Fruit and Vegetable Diet Plan

While a fruit and vegetable diet is quite effective when it comes to healthy lifestyle and weight loss, not many people are actually aware of it. Now that isn't quite surprising, considering that fruit and vegetable diet is a relatively new concept. The first thing that will come to your mind when you come across the term 'fruit and vegetable diet' is likely to be a vegan type of diet, wherein a person is expected to feed on fruits and vegetables - most often raw, and strictly avoid meat and dairy products. That however, is one of the several misconceptions about fruit and vegetable diet plan that have hampered its popularity.

Even though it is known as the fruit and vegetable diet plan, this diet plan doesn't stress on exclusion of meat or dairy products from your daily diet. What it does stress on, is lowering the quantity of meat and increasing the quantity of fruits and vegetables that you eat. Excluding meat from your diet is not a wise thing to do, as it fulfills the protein requirements of your body. At the same time, one should also understand that fruits and vegetables, which are often neglected, provide us with various vitamins and nutrients required by our body.

Fruit and Vegetable Diet

A fruit and vegetable diet plan is all about giving due importance to fruits and vegetables, and consuming more of them on a regular basis. Vegetables have two main advantages over fruits - firstly, they contain complex carbohydrates which cannot be easily converted to fats, and secondly, they are low in calories. Simply put, vegetables make you full, but they don't make you fat or obese. Some important vegetables, such as cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, lettuce, tomato, spinach, eggplants, collard greens, alfalfa sprouts, Brussels sprouts, etc., have a significant place in your fruit and vegetable diet plan. While there is no questioning the benefits of vegetables, benefits of fruits exist in plenty as well.

The fructose content of fruits is one of the major concern which is often cited by the critics of fruit and vegetable diet. While several fruits are high in fructose, i.e. a sugar which is easily converted to body fat, there do exist some fruits which are exception to this. Fruits like apples, oranges, pears, strawberries, blueberries, papaya, cantaloupe, guava, blackberries, etc., contain fairly less amount of sugar, and hence are ideal fruit vegetable diet ingredients. In fact, green apples are known to have the least amount of sugars in them. On the other hand, fruits like bananas and grapes, which are known for their high fructose content, should be consumed in less amounts.

Fruit and Vegetable Diet Plan

Irrespective of whether you are in pursuit of healthy life and weight loss, the fruit and vegetable diet plan is ideal for you. Basically, a person is recommended at least nine servings of fruits and vegetables in a day. An ideal break up would be four servings of fruits and five servings of vegetables over the course of a day. It is ideal to include fruits or fruit juices in your breakfast, and follow it up with some fruit or another glass of low-sugar (sugarless) fruit juice halfway between the breakfast and lunch. While fruits in any form are good for health, the fiber content of a whole fruit makes it more nutritional than its juice.

Lunch should include a variety of vegetables, either raw or steamed. While raw foods are high on nutrients, they may not necessarily go down well with everybody, and that makes cooking an important attribute of your fruit and vegetable diet plan. Of the various options of cooking available, baking or steaming are considered to be the best. Boiling (which lowers the nutritional value) and deep frying (which adds fats to your otherwise healthy food) are best avoided, as these methods turn your healthy fruit and vegetable diet into unhealthy food.

A fruit or vegetable salad can be an ideal evening snack, followed by dinner consisting of easy to digest food. Fruits and vegetables, along with high-fiber whole grains, should cover a major portion of your dinner plate. More importantly, your last serving should go in at least an hour or two before you go to sleep. In order to make sure that you are not overeating, you should keep the servings small and frequent, rather than large and few. This will also make sure that you are full throughout the day, and help you to stay away from unhealthy and unhygienic fast food which is bad for you.

Initially, getting used to a diet with more of fruits and vegetables in your plate will be a bit tough, especially if meat happens to be the most important component of your diet, but gradually you will get used to this healthy diet regime. A balanced diet, which happens to be the key to healthy and long life - free of chronic diseases, is incomplete without nutritious fruits and vegetables. Though a bit difficult to follow with so many temptations around, the fruit and vegetable diet plan is no doubt rewarding when followed religiously.