How can eating healthier improve your life?

Watch videos HERE in support to Tasty Tuesday! 

Enjoy a tasty cooking video from our own Certified Lifestyle Medicine Educator, Trish Smith.  Trish travels to our schools to teach staff about nutritious, fun food to support the science of how to live a healthy, long life. Cooking with Friends – Waffles & Topping

There’s no magic recipe for a longer life.

But the recommendation that you should eat 2 servings of fruit and 3 servings of vegetables daily comes pretty close.

“Fruits and vegetables are naturally packaged sources of nutrients that can be included in most meals and snacks, and they are essential for keeping our hearts and bodies healthy,” said Dr. Anne Thorndike, chair of the American Heart Association’s nutrition committee and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Not all fruits and vegetables are created equal, however.

Researchers found longevity benefits in foods such as green leafy vegetables like spinach, lettuce, and kale, as well as fruit and vegetables rich in beta carotene and vitamin C, such as citrus fruits, berries, and carrots.

Green, leafy vegetables are “folate-rich foods [that] are highly anti-inflammatory, promoting the body’s natural detoxification process and improving mental health,” Uma Naidoo, a nutritional psychiatrist and author of “This Is Your Brain on Food,” told Healthline.

“Then, you have the nonstarchy vegetables like cucumbers, radish, asparagus, cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower. These are abundant in polyphenols and fiber, which improves gut health and promotes a balanced immune system and mood,” Naidoo added.  Starchy vegetables such as peas, corn, and potatoes weren’t associated with decreased risk of death during the study period.

“Vegetables should make up the majority of your meals, with meats and other foods used as side dishes or accompaniments,” Hanks added. “The fact that you can increase your lifespan and prevent death simply by eating more fruits and vegetables is astonishing, and there is no reason why people shouldn’t strive to eat as many as possible.”

Visit healthline for more tips and information about healthy eating!