Want to Feel Good? Eat More Fruits and Vegetables!
For most people, the long-term benefits of eating healthy food, such as disease prevention, are too far in the future to provide real motivation to change unhealthy eating habits. But a new study reveals that eating up to eight daily servings of fruit and vegetables provides a “happiness” factor that kicks in within 24 months. The study was published in the August 2016 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
What You Should Know
What Fits Into a One-Cup Serving of Fruits and Vegetables
Fruits
1 small banana
1 medium grapefruit
1 large orange
1 large peach
1 medium pear
2-3 small plums
8 large strawberries
2 small watermelon wedges
2 medium cantaloupe wedges
2
small boxes of raisins or
other dried fruit
Vegetables
3 spears broccoli
1 large sweet potato
1 large ear of corn
1 medium potato
2 large celery stalks
1 large bell pepper
1 large tomato
½ can beans
2 medium carrots/12 baby carrots
Spinach, collards, mustard greens, turnip greens, cooked; (2 cups raw)
Increased Happiness Levels. The study followed approximately 12,000 participants from 2007 to 2009 and 2013, and involved research teams from the University of Warwick, England, and the University of Queensland, Australia. Happiness, or well-being, increased incrementally for each extra daily serving of fruit and vegetables, up to eight servings per day. When participants were asked to show “how satisfied you are” by picking a number between 0 and 10, two-thirds reported a life satisfaction score of more than 7 out of 10. In a second self-reported measure of health status, subjects reported a mean happiness score of 4.43 out of a possible 6. Researchers equated the results to the emotional equivalent of becoming employed versus remaining unemployed.
Possible Reasons Why. Earlier studies provide several theories on the connection between life satisfaction and fruit and vegetable consumption. One study speculates that the happiness factor derives from the effect of vitamin B12 on production of serotonin, while another suggests that gut bacteria may impact brain chemistry; a third finds that carotenoids derived from the antioxidants in fruits and vegetables affect human optimism.
Researchers said that the near-term “psychological payoff” might induce more people to eat a healthy diet, rather than the prospect of lowered health risks far in the future. All investigators agreed more research is necessary.
In the meantime, you can’t go wrong if you load up your grocery cart with fruits and vegetables—and increase your happiness quotient!
The post Want to Feel Good? Eat More Fruits and Vegetables! appeared first on University Health News.
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