Why are fruits and vegetables so important in my diet?

Why are fruits and vegetables so important in my diet?

Susan Silberstein & Marilyn Joyce (Health and Nutrition Educator & Heath Counselor) gives expert video advice on: Which fruits and vegetables are the most beneficial?; Why are fruits and vegetables so important in my diet?; Are frozen or canned fruits and vegetables healthy? and more...

Fruits and vegetables are important to our health for many reasons; certainly because they contain fibre in the whole food, and they contain phytonutrients, which are plant based nutrients in the numbers of 20,000 or more, all of which work together to ensure our health. One of the big classes of phytonutrients is the carotenes. We've heard of beta-carotene, but there are hundreds, in fact 600 different carotenes, and they all contribute to our health. Alpha-carotene, lycopene, and a number of the other carotenes are what give our fruits and vegetables their colours. Not only orange as in carrots, but also yellow, green, purple, and red. They can protect us against cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and pretty much all of the chronic diseases that we can name. The carotenes are valuable for two basic reasons. First of all, they can dramatically enhance our immune responses and defences against disease, and secondly, because they provide what we call bioavailable antioxidants. Not the kind of antioxidants we find in fractionated vitamins like vitamins A, and C, and E, but the kind that we find in whole foods, which neutralise those dangerous free radicals that damage our cellular DNA with 10s of 1000s of hits a day, and contribute to the aging and disease process of every cell in our body.