Posted by kathryn in Fruit

I was asked a question about fruit this week: if you eat plenty of vegetables, do you need to eat fruit?

Both vegetables and fruit are necessary in a healthy diet. While we sometimes clump them together in our head, and they come from the same part of the supermarket, they provide different nutrients.

Why you need fruit

Fruit and vegetables do contain many similar nutrients. For example they’re both rich in potassium and fibre. However, you need to eat fruit because:

• it’s the main source of vitamin C in your diet
• it provides different antioxidants to vegetables

It’s when you look at the antioxidants that the difference is most striking. Quite simply, fruit and vegetables contain different antioxidants and you need this variety to have the best health.

How to eat more fruit

The basic recommendation is to have at least two pieces of fruit per day. This can include fresh, dried and tinned fruit – all are good sources of nutrition. If you’re not a fruit fan, then you can try masking it in other foods. For example:

• add a handful of raisins to your breakfast cereal
• make a smoothie with frozen berries, skim milk and yoghurt
• mash up some bananas and strawberries and stir it through yoghurt
• make some fruity muffins
• grating some apple into a salad

For more suggestions on eating fruit take a look at these two posts: 31 days: eat some fruit and how to eat more fruit.

And, if you’re wondering the opposite: if you eat fruit, do you really need to eat vegetables? Again the answer is yes you do. Take a look at one of my very early posts why you need your vegies.

What is Q & A Thursday?

This post is part of Q & A Thursday – a weekly burst of blogging, where you get to dictate the subject matter. Q & A Thursday is all about simple, practical answers to food and diet dilemmas sent in by readers.

If you have a question you’d like answered, then either leave a comment or send me an email. For more information you can take a look at the Q & A Thursday archives.

18 October, 2007