By Deborah Herlax Enos
THE AMERICAN CANCER Society recommends eating 10 servings of vegetables and fruits each day. Additionally, according to data
from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, most adults should eat
approximately 2 cups of fruit and 2½ cups of vegetables daily.
Don’t be intimidated by the numbers! Here’s a simple guide to
help you estimate true serving sizes, and below that, one way to get
more fruits and veggies in your daily diet.
Serving size: Make a fist and look at it. Your fist is a good
example of what 1 cup of fruits or vegetables looks like.
;
1 cup of salad greens = 1 serving (you need a full cup of
salad greens to make a serving because of the space the
greens take up)
; ½ cup of cooked or chopped veggies = 1 serving
;
1 cup of chopped fruit (for example, 1 cup of fruit salad) = 1 serving.
; ½ cup of berries = 1 serving
;
4 ounces of fruit or vegetable juice = 1 serving (keep in mind there’s no fiber in juice,
so make sure that juices are not your only sources of produce)
For more information about serving sizes, go to
www.choosemyplate.gov.
One example of how to hit your 10 servings of produce per day:
Breakfast: ½ cup of berries added to Greek yogurt = 1 serving of fruit
Snack: 1 banana and 1 ounce of nuts = 2 servings of fruit
Lunch: 1 cup of green salad with lean protein and an additional ½ cup of chopped
veggies = 2 servings of veggies
Snack: ½ cup of snap peas with hummus = 1 serving of veggies
Dinner: Lean protein with 1 cup of sautéed veggies and 1 cup of green salad = 3 servings
of veggies
After-dinner treat: 2 small tangerines = 1 serving of fruit
Total day’s produce tally = 10!
Deborah Herlax Enos (
www.deborahenos.com), is a writer, nutritionist and health expert in
Seattle.
Estimating true serving sizes April
for your
health
HEALTHY NUTRITION
A RECENT STUDY conducted by Prevent
Blindness (
www.preventblindness.org)
revealed that more than 80 percent of
those responding had the mistaken
impression that men and women were
at equal risk for developing permanent
vision loss. Actually, women are at a
significantly greater risk than men.
Of the 4. 1 million Americans age
40 and older who are visually impaired
or blind, 2. 6 million are women. More
women than men have age-related macular degeneration, cataracts, glaucoma
and diabetic retinopathy—the four leading eye diseases in the country.
Prevent Blindness encourages
every woman, particularly those 40 and
older, to get a dilated eye exam. Vision
loss can be lessened by early detection
and treatment.
No matter what your gender or age,
you should be examined immediately by
an eye-care specialist if you are experiencing any of the following symptoms:
; Unusual trouble adjusting to
dark rooms
; Difficulty focusing on objects
; Squinting or blinking due to
unusual sensitivity to light or glare
; Change in color of iris
; Red-rimmed, encrusted or swollen
eyelids
; Recurrent pain in or around eyes
; Double vision
; Dark spot at the center of viewing
; Distorted or wavy appearance of
lines and edges
; Excess tearing or watery eyes
; Dry eyes with itching or burning
Prevent Blindness recently launched
“See Jane See—Women’s Healthy Eyes
Now,” a Web-based educational cam-
paign dedicated solely to women’s
vision health. Visit
seejanesee.org for
free information and downloadable tip
sheets created specifically for women on
a variety of issues across the age spec-
trum. Costco also offers eye exams at
most locations.—David Wight
Women’s Eye
Health and
Safety Month
Costco members can have
their eyes checked at most
Costco Optical Centers.
Deborah
Herlax Enos
IN APRIL 2001, National Minority Health
Month was launched, in response to
Healthy People 2010, the U.S.
Department of Health and Human
Services’ health-promotion and disease-prevention initiative. Today, Healthy
People 2020 has succeeded Healthy
People 2010, and the National Minority
Health Foundation has
become the National
Minority Quality Forum
(
www.nmqf.org). The
goal of the National
Minority Quality Forum
is to assist healthcare
providers, professionals, administrators,
researchers, policy makers, and community and faith-based organizations in
delivering appropriate healthcare to
minority communities.
April remains National Minority
Health Month, commemorated every
year nationally and in a growing number
of states and localities.
National Minority Health Month
received support from the U.S. Congress
in 2002, with a resolution that “a National
Minority Health and Health Disparities
Month should be established to promote
educational efforts on the health problems
currently facing minorities and other health
disparity populations.”
National Minority
Health Month is an
inclusive initiative that
addresses the health
needs of African-
Americans, Hispanics,
Asians, Native Americans
and other minorities.
Its goal is to strengthen the capacity
of local communities to eliminate the dis-
proportionate burden of premature death
and preventable illness in minority popu-
lations through prevention, early detec-
tion, and control of disease complications.
—T. Foster Jones
Health help for minorities
o
d
s
,
n
PHOTODISC
