A new study has uncovered strong evidence that eating more Veggies can help you avoid the stress blues. By more, the researchers involved mean about three or four more servings than you eat now. The study looked at more than 60,000 Australians 45 years old and above over several years…
A beautiful, nutritious spread of Fresh Veggies! Remember: June 16 is Fresh Veggies Day!
Okay. To start, the one part of the Western Diet that is most lacking, nutritionally, is the Fruits and Veggies department. We’ve known that for some time, and doctors, nutritionists and other authorities have been pleading with us all for years to eat more fresh Fruit and Veggies to balance our diets.
Now, though, there’s hard evidence that, within limits, we could all stand to eat a lot more Veggies than we normally do. The University of Sydney study found that folks who doubled or tripled their usual intake of Veggies saw reductions in stress of up to 16 per cent. Those who consumed up to 7 servings of Veggies a day saw stress reductions of up to 23 per cent. But, as we said, there are limits: There were no further stress reduction benefits noted after a total of 7 servings of veggies a day.
“We found that … vegetables were more protective for women than men, suggesting that women may benefit more from … vegetables,” said lead author and University of Sydney PhD student, Binh Nguyen.
Just one hitch: The study also found that eating more Fruit, alone, didn’t have any beneficial effects. Only Veggies.
So…
If, as the medicos say, stress is the leading cause of most of our emotional and physical ills today, then we should all take heed.
The Lettuce, Tomato and Onion on your Burger may not quite constitute one official serving of Veggies, but the bowl full of Greens in your entrée-sized Caesar at Lunch may could count as three.
Whenever possible, eat your Veggies raw. Cooking can wring a lot of the fundamental goodness out of them.
Remember that eating more Veggies will also help keep you regular and make your body happy in general, hanks to the Fibre they bring.
Bottom line…
Stop Fretting and eat more Veggies! Or should that be, eat more veggies so you’ll stop fretting?
~ Maggie J.