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Fresh Vegetables, the Orginal Super-Foods Print E-mail
Monday, 27 February 2006

With all of the hype being given to certain individual foods for their health benefits, the idea of composing your diet of mainly lean meats and vegetables falls by the wayside as "uncommon" sense. The health benefits are immense in making this simple switch in your dietary habits.

Though the USDA food-guide pyramid places whole grains as the foundation of a healthy diet, a comparison of the nutrient profile of this source of carbohydrates to vegetables should make obvious the severe lack of micronutrients in a grain-based diet. By displacing healthier alternatives, over-consumption of grains depletes your intake of vitamins and minerals, creating the need for supplementation that might not be necessary otherwise.

Grains as a staple food-source have only been a part of human society for around 2% of our existence. Before this time our diet was composed of lean wild game, fruits and vegetables and nuts and seeds. This switch to agriculture around 10,000 years ago is marked by an alarming rise in the "Diseases of Civilization" which includes everything from cancer and heart-disease to acne and tooth-decay. At the same time that the life-expectancy began to rise, the quality of life declined rapidly, and there appears a huge decrease infant birth-weights and the eventual size and strength of bones and connective tissues.

By replacing grains and other low-nutrient carbohydrate sources with greater amounts of fruits and vegetables, you will be increasing your natural consumption of essential vitamins and minerals significantly. You will also be decreasing the glycemic-load of your diet which means more steady blood-sugar and insulin levels. This equates as more steady energy and less risk of diabetes, heart disease and obesity.

As obvious as it sounds, eating more fruits and vegetables (like your grandmother used to tell you) is absolutely essential for a long and healthy life. For an athlete, the increased micronutrients and decreased glycemic load will result in a decrease in recovery time and a lowered risk of injuries.

 For all of these reasons, it should be obvious that you should make every effort to include more vegetables into every aspect of your daily nutrition. For more information about why and how to do this, check out the following links:

The World's Healthies Foods 

The Paleo Diet 

The Performance Menu 



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Display 23 of 23 comments

1. 02-11-2008 12:51

I couldn't agree more. While I am a big fan of whole-grain and wheat things, I must say that nothing satisfies my energy-reservoir when it's empty, quite like the fruits and vegetables. Great taste and if you can go organic, more power to you. A little higher price for a way healthier and better tasting alternative.

2. 02-19-2008 19:03

:( I feel like I'm addicted to sweets can anyone help me with that :?

3. 03-26-2008 04:44

If you feel like you are addicted to sweets try exercising more and start eating a couple of fruits when you can.I notice when I exercise more my body starts to take a liking to fruits over candy.My preference of healthier food was gradual however;don't expect it to work instantly.Remember this is what works for me,it is possible that it may not work for you.......If it does not work try replacing bad foods with healthier ones,such as sherbert over ice-cream,healthy fruit or granolabars over little debbie cakes,and grapes instead of candy.Just eat sweets,but be modest in amount.

4. 04-23-2008 04:10

haha jakemo5 i have the same problem, i sorted it by doing a few daily runs.. about 300-400m should be fine, also try to get some push ups in too, i started with 5 then increased by 5, at the moment im currently doing 15-20 a day, sit ups also helped, about 25-40 of them was plently to start with. 
 
Also try break in some fruit and veg gradually, I couldnt eat any fruit or vegtable before, they made me sick straight away, just try eating some in small portions, it works :) 
 
Good Luck :)

5. 05-07-2008 21:07

apples are a nice sweet tasting alternative to candy...i love apples...oh and oranges too...and a few grapes ;) thats what i started eating to kick my candy habit

6. 05-08-2008 14:06

natuers energy drink if you got a problem with energy drinks b/c they are bad for you try some orange juice it willwork just as well

7. 07-09-2008 12:56

i would suggest not using energy drinks because they are loaded with sugars and you will only temporarily get that wanted sugar high then you will crash.  
 
eating fruits and veggies will give you the enegy you need and it will last for longer.

8. 07-14-2008 22:51

Rule of thumb: if you can't picture within 1-3 steps where a food item came from, you probably shouldn't eat it. 
 
Ex: Apples grow on trees. Twinkies come from... where again?

9. 07-31-2008 18:16

Good advice up above. Really, the more you work out, the more you tend to gravitate toward healthier foods. 
 
Another hint is to carry a water bottle with you wherever you go. And i mean wherever. Take a sip every few minutes, and in the next week or so your body will clean itself out and will work more efficiently. I personally dropped almost a minute in the 5k over the course of two weeks, down to 18:17, once I started doing this.

10. 10-31-2008 11:18

It's very important that you are you know which foods you are putting into your body. It's strange, because since I have started doing Parkour/Freerunning I have not drank a coke in a long, long time, just water. When I tried to take a sip of coke the other day it just felt like somebody was shoving sugar into my mouth... nasty! :upset

11. 12-14-2008 10:43

You should check out the nutrition section on urbanfreeflow.com

12. 01-08-2009 16:58

One of a few reasons why I'm a vegetarian (I can't digest meat well). It was hard changing to a diet like this, but it was worth it. I feel so much better; no longer feeling heavy and having those sugar highs and lows. Plus, I've lost my taste for sugar. What helped was to get rid of all sweets and processed food in your kitchen. You'd know to get rid of it if it's ingredients list is big and/or has crazy names (polyoxyethylene-20-sorbitan monolaurate anyone?) :x

13. 02-13-2009 08:22

And an Answer to your Addicted to sweets thing Jackmo5 Just eat Fruits that Taste like Candy Strawberrys, Blue berrys, Apples, Grapes, Pomagranet, Oranges, Bananas, Necturenes. Just Fruits in general cause if you want somethign sweet you should eat Healthy yet sweet Salty Cashews and what not so just eat the good tasting fruits in stead of candy it's natural healthy and really good for you

14. 02-21-2009 13:38

lmao i like djmainevent's comment

15. 03-01-2009 23:51

worked out yesterday for the longest i have in a while. That strawberry never tasted sweeter. I love my lean meats, too. I make my own jerky with nothing but lean cut beef, and i love my fruits and salads now that i am being healthier.

16. 03-17-2009 06:30

i decided 2 be a vegetarrian but dont know how to get a good source of protein any tips o yea got any vege recipes im tired of salads and crap like that

17. 05-07-2009 18:07

:cry I am 126 and 5'0 and i know thats bad can any1 give me a proper workout and a diet plzz i rlly want to free run

18. 05-07-2009 18:08

Well 120 Lolz just checked

19. 05-10-2009 18:44

lol is it all muscle? im 180 and only like 5'7" but i have a six pack so weight isnt always the best determining factor of physical fittedness

20. 06-08-2009 09:39

So true Rak 8)

21. 07-17-2009 13:56

im 5'9 and 180 and i look chubby but im philipeno so im still realy agile. and since i started working out i hate the taste of coke and pepsie its so wierd

22. 08-16-2009 21:04

so guys what is your look on Chinese food...? Personally I love it. But I try to keep it you know like once a month. A little gift to myself for working so hard over the month. You guys think its a bad thing that I do that..? I mean I eat healthy the rest of the time. But once in a while won't kill you..I hope..

23. 10-27-2009 11:27

hello im 5ft 5 in about and 134 but most of its fat im 13 yrs.old and saw this video on mtv's ultimate parkour chanllge i was interested and looked up other freestyle free runnings on you tube now im not in the best shape but i am kinda fit i have some muscle no abs but determination to become pshyically fit.I also know i can nnot do any of the cool things they do i can roll. summer sault somewhat handstand climb fences and the basics but i want to get better if u guys have any good workouts diets tranning things ect. it would be very much aprciatted thank you

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