It’s no secret that fruits and vegetables are part of healthy eating. They are nutrient rich (vitamins, minerals and fiber) and relatively low in calories. So, we know they are healthy but there are other questions to be answered—How much? Which ones? Should I buy local?

Choose Color

One way to gauge the variety of the fruits and vegetables in your diet is to look at the colors on your plate. To start with choose dark green, orange, yellow and reds to pack your plate with nutrients.

More Matters

The more the better (while staying in your calorie requirements). A good start is to add a new fruit or vegetable to one meal each day and then increase it every few weeks. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has a great website www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov where you can find out how many fruits and vegetables you should be eating each day based on your age, sex, and activity level, as well as, recipe ideas, featured fruits and vegetables, and budget tips for stretching your fruit and vegetable budget.

Fresh or Frozen

Fresh or frozen, fruits and vegetables are good for you, however there are things to look for when choosing the frozen option—with vegetables watch out for sauces with added calories, when in doubt go for the plain ones. With fruits often times sweeteners are added so make sure you are purchasing the unsweetened.

Look Local

Farmers markets provide an excellent opportunity to choose new fresh fruits and vegetables and support your local community (read Eat Healthy and Help the Local Louisiana Economy for more information).  You can also be sure that what you are buying is in season! There are several farmers markets throughout New Orleans, here are a few:

Crescent City Farmers Market Has an Uptown, Mid-City and Downtown market. Check out their website for fruit and vegetable offerings.

Hollygrove Market and Farm Offers a bi-weekly market in Hollygrove, as well as, a community garden.

French Market You can find clothes, art, and jewelry, but tucked in between are several produce vendors offering locally grown Louisiana produce.

Whether you choose strawberries from Ponchatoula, turnip greens from Amite, or frozen broccoli from Rouses, make fruits and vegetables a part of your day!

What’s your favorite fruit and vegetable?!?

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Lauren Futrell Dunaway, MPH, RD, graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in Dietetics.  She then completed her dietetic internship at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. After becoming a Registered Dietitian, she began to pursue a Master of Public Health in Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Lauren currently works at the Tulane Prevention Research Center as a program manager for their core research project focusing on the built environment and how it affects obesity.

Almost 75% of our body is made up of water. However, this water is not in its pure form. It has salt dissolved in it that helps in a number of functions of the body. Salt present in the cells and tissues of our body helps in muscle contraction, proper conduction of nerve impulses and transport of nutrients into the cells.

So yes, we need salt but unfortunately we end up getting way above what our daily allowance should be.

Some Facts you Need to Know about Salt

– Sodium is a component of salt. One (1) teaspoon contains about 6 grams of salt. Six (6) grams of salt contains about 2400 mg of sodium

– The amount of sodium considered adequate to promote good health in adults is 1,500 mg per day – not to exceed 2,300 mg of sodium per day. No more than a teaspoon.

– Although salt is the major source of sodium in our food, sodium is also a component of other ingredients, such as sodium bicarbonate used in baking and monosodium glutamate used as a flavor enhancer.

– Too much sodium in the diet can lead to health problems. It is one of the risk factors that contribute towards high blood pressure (hypertension), which substantially increases the risk of developing which substantially increases the risk of developing heart disease or stroke.

– Sodium and chloride levels are comparatively low in all foods which have not been processed. However, salt has been used as a preservative and a flavoring agent for centuries.

– Widely cited figures from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) lay about 77% of the sodium blame on processed and restaurant foods, with only 5%, 6% and 12% coming from cooking, table use and natural sources, respectively. Salt, quite frankly, is everywhere.

– In an analysis of more than 550 commercially prepared foods in 2005, CSPI found that even one dish could bump you near or over your daily recommendation, including: Swanson’s Hungry Man XXL dinners, 3,180 mg to 5,410 mg; and Denny’s Lumberjack Slam breakfast: 4,460 mg.

Salt and your Kidneys

Your kidneys regulate the amount of sodium kept in your body. When sodium levels are low, your kidneys conserve sodium. When levels are high, they excrete the excess amount in urine.

If your kidneys can’t eliminate enough sodium, the sodium starts to accumulate in your blood. Because sodium attracts and holds water, your blood volume increases. Increased blood volume, in turn, makes your heart work harder to move more blood through your blood vessels, increasing pressure in your arteries. Certain diseases such as congestive heart failure, cirrhosis and chronic kidney disease can lead to an inability to regulate sodium.

Tips for Reducing Sodium in Your Diet (Source Your Guide to Lowering High Blood Pressure)

• Buy Fresh, plain frozen or canned “with no salt added” vegetables
• Use fresh poultry, fish and lean meat, rather than canned processes types.
• Use herbs, spices and salt-free seasoning blends in cooking and at the table
• Cook rice, pasta and hot cereals without salt.  Cut back on instant and flavored rice, pasta, and cereal mixes, which usually have added salt.
• Choose “convenience” foods that are lower in sodium. Cut back on frozen dinners, pizza, packaged mixes, canned soups or broths, and salad dressings — these often have a lot of sodium
• Rinse canned foods, such as tuna, to remove some sodium
• When available, buy low- or reduced-sodium, or no-salt-added versions of foods.
• Next time you cook gumbo or jambalaya…skip adding any type of salt – there’s already plenty in it in the ingredients you are cooking with!!

Needing and wanting salt is an acquired taste.  If you salt your food, slowly start reducing how much salt you add when cooking or when food is served.  Eventually, you will not miss the taste of salt and you’ll be much better off for it.

Next time we discuss salt – we’ll have a look at what some say is healthier salt…Sea Salt.

Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, is one of the most talked about and most recognized vitamins of the 13 essential vitamins.  Like other vitamins, the body does not produce vitamin C, nor does it store it. It’s important to get your daily allowance of vitamin C through foods rich in vitamin C and/or by taking vitamin C supplements.

Vitamin C Foods (a few):

• Oranges
• Kiwifruit
• Bell Peppers
• Spinach
• Broccoli
• Grapefruit

You’ll find Vitamin C at the top of virtually any list pertaining to immune health. Extensive research is available and has gone into exploring the benefits and impact of Vitamin C. The ability for Vitamin C to cure the disease scurvy was discovered by a Scottish surgeon in the British Royal Navy, James Lind.  In 1753, Dr. Lind wrote his findings from an experiment where he fed sailors citrus fruit everyday during a long sea journey – none of the sailors got scurvy which was very common during that time period on long journeys at sea.

Vitamin C is a very good antioxidant and does a great job at protecting the body against pollutants and free radicals, which is allegedly how vitamin C boosts immune health.  In addition to immune health, vitamin C helps regulate tissue growth & repair, healthy gums, enhance iron absorption, protect from infection and may help reduce cholesterol and high blood pressure.

As I mentioned above, there has been extensive research about vitamin C but it does turnout that the studies have mixed results.  You see, some studies argue vitamin C does little to help boost the average person’s immune system.  However, if you’re an active person who stresses the human body, such as an athlete, than taking vitamin C shows significant increases in immune system health.  Vitamin C and its immune boosting properties are arguable at this point; however, the majority of studies show positive immune health by taking the recommended daily allowance.  I can personally say vitamin C works for me; I notice a big difference if I don’t take it.

No matter what, there is no debating that you need vitamin C (you don’t want to end up with scurvy) so if you can’t get your recommended dose from food, fruits and vegetables; vitamin C is thankfully a relatively cheap vitamin to purchase and it can be bought at nearly any store that sells vitamins, supplements, groceries, etc.

Having talked about some of the benefits, it’s important for people to understand vitamin C is not a cure-all for diseases and physical problems; this seems to be big misunderstanding.  Part of this confusion stems from its reported prevention of degenerative and cardiovascular diseases.  Although vitamin C may help prevent these diseases, the reliability on just vitamin C to do this is not valid.  Generally, vitamin C, among other vitamins and nutrients, work synergistically to prevent such diseases.  There are great articles to research about different diseases and physical problems where vitamin C can potentially be of benefit.

The recommended dose is 200 – 350 milligrams per day; smokers and people who consume alcohol need to consume more vitamin C.  For people who take vitamin C supplements, the best practice is to evenly space them out over the course of a day.  Just like with many other vitamins and supplements, your body will rid them through urine therefore; you’ll be wasting money by taking more than you need at one given time.

Let us know if you take vitamin C and what kind of results you get from it.

Welcome to my initial introduction to vitamins.  The multivitamin. Okay, it’s not always just one vitamin but getting the right multivitamin/or multivitamin pack to match your lifestyle is a great way to get started.  People live different lifestyles and as a result, everyone’s nutritional needs vary – but there is a multivitamin out there for you.  Do you live a stressful life?  Are you in the process of changing your diet to a healthier one?  Venturing back into the local gym to crank out some weight training?  A good multivitamin will help you feel better and make this transition easier.

I talk to people frequently about vitamins and the common trend is they don’t seem to be aware of the multivitamin variations.  For instance, I’m a bodybuilder so I need extra nutrients added like amino acids, digestive enzymes, lipotropics, alpha lipoic acid and L-arginine, to name a few.  When a woman is pregnant, she should look for a multivitamin, generally a prenatal choice, that is higher in folic acid and B-vitamins which will help reduce the risk of birth defects of the brain and spinal cord.  Elderly individuals should try to find a multivitamin that is higher in iron, calcium and magnesium which will help lower blood pressure, reduce anemia and help maintain normal muscle and nerve function.  As you can see, it’s important to know what you’re looking for when choosing the right one! Most supplement companies pre-package their vitamin bottles and packs to match common lifestyles, sexes and age groups. Women and men have different needs.

No matter which multivitamin you choose, as a baseline, make sure you look for the recommended daily allowance of the 13 essential vitamins:

• Vitamin A – Retinol
• Vitamin C – Ascorbic Acid
• Vitamin D – Ergocalciferol & Cholecalciferol
• Vitamin E – Alpha Tocopherol
• Vitamin K – Ketamine
• Vitamin B1 – Thiamine
• Vitamin B2 – Riboflavin
• Vitamin B3 – Niacin
• Vitamin B5 – Pantothenic Acid
• Vitamin B6 – Pyridoxine
• Vitamin B7 – Biotin
• Vitamin B9 – Folic Acid
• Vitamin B12 – Cobalamin

Generally, a good multivitamin will aid your body in recovery from strenuous activity, provide additional energy and help you maintain a positive state of well-being.  There are several more benefits but those are a few highlights.  Don’t be one of those people who quickly gets discouraged when taking multivitamins because you don’t immediately feel any changes; look at your diet and determine if it’s healthy.  Diet will play a big role in the effectiveness of your multivitamin – they go hand-in-hand.

We’ll be talking a lot more about vitamins, but I wanted to kick things off  by letting you know that choosing the right multivitamin will provide a solid foundation for your health and nutrition.

Start your day tomorrow by taking your multivitamin.