All the Little Ways Fruits and Vegetables Benefit You and Your Family
Summer is over and school's back in session. Between juggling kid's homework, after school activities, nutritious breakfast and school lunches, it's tempting to take a few shortcuts here and there with prepackaged foods. But while you're preparing snacks and lunches for your family, take a moment and consider some easy to prepare and healthy snacks! Fruits and vegetables are nature's snacks and they're packed full of vitamins and minerals to keep you and your family healthy.
You can't imagine the benefits of eating more fruits and vegetables on a daily basis. After a while, chips and cookies will be passed over for carrot sticks and strawberries, mental and physical health will improve exponentially — and it won't take long to notice, either. Your kids will have more focus, better concentration, and less insulin induced highs and lows, and they won't have to rely on sugary drinks or fatty snacks to get you through the day.
Potassium Is a Powerhouse
Fruits and vegetables are excellent sources of potassium, and you're spoiled for choice. Spinach, broccoli, and mushrooms are full of it, as are bananas, oranges, and apricots — and that's just the tip of the food pyramid. Snack Tip: Raw broccoli with a bit of salt makes for a crunchy and healthy snack along with or without carrot sticks!
Potassium is critical because it cuts down the risk of heart disease. In addition to improving your cardiovascular health, it decreases your chances of having a stroke later in life. Potassium also guards against kidney stones and the bone loss that naturally occurs as you get older, along with type 2 diabetes. Giving your kids the gift of a healthy diet will go a long way to ensuring their future health!
The Skincare Secret
With all the stress of keeping a busy household running, a time saving tip for moms is simply to load up on fruits and vegetables yourself! Because fruits and vegetables are full of vitamin A, they're incredibly beneficial for your skin and nails. Butternut squash, carrots, and sweet potatoes can ensure that your skin glows from within, although you should watch the carrot intake. Eat too many, and you might take on an orange patina.
The fruits and veggies you eat nourish you because they hydrate you, too. Watermelon, cucumbers, and other juicy specimens hydrate your skin from the inside out, and you can immediately tell the difference. You still need to drink as much water as you can stand every day, but the extra nourishment is an unbeatable beauty secret.
The Energy Boost Is Next-Level
The natural sugars in many fruits, and the vitamins in most types of produce, combine to create an out-of-this-world energy boost, as seen in this Lifesum article. Fruits and vegetables are the best sources of sugar — if you're going to consume sugar at all. These natural carbs will provide carbs in a balanced ratio along with nutrients so you and your family won't crave carbs from less-beneficial sources.
Fruits and Veggies Clean Your System
A diet that consists of a high percentage of produce is excellent for your gastrointestinal health. The indigestible fiber found in fruits and vegetables essentially scrubs out your digestive system because it expands as it absorbs water. Not only does this make you more regular and improve the quality of your stools, it can even help to ease the symptoms of irritable or sensitive bowels. People affected by gastrointestinal disease can benefit from adding more produce to their daily diets, particularly anything rich in fiber.
Eating more fruit and vegetables improves mood, so your whole family can handle the daily stresses with a laugh or two! And as the two sayings go:
"An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away!"
"Laughter is the Best Medicine!"
Who woulda thought that these two famous quotes are just two sides of the same coin? The coin of healthy diet!
The post All the Little Ways Fruits and Vegetables Benefit You and Your Family appeared first on ParentsNeed.
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