Jika mengikuti pola hidup sehat menjadi salah satu resolusi Anda di tahun 2023

Dear pembaca,

Di awal tahun ini, mungkin pola hidup sehat menjadi salah satu resolusi Anda. Sila mengikuti petunjuk di Washington Post ini. Selamat memasuki tahun 2023.

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strategies for eating more vegetables: Start by not overthinking it

by Ellie Krieger,

Whatever your wellness goals for the new year, one powerful change could go a long way toward your success: Eat more vegetables. The proven benefits of doing so read like an infomercial: Boost gut health! Manage blood sugar! Reduce inflammation! Improve immunity! Keep blood pressure in check! Lower risk of heart disease! Support a healthy weight! But wait, there's more! In this case, however, the too-good-to-be-true is actually true.

We know why, to a degree. Vegetables brim with health-protective compounds, including essential vitamins and minerals, fiber, and a broad spectrum of antioxidants, which destroy damaging free radicals in the body. Scientists have isolated and studied many of these plant compounds, but they have only scratched the surface. One thing they have discovered is that taking the compounds in pill form doesn't have the same benefit. It's the package deal of the vegetable that protects us. As David Katz, a specialist in preventive and lifestyle medicine, so cleverly put it, "The active ingredient in broccoli is broccoli."

Yet roughly 90 percent of Americans fall short of the recommended vegetable intake (two to three cups a day for women and three to four cups a day for men), and about 62 percent of the vegetables we do eat come from the same five sources, three of which are white-potato-based, with one of the most common being french fries, according to a study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in 2022. Not that there's anything wrong with potatoes — they are nutrient-rich and darn delicious. We just need to branch out (and fry less often).

Vegetables have unique nutrient and antioxidant profiles, so more variety is key to a broader spectrum of health-protective benefits. Color is a helpful cue, since different antioxidants impart different hues to food. Harnessing the full color wheel of produce (including white) not only works in our favor nutritionally, it also makes our meals so much more alluring.

On top of the nutrients you get from eating more vegetables, there is a beneficial displacement factor. Opt for, say, mushrooms and peppers on your pizza instead of your usual pepperoni, or dip sliced cucumbers rather than pita chips in your hummus, and you not only get more nutrition, you also, by default, typically reduce calories, sodium, refined grains and processed meats. But it's not an all-or-nothing proposition. Even if you get mushrooms, peppers and pepperoni on your pizza, you're still better off.

(I know, I know, mushrooms are not vegetables, botanically speaking. Neither are tomatoes, cucumbers or zucchini, for that matter, but from a nutritional and culinary point of view they all count as vegetables.)

Whether you are a beginner who is ready to venture beyond the occasional baby carrot or a vegetable aficionado who wants to broaden your horizons, here are simple ways to eat more plants.

Source: 4 easy strategies for adding more vegetables to your plate - The Washington Post

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