Fruits and Vegetables

Everyone should make vegetables and fruits a mainstay of their diet. Not only do they provide nutrients, vitamins and minerals, they provide bulk and fiber which help you to feel full and keep your body functioning properly.

Variety is they key, and eating seasonal produce will ensure that you get many different fruits and vegetables all year long.

I have written many times about the CSA that I belong to, a CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, where the farmer delivers directly to a central drop off for subscribers or to your home. I work at San Jose State University and they have a CSA program there, I pick up my produce every Tuesday.

I don't have a choice as to what I am receiving, I get what is seasonal and ready that day. I love it! I eat everything and have learned to love so many different vegetables that I wouldn't normally buy at the grocery store. This is a picture of one of my deliveries.

I read a short article in the paper recently and fruit and vegetable consumption in the United States is down, and it is no wonder we are a nation of overweight people with heart disease, here is an excerpt of that article:

Most Americans still don't eat vegetables often enough, and fruit consumption is actually dropping a little, according to a new government report released Thursday.


The federal Centers of Disease Control and Prevention found that last year about one-third of U.S. adults consumed fruit or fruit juice at least twice a day. That's down slightly from more than 34 percent in 2000.

Only about 26 percent ate vegetables three or more times a day, the same as in 2000. The statistics come from a national telephone survey of hundreds of thousands of Americans.


No state met federal goals of three-quarters of Americans eating enough fruit, and half enough vegetables.

California ate the most fruit and Tennessee was best with vegetables.