How important is it to "eat your vegetables"?

Nutritionist Del Millers, PhD, explains why what the colors of fruits and vegetables can tell us about their nutrition, and why it's important to eat a variety of produce.
Health and Nutrition Tips for Parents | Why it's important to eat fruits and vegetables
KidsInTheHouse the Ultimate Parenting Resource
Kids in the House Tour

How important is it to "eat your vegetables"?

Comment
57
Like
57
Transcription: 
The colors of fruits and vegetables represent different classes of ingredients that are in those foods. For example, let's take red. Things that are red, such as tomatoes, or watermelon, or some peppers - those contain Lycopene. That's the predominant nutrient that we know about that are in those foods. And Lycopene is good for reducing the risk for certain cancers, such as prostate cancer. Let's take the orange vegetables, such as carrots or pumpkin or squash. Those contain a lot of carotenoids. Beta carotene is the one that we're most familiar with. But there are hundreds of different carotenoids, and those have all been shown to affect certain disease processes, reducing certain cancers. You have Lutein found in things like the orange -green vegetables, like the collard greens and the mustard green in some peppers. And Lutein is great for vision and to prevent macular degeneration, which is one of the leading causes of blindness in this country. So what I always recommend people do is eat a variety. Eat a rainbow of colors, because they all work together synergistically. What's in one and the other, they all come together. And in the body they all come together. It's not the Lutein or the Vitamin C or the Vitamin D or E that works in the body. They all work synergistically together because the body is a synergistic organism.

Nutritionist Del Millers, PhD, explains why what the colors of fruits and vegetables can tell us about their nutrition, and why it's important to eat a variety of produce.

Transcript

Expert Bio

More from Expert

Del Millers, PhD

Author, Nutritionist

Dr. Del Millers is the founder of TheBestYouAcademy.com and author of eight books on mind-body health and nutrition. A PhD Nutritionist with a Masters degree in psychology, Dr. Del teaches motivation and high performance strategies to busy entrepreneurs and professionals, so that they can make a difference in their lives tomorrow in just ten minutes today.

More Parenting Videos from Del Millers, PhD >
Enter your email to
download & subscribe
to our newsletter