more vegetables than fruit.

Your body will thank you for eating more fruit and vegetables, and as it adjusts to this you will thank your body – for all the energy and vitality you have.

You can read more about eating a diet full of fruit and vegetables (called the Raw Food Diet) here.

Learn fruit and vegetables names:

List of fruit names

List of vegetables names

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