We hope you are having fun with our weekly wellness challenge! You will find that small changes in your diet and routine can make a big difference in your health and how you feel.

Remember, you can do each week’s wellness challenge on your own, or with a group of friends. You can even reward yourself for successfully completing the challenge!

To complete, do each challenge for four days a week, or more if you’d like to set your own rules. We usually do Monday through Thursday.

Here is this week’s challenge:

Eat one piece of fruit and one vegetable as a snack on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week. You can do it!

Why is it important to eat fruit and vegetables?

Nutrients:

• Most vegetables are naturally low in fat and calories. None have cholesterol.
• Vegetables are important sources of many nutrients, including potassium, dietary fiber, vitamin A, and vitamin C.
• Diets rich in potassium may help to maintain healthy blood pressure. Vegetable sources of potassium include sweet potatoes, white potatoes, white beans, tomato products (paste, sauce, and juice), beet greens, soybeans, lima beans, spinach, lentils, and kidney beans.
• Dietary fiber from vegetables, as part of an overall healthy diet, helps reduce blood cholesterol levels and may lower risk of heart disease. Fiber-containing foods such as vegetables help provide a feeling of fullness with fewer calories.
• Vitamin A keeps eyes and skin healthy and helps to protect against infections.
• Vitamin C helps heal cuts and wounds and keeps teeth and gums healthy. Vitamin C aids in iron absorption.

Health Benefits:

• Eating a diet rich in vegetables and fruit as part of an overall healthy diet may reduce risk for heart disease, including heart attack and stroke, and may protect against some kinds of cancers. It may also lower blood pressure and reduce bone loss.
• Eating a diet rich in some vegetables and fruit as part of an overall healthy diet may protect against some cancers.
• Diets rich in foods containing fiber, such as some vegetables and fruit, may reduce the risk of heart disease, obesity, and type 2 diabetes.
• Eating foods such as vegetables that are lower in calories per cup instead of some other higher-calorie food may be useful in helping to lower calorie intake.