Just a finger?

Yesterday, a friend offered me some bunch of bananas she was eating of which I took a finger to eat. She asked in a surprising tone if that would be enough for me. I answered in the affirmative, explaining to her how a medium size banana would do the same job as a bunch will do. She laughed and told me she would never eat a finger of banana while shaking her head at me. Thankfully, her head did not fall off (lol). Smiling, I asked her the size of Water Melon she eats. "Water Melon? I don't like that fruit. Infact the only fruit I eat is banana because that is what I like", she replied.

Hello Dearies, how are you doing? How did the first working week in February go? This is my second post on fruits and vegetables, in which I will give you more information and tips on them to enable you become a healthier you. If you missed the first post, you can read it here. In this post, I will look at portion size (amount, quantity) and the need for us to include different fruits and vegetables in our daily diet.

Like I mentioned in the first post, fruits and vegetables are to be eaten everyday and not few days of the week or month (Go here for a recap). In order to achieve the amount of Vitamins (especially B and C, Folic Acid) and Minerals and other nutrients, which our bodies need to protect us from diseases and promote our wellbeing, it is recommended for us to eat at least 5 portion sizes of fruits and vegetables per day. A portion size of a fruit or vegetable can be one-medium size of the fruit/vegetable, a handful of the fruit/vegetable, half slice of the fruit/vegetables. For example; 1-medium tomato, a handful of grapes and 1- slice (2-inch slice) of Water Melon. When we eat the right portion size of a fruit or vegetable, we provide the body the amount of each Vitamin and/or Mineral it needs to function properly. Do not therefore be worried or surprised like my friend, when you have only one medium banana to eat in the morning.

Eating different fruits and vegetables is the best way to go. Like the saying, variety is the spice of life, so it is when we want to eat healthily and for that matter, fruits and vegetables. When different varieties of fruits and vegetables are eaten, we make available the different types of Vitamins, Minerals and other nutrients, which each fruit and vegetable contains, to the body, enabling it to carry out its function well to protect and promote our wellbeing. If you are like my friend who only eats banana, you are most likely depriving your body some vitamins and minerals and this can be detrimental to your health. Imagine this; you are always eating only fruit A and this fruit lacks Vitamin C, which is needed for maintaining healthy connective tissues, how would your connective tissues be made healthy then? Hope you see and appreciate the point I am making. This therefore means we are to include different fruits and vegetables in our diet. The rainbow can be a guide when choosing the 5 portions (at least) fruits and vegetables for our daily diet , different colour of fruit and vegetable.   

I will end the second post on fruits and vegetables. I hope I have answered some of your questions. In my next post, I will look at how to "hunt" for fruits and vegetables and how we can have a low budget on them. As much as I would have loved to continue the fruit and vegetables series next week, I have to postpone it to the week after and for the Valentine Day celebrations. Yes! next week is St. Valentine's Day.

I am sharing this blog post with my friend, I hope you will do same with your loved ones, so together we can become a healthier us.

Do remember to like us on Facebook  (www.facebook.com/olimehealth) if you have not and if you have, invite a loved one to like us, so they do not miss out on the healthy tips being shared on the page each day .

Till then, Cheers!

Pictures: Courtesy Google images

Posted in: Fruits, Portion size, Variety, Vegetables, Wellbeing