What are Fruits and Vegetables
The list of beneficial properties from fruits and vegetables is vast, the high level of nutrients contained in many fresh fruits and free vegetables is used by the body to improve function, motor and neurological process and overall health in general. They contain very few calories in comparison to Carbohydrates or Protein and are the best source for getting high levels of vitamins. A healthy regulation of vitamins is what leads to improved function and a person eating high levels of Fruit and Veg is unlikely to need any supplements, so it is best to be as open-minded as possible when it comes to this category and embrace it whole.
What do we mean when we talk about "Free" vegetables or "Fresh" fruit?
As with a lot of things there can be overlap into the other categories of food.
Free Vegetables
When we think of dieting and eating vegetables, we assume that they will all be beneficial to our goals, however because of the chemical compounds that make up all foods it can sometimes appear to be one category, when it is actually another. With vegetables, there are some that contain very high levels of Starch, these starchy vegetables contain so much sugar in them, that they are actually classed as Carbohydrates and will pack on the calories if eaten freely, a prime example is the Potato.
Free vegetables are considered to be low calorie, low sugar plants that can be eaten without restriction in large quantities. Mixed Salads are often a big bowl of Free vegetables, it contains few calories and maximum nutrition.
The vegan lifestyle has proven that a person can live on a primarily plant based diet, though it is not a necessary choice, it does show that Fruits and Vegetables contain, in mass, a wide variety of vitamins and nutrients for the body. Even when following a calorie
controlled diet, the consumption of free vegetables is unlimited as their calorie content is so low.
Celery is a wonderful example of this, as the human body will actually burn more calories in chewing the celery, then the amount of calories contained within a stick itself.
Fresh Fruit
Fruit is an important alternative to high sugared snacks, even though they contain high sugar the key difference here is the type of
sugar contained within. Processed sugars that are found in chocolate bars, contain barely any nutrition per gram when compared to fruit,
which is high in vitamins.
Fresh fruit is classed as any fruit that has been unprocessed, this can include smoothies and juices that have not included more sugar or additives. Concentrate drinks are usually packed with modified sugars to increase shelf life and additives to retain flavour both of which are detrimental to diet and health.
Foods that use fruits in their design, for example Apple Pie, may contain a source of fruit, however the addition of other sugars and starches will be there and therefore make it unhealthier.
