Corey’s post below provides a compelling case. Read on!

Okay, so you’ve probably heard over and over that it is important to eat your greens.  But I’ll bet no one ever fully explained to you why you cannot replace the good old produce aisle with vitamin supplements, powdered green products or a carnivore diet.  Here are six reasons why you need to eat real fruits and vegetables:

1. Vitamins & Minerals

You already knew this one.  You’ve already heard how spinach is a better source of iron than red meat.  You know vitamins and minerals are important.  Did you know selenium deficiency is a key predictor of viral infection?  Do you even track your selenium intake?  Since I started using HEAL meal replacements in August 2019 to make sure I get my essential trace minerals, I have not suffered as much as a sniffle.  But at the start of the pandemic I began adding 3 Brazil nuts per day to my diet as a hedge to make sure my selenium needs were fully met.  And it’s not just selenium of course.  For bodily processes like immune function, muscle growth and repair and maintaining balanced hormonal function, your body requires a full complement of all essential vitamins and minerals.

Even still, this one is actually the weakest reason for eating fruits and vegetables.  Because in most cases we do not absorb vitamins and minerals from plant sources as well as we do from animal sources.  The form of iron in spinach for example is far less accessible to us than the form found in red meat.  Yes we need the vitamins and minerals found in fruits and vegetables but as proponents of the carnivore diet have pointed out, we can get most of what we need as well or better without consuming plants.  The vitamin and mineral supplement industry has made billions selling you pills so that you could skip your broccoli.  But there are more important reasons to eat fruits and vegetables!


2.  Polyphenols

Quercetin, resveratrol, capsaicinoids…  What do all these over 8000 weird compounds do?  Apparently they work magic for your health.  A type of antioxidant, diets high in polyphenols are associated with reduced all cause mortality and lower rates of chronic health problems such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.  While the more popularly studied polyphenols are available in pill form at your pharmacy, most have not yet been fully studied or isolated for branding and marketing.  So until someone slaps a designer label on them and starts earning massive profits selling them for $20 per bottle, you’ll just have to get most of your polyphenols the old fashioned discount way by eating the low cost plants that they naturally reside in.

3. Fibre

Sure, you’ve heard about fibre.  It’s the stuff that helps you poop.  But it’s not just about you.  The fibre you consume in plant foods is not merely a sun grown laxative, it is critical for feeding the bacteria that reside in your gut and that play a critical role in, well, everything!  Mood, immune function, inflammation, absorption of nutrients.  To a great extent, you are only as healthy as your microbiome.  And the gut bacteria that feed on the fibres found in fruits and vegetables are the beneficial kind that you want to cultivate.  Starve them out by subsisting on packaged, processed foods and cheap sugars and they die out leaving you with more harmful gut bacteria that sabotage your immune system and make you depressed.  Okay, so I’ve way oversimplified this but seriously, the microbiome is an incredibly exciting area of health research right now!  You control your destiny.  It all depends on which wolf you choose to feed, the healthy wolf or the sick wolf.  Fruits and vegetables in your meal are a vote for the healthy wolf.  A meal deficient in fruits and veggies is a vote for the sick wolf.  Cast your vote carefully because you will suffer the consequences.

4. Beneficial Bacteria

And how do you repopulate your gut with beneficial bacteria?  Surprise!  You find them residing on the fruits and vegetables you eat!  How convenient is that?  Guess where they don’t reside?  In processed foods and vitamin supplements.  I doubt they survive the powdering process in products like HEAL either.  If you want to stack your team with all star bacterial players, you have to eat real plants.  This, by the way, turns out to be the vindication of the organic produce industry.  While many studies have shown no difference between conventionally grown and organically grown produce when it comes to vitamins, minerals and polyphenols, organically grown produce has more and a more diverse variety of beneficial bacteria than conventionally grown produce.

5. Antibacterial Properties

And here’s where things get interesting.  Plants are masters of chemical warfare.  They have developed a vast array of weapons to combat pathogens.  Yes, plants possess an arsenal of antibacterial and antiviral weapons.  And when you eat them, these weapons become yours!  Cinamon, garlic, mushrooms.  All weaponized foods that will help you in your battle against microbial invaders.

6.  Hormesis

Plants do not have legs so they cannot escape predators.  Instead they have to rely on their phytochemical arsenal.  In short, plants are toxic.  They have poisons designed to kill the things that feed on them.  This might seem like an argument against eating plants but in our case, these toxins are mostly geared toward smaller predators like insects.  As a result, the toxic doses are too small to harm you but may be just enough to trigger a hormetic response.  By triggering a mild cellular stress response, these plant toxins may prime your immune system to fight off harmful pathogens, cancers and other illnesses.  Think of these as an early warning system that alerts your body to possible threats.  So yes, plants safeguard your health by poisoning you just a little bit each day.

So there you have it.  Eating fruits and vegetables is essential for your health and cannot be replaced by a pill or a powder.  The produce you consume contributes to your health by providing essential vitamins and minerals, antioxidants and polyphenols, fibre to feed your microbiome, beneficial bacteria to populate your microbiome, antiviral and antibacterial phytochemicals and a little hormetic wake up call to ensure efficient and effective cellular response against pathogens.  How many more reasons do you need?

Now, if you don’t see some fruits and vegetables on the plate before you, it is time to start rethinking your life choices.

Simple Steps Nutrition Coaching at CrossFit Empower

Would you like to make a dietary shift but are not sure where or how to start? Feeling fed up? Don’t go it alone. Hire a Simple Steps Nutrition Coach and get started on a wellness path that fits your lifestyle and goals!

Pricing:  Simple Step 1.

3 month commitment

One time start-up fee of $125.00 includes initial 60 minute in person consult and program design.

30-minute weekly check-in by phone, zoom or in-person to keep you on track and make program adjustments as needed.  $60.00 per week.

Simple Step 2:

Support options available after initial 3-month commitment.

$60.00 per month. Includes: one 30 minute or two 15 minute check-ins with program adjustment.

Fuel up properly and grow stronger by the day.

Take the first simple step and sign up here

WEDNESDAY WOD

10.20.21

Warm up:

3 rnds (1 minute each)

Lat pull ups (rings, bar, bar with ¼ pull)

Inch worm no push up  

Hollow (hold, rock, Hollow to superman)

Animal walks (Bear, kangaroo, frog)

Tech:

T2B and progressions

1 minute burpee test

WOD:

60 T2B

EMOM 12 Burpees

Cool Down: