Dr. Mercola March 16 2007 27,193 views
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fewer than a third of American adults eat the amount of fruits and vegetables recommended by the government.
This trend has remained steady for more than a decade, and is well below the benchmark for the national goal of getting the majority of Americans to eat two servings of fruits and three servings of vegetables each day by 2010.
The information comes from a massive diet survey of more than 300,000 adults in 2005. It showed that only 27 percent of adults ate vegetables three times a day, and only about 33 percent ate fruit twice a day.
Senior citizens were more likely to eat more fruits and vegetables. Adults aged 18 to 24 ate the fewest vegetables, and those aged 35 to 44 ate the least fruit.Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Vol. 56, No. 10, March 16, 2007: 213-217 Free Full-Text ReportSan Francisco Chronicle March 15, 2007
Dr. Mercola's Comment:
You simply cannot rely on government recommendations to guide you because the "expert panels" that provide these recommendations have consistently been documented to have massive conflict of interests.
This is due to compromising relationships between food lobbyists and the USDA. But even given that, it's clear that the bulk of our population needs to be eating more healthily. Obesity rates in the United States and worldwide are exploding at the same time the average lifespan is falling. If this epidemic of obesity is not reversed we will, for the first time in history, see children living shorter lives than their parents.
Quite amazing when you think about it, that we are actually regressing in health progress.
Eating sufficient vegetables, fruits and other foods, based on your body's unique nutritional type, is one of the most important physical steps you can take toward nipping this corrosive trend. And notice the order I mentioned the sequence, vegetables and fruits.
Most people reverse this and think they are eating healthy if they have an apple or pear. While this is certainly a healthier choice than a candy bar, it is certainly not a replacement for vegetables. So please be sure and eat those veggies as they are one of the basic keys to health.
While eating them please remember that most vegetables are best eaten raw as cooking them tends to severely limit the value they provide to you. When selecting vegetables go for the freshest that you can get. This is why you want to look for LOCAL sources, ideally that are also organic, non-GMO and suited for your unique nutritional type.
The battle against obesity is one of the most important health concerns in our lifetime. Right now, Americans are sicker than most of the rest of the first world. At the same time, U.S. obesity rates are skyrocketing. It doesn't take a lot of medical training to see the obvious connection.
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That should not be hard, as there are both fruits and vegetables in our Congress...
I’m not entirely convinced about the healthfulness of most “modern fruit” as it has such a high sugar content compared to what our Palaeolithic ancestors would have eaten. The only fruit I eat are the smaller, sourer ones like plums and berries – the flavonol content is higher and the sugar content lower. Fruit “vegetables” (tomatoes, cucumbers and eggplants – basically any vegetable with seeds in) are excellent because as opposed to starchy vegetables, they “want” to be eaten – their reproduction and propagation depends on it. Starchy vegetables have lectins (at varying levels) to dissuade animals from eating them and are probably not so healthy when raw.
As Duane would say – just my opinion.