Habit 3: Eat At Least 5 Servings of Veggies per Day

Can you believe that next Monday, April 28th, we are halfway through S3?

Time Flies!

With that halfway mark comes the introduction of the 3rd habit.

Habit 3: Eat At Least 5 Servings of Veggies per Day

Vegetables (and fruit) are loaded with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fiber. There is no substitute for the power of vegetables as part of your nutrition plan.

Your mom is not the only one who knew the scoop on how great vegetables are for you. Here’s what Dr. John Berardi over at Precision Nutrition has to say:

“Eating higher levels of veggies and fruits are associated with a lower incidence of:

• Cardiovascular disease
• Colon, prostate, cervical, lung, ovarian, pancreatic, thyroid, and breast cancer
• High blood cholesterol
• High blood pressure
• Type 2 diabetes
• Obesity
• Stroke
• Osteoporosis
• and a lot more that aren’t on this list…”

Here’s a pretty cool graphic (also from PN) that illustrates another great thing about vegetables – they fill you up, literally!

Getting in 5 servings a day is much simpler than you might think, so no worries – ok?

When it comes right down to it 10 servings per day is where we want you to be, but you gotta start somewhere, right?

Think about it.

If you have a salad for lunch with 4 cups of spinach and 15 cherry tomatoes, you’ve got your five.

That’s not that hard, now is it?

Here’s a handy list, with amounts, to get you started:

5 broccoli florets
10 baby carrots
1 tomato
4 slices of onion
1 cup of leafy greens (spring mix)
15 cherry tomatoes
0.5 bell pepper
1 cup of spinach in a Super Shake
1 banana
6 strawberries
2 plums
15 grapes
1 apple
1 peach

Important notes:

Eat 3-5 servings of vegetables for each serving of fruit. Veggies First.

There are no potatoes or corn on this list. That is not an accident.

Other vegetables to try: cauliflower, cabbage, bok choy
Check out this list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_vegetables

So how do you score your point starting in Week 5 (Monday May 28th)?

By doing S3 Habits 1, 2 & 3

• S3 Habit 1: Eat within 1 hour of waking or consume post-training nutrition
• S3 Habit 2: Eat lean protein with at least 3 meals per day
• S3 Habit 3: Eat at least 5 servings of veggies per day

Make It Happen!