Why Your Wallet Will Thank You For Eating That Apple A Day

[jeffrey]

Imagine a drug that could whittle your waistline, control blood pressure, keep you regular, protect your heart, strengthen your bones, cut the risk of stroke and possibly help you sidestep some types of cancer. And what if this drug were also easy to obtain and inexpensive, and it even tasted good?

It would be hard to beat, wouldn't it? There's no pill with those benefits, but there is food that hits those high nutritional notes. I'm talking, of course, about fruit and vegetables.

Scientists are just beginning to fully understand the power of produce. And the start of summer provides a great opportunity to expand your nutritional horizons by sampling the foods that will come into peak season during the coming months...


washingtonpost.com

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Oh, this is one of my pet causes. Eat your veggies, folks! I try to get people to consider eating vegetables at every meal, breakfast included. Today, I had half a big, raw, red bell pepper after my peanut butter on rye toast. It was very refreshing. Yesterday I had a whole yellow squash with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese and black pepper. I often have a breakfast of sweet potato with cinnamon. Last summer a favorite breakfast was zucchini with garlic tomato sauce and spinach.

[stressedmama]

To bad my health care flexible spending account will allow me to submit a receipt for pills, but not for fresh fruit and veggies. Our family's overall fruit/veggie bill is much higher a month then what I pay for doctor visits/meds.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by stressedmama

To bad my health care flexible spending account will allow me to submit a receipt for pills, but not for fresh fruit and veggies. Our family's overall fruit/veggie bill is much higher a month then what I pay for doctor visits/meds.

True. Unfortunately, as much rhetoric as there is from insurance companies saying how they promote preventitive care, our health care system is primarily based on treatment, not prevention. Sure, they cover tests to detect early disease, but that isn't prevention. The 2 biggest preventitive tools are diet and exercise. We could wipe out so much disease if we could find a way to get people to eat healthy, exercise regularly, control their weight and quit smoking. I have many patients who want help to quit smoking but their insurance doesn't cover the prescription meds. I have many patients who would be more likely to exercise if they could get a break on the cost of gym membership.

[rob62521]

Love this article! We've been trying to eat more fruits and vegetables and although the prices are going up, we feel it is costing us less on doctor/hospital visits.