You know fruits and veggies are good for you, yet filling your plate with produce is often easier said than done.
Even with nutrition experts urging us to eat more fruits and vegetables, produce consumption has fallen over the past six years, according to the Produce for Better Health Foundation's 2020 State of the Plate report. This includes adults age 50 and older, who typically eat the most fruits and vegetables.
However, consuming plenty of fruits and vegetables is vital at any age because produce is a top source of fiber and other nutrients necessary for good health. Many of those nutrients have been shown to help prevent or lower the risk of some illnesses that occur as we age, such as high blood pressure, stroke, certain cancers, and cognitive decline.
"As we age, our bodies become more susceptible to chronic diseases, such as heart conditions, gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, and a weakened immune system," says New York City–based dietitian Aderet Dana Hoch, RD, who runs the blog Dining With Nature.
Here is how you can get four to five servings of fruits and veggies daily.
How Much Is One Serving of Fruit or Vegetables?
The four and a half servings of fruits and vegetables per day recommended by the most recent U.S. dietary guidelines may sound like a lot, but it's probably not as much as you think. Hoch says that a good guideline is to think about the amount of produce you can hold in one cupped hand — that's about a half cup, or one serving.
Hoch says that the best nutritional strategy is to aim for variety. Eating as many different fruits and vegetables as possible will help ensure that you get the variety of nutrients your body needs for healthy aging.
Reasons It's Hard to Eat Enough Produce
Even though we know how essential fruits and vegetables are, most American adults struggle to get their fill. And certain factors can make it more challenging for older adults. Here are some of the reasons.
Cost Having a limited budget may be a concern. If that’s the case, you may want to try adding more frozen or canned options, since they might be more affordable. They have similar nutrition to fresh produce, says Shena Jaramillo, RD, who is based in Ellensburg, Washington, and runs the blog Peace and Nutrition. Just check labels and avoid products with excess sodium or added sugar.
Access "Food apartheids," where grocery stores don’t exist, or "food swamps," where there's mainly fast food, can make access to healthy produce challenging. In those areas, Jaramillo suggests finding a way to stock up every so often, such as doing a carpool shopping trip with friends to a large grocer that’s outside your immediate neighborhood.
Mobility Problems For older people who are no longer able to drive, it may be difficult to get out and shop for fresh produce, says Jaramillo. That’s true for anyone with mobility issues, but there are some ways to overcome those challenges, such as using a grocery delivery service. Most major retailers offer such services, including Amazon Fresh, Instacart, Walmart, and many others. Also, some local food banks and pantries will deliver.
Age-Related Health Changes As you get older, you may find that your sense of taste isn’t as keen, you don’t tolerate certain foods as well, or your appetite overall has diminished, says Jaramillo. Some people have dental problems that make it harder to chew certain foods. While these things may happen naturally as we age, they can make it difficult to get all the foods and nutrients we need. That's why it's essential to make every bite count.
How to Meet Your Healthy Eating Goal for Fruits and Vegetables
Follow these simple tips from Hoch to increase the amount of fruits and vegetables you eat each day.
Add fruits and vegetables to your favorite dishes. Find ways to incorporate fruits and vegetables into foods you already eat, Hoch suggests. For example, stir fruit into your cereal or yogurt, add strawberries or blueberries to your pancakes, pack your sandwich with extra veggies, add vegetable toppings to your pizza, stir greens into your favorite casserole or pasta dish, or stuff your omelet with vegetables. Plenty of cookbooks can get you started, such as TheComplete Plant-Based Cookbook for Beginners,by Jordan Worthen, orHow to CookEverything Vegetarian, by Mark Bittman.
Clean out your junk food cabinet. Researchers compared the food choices people made when given three options: an equal number of healthy and unhealthy foods, more healthy foods, or more unhealthy foods. The results, which were published in November 2018 in BMC Public Health, indicated that eliminating the less-healthy options was more likely to result in healthy choices than any other scenario. So stocking plenty of produce is good, but removing junk food alternatives will seal the deal.
Make a list of your favorite vegetable-rich recipes. Keep a collection of recipes handy to serve as a resource when you make your shopping list, Hoch suggests. Pick out three or four to buy for in a week. Apps like BigOven or Paprika can help you find, save, and organize recipes and develop shopping lists.
Try new things. Next time you go to the grocery store, pick out a new fruit or vegetable to try. Better yet, sign up for regular produce deliveries from your local CSA (community-supported agriculture). These organizations support local farmers and give you a surprise assortment of whatever’s growing. Check out FairShare to find a CSA near you.
Cook vegetarian. At least once every week, skip the meat (you could join in on Meatless Monday) and try a new vegetarian recipe for dinner. According to a study published in August 2019 in the Journal of the American Heart Association, plant-based diets were associated with lower risks of cardiovascular disease as well as lower mortality from all causes.
Snack away. Try snacking on fresh or dried fruit. Hoch says to check labels to make sure there’s no sugar added. Try carrot and bell pepper strips with a low-fat dip, or baked chips with fresh salsa.
Have canned and frozen options on hand. These are just as nutrient dense as fresh, says Jaramillo, and they are often more cost-efficient as well. Just be sure to read labels — sometimes canned options can have lots of added sodium or sugar.
Consider a fruit smoothie in the morning. You can easily pile fruits and veggies into a healthy smoothie, says Jaramillo, and even mask tastes you don't love, like spinach or kale, for example.
Think seasonally. Take advantage of fruits and vegetables in season when you can, Hoch suggests, and that might mean visiting a farmers market and becoming aware of what’s available when.
Do more meal prep. Chopping up a few vegetables in advance and storing them in your fridge can make you more likely to reach for them when throwing together meals, says Hoch.
The Takeaway
Eating four to five servings of produce every day is vital, especially as we age.
Making fruits and veggies part of your daily routine is critical to staving off certain health conditions.
While obstacles can prevent you from eating enough fruits and vegetables, there are options to help you circumvent those reasons.
Kayli Anderson has over a decade of experience in nutrition, culinary education, and lifestyle medicine. She believes that eating well should be simple, pleasurable, and sustainable. Anderson has worked with clients from all walks of life, but she currently specializes in nutrition therapy and lifestyle medicine for women. She’s the founder of PlantBasedMavens.com, a hub for women to get evidence-based, practical, and woman-centered guidance on nutrition and cooking, hormone health, fertility, pregnancy, movement, mental well-being, nontoxic living, and more.
Anderson is board-certified in lifestyle medicine and serves as lead faculty of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine’s (ACLM) "Food as Medicine" course. She is past chair of the ACLM's registered dietitian member interest group, secretary of the women's health member interest group, and nutrition faculty for many of ACLM's other course offerings. She is the coauthor of the Plant-Based Nutrition Quick Start Guide and works with many of the leading organizations in nutrition and lifestyle medicine to develop nutrition content, recipes, and educational programs.
Anderson frequently speaks on the topics of women’s health and plant-based nutrition and has coauthored two lifestyle medicine textbooks, including the first one on women’s health, Improving Women's Health Across the Lifespan.
She received a master's degree in nutrition and physical performance and is certified as an exercise physiologist and intuitive eating counselor. She's a student of herbal medicine and women's integrative and functional medicine. She lives with her husband in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, where you’ll find her out on a trail or in her garden.
Krisha McCoy is a Boston-based freelance writer and editor who frequently covers health and medical topics. She writes for both print and online media, and has written for HealthDay News, the Tufts Health & Nutrition Letter, and EBSCO Information Services. She holds a master's degree in nutrition communication from Tufts University and completed her bachelor's degree in nutritional sciences at the University of Texas at Austin. McCoy co-founded CooksAid.com, an electronic menu service that delivered weekly healthful recipes to subscribers. She has two young children, and enjoys trying out healthful and kid-friendly new recipes on them.
Elizabeth Millard is a Minnesota-based freelance health writer. Her work has appeared in national outlets and medical institutions including Time, Women‘s Health, Self, Runner‘s World, Prevention, and more. She is an ACE Certified Personal Trainer and a Yoga Alliance Registered Yoga Teacher, and is trained in obesity management.
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Carrillo J et al. Cognitive Function and Consumption of Fruit and Vegetable Polyphenols in a Young Population: Is There a Relationship? Foods. October 2019.
Pechey R et al. Availability of Healthier vs. Less Healthy Food and Food Choice: An Online Experiment. BMC Public Health. November 2018.
Kim H et al. Plant-Based Diets Are Associated With a Lower Risk of Incident Cardiovascular Disease, Cardiovascular Disease Mortality, and All-Cause Mortality in a General Population of Middle-Aged Adults. Journal of the American Heart Association . August 2019.
