Twenty-Five Ways to Get Your 5 Fruits and Vegetables a Day

I was recently asked, 'Name the one most important thing you can do to have a healthy diet.' It wasn't difficult to answer. My immediate response was, 'Get your five a day!' That is, get your five servings of fruits and vegetables every day.

While it may not sound like a daunting task, most Americans do not meet this minimum Food Guide Pyramid guideline of two fruit and three vegetable servings per day. According to the Produce for Better Health Foundation, just 27% of women and 19% of men report eating the daily recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables. And, unfortunately, a large contributor of Americans' vegetable intakes is French fries.

Our fruit intake needs a makeover, too. While we do OK trying to get our vitamin "C" by sipping our morning OJ, we lack the big "V" -- variety.

Why do we need five a day? In a mouthful, fruits and veggies are tasty, vibrantly colored, nutrient-packed, fiber-filled, often inexpensive, naturally sweet or savory bites of wholesome goodness all rolled-up with their own mostly-edible packaging. Most importantly, eating five a day can help reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and many other illnesses.

So, is there any good excuse why you can't get five a day? Nope! Not even the "I don't have time" excuse works. I like to call fruits and veggies "Mother Nature's original convenience food." How long does it actually take to pop a grape into your mouth or peel a banana?

Try these quick and easy tips to get your five a day everyday:

• Mash a banana on your toast for breakfast on-the-dash
  
  
• Need a flavorful thirst-quencher? Sip real fruit juice instead of soda
  
  
• Pair meat with fruit, like pork tenderloin with warm applesauce, instead of drowning meats in artery-clogging sauces or gravies
  
  
• Grab a handful of zingy dried fruit instead of greasy, salty chips
  
  
• Freeze grapes or blueberries. Pop 'em into your mouth like mini-Popsicles.
  
  
• Keep a package of raisins in your briefcase or purse for a quick energy boost
  
  
• Have a fruit bowl in site (make sure it has fruit in it!) for planned snacking between meals
  
  
• Spice-up your food with salsa -- on almost anything. A half cup counts as a veggie serving
  
  
• Have a V8!
  
  
• Make sandwiches "top heavy" with extra lettuce, tomatoes, onions and peppers
  
  
• If you're not already a vegetarian, plan a vegetarian day each week
  
  
• Wanna nibble? It's hard to beat baby carrots for their pure crunching satisfaction
  
  
• Don't forget about convenience veggies -- frozen or canned. They count, too!
  
  
• Move over meat and poultry. Make them side dishes so your veggies become entrées
  
  
• Start the day by spiking your breakfast. Spike cereal with blueberries, sliced strawberries or dried fruit; spike eggs with diced green and red peppers
  
  
• Slurp a smoothie. Simply blend apple juice with frozen strawberries and bananas -- no ice required. Slurp away
  
  
• Double- or triple-up! It's OK to eat all your fruit or veggie servings at one meal
  
  
• Mix and match you fruits with veggies. Sprinkle currants into cooked spinach; toss your salad with apple or orange segments
  
  
• Need a chip fix? Go for a veggie chips
  
  
• Chop up veggies and place in convenient one-serving baggies to grab as a snack on-the-run
  
  
• Opt for entrées like stir-fries and kebabs with meat or poultry and veggies
  
  
• Instead of water or salty broth, simmer or poach fish or chicken in fruit or veggie juice

Use your imagination. Create excitement to stir up your veggie appetite. How 'bout mashed carrots instead of mashed potatoes or sweet potato fries instead of French fries? Search a cookbook or Web site -- day or night -- for new fruits and veggie ideas.

Print and post this article on the fridge for your daily five a day reminder!