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Speaking of Your Health: The importance of fruits and vegetables – Logan Daily News

Mar 25th, 2017

According to the CDC, eating a diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables provides important health benefits when you select and prepare them safely. Fruits and veggies add nutrients to your diet that help protect you from heart disease, stroke, and some cancers. And choosing produce including vegetables, fruits, and nuts instead of high-calorie foods also helps you manage your weight.

However, sometimes harmful germs such as, Salmonella, E. coli, and Listeria can contaminate raw fruits and vegetables. This can make you and your family sick with food poisoning. CDC says that nearly half of foodborne illnesses in the United States are caused by germs on contaminated fresh produce.

Safer choices for produce are washed, fresh fruits/vegetables and cooked vegetables. Unwashed, fresh vegetables are more likely to make people sick with a foodborne illness. The CDC gives these steps to help avoid food poisoning and still enjoy uncooked fruits and vegetables.

Check fruits and vegetables for bruising and damage.

Throw away fruits and vegetables that are spoiled or have been recalled.

Wash your hands, kitchen utensils, and food preparation surfaces, including chopping boards and countertops, before and after preparing fruits and vegetables.

Clean fruits and vegetables before eating, cutting, or cooking, unless the package says that the contents have been pre-washed.

Wash or scrub all fruits and vegetables under running water even if you do not plan to eat the peel so dirt and germs are not transferred from the surface to the inside when you cut the produce.

Dry fruit or vegetables with a clean paper towel.

Keep fruits and vegetables separate from other foods that could contaminate them, such as raw meat and seafood.

Refrigerate fruits and vegetables that you have cut up, peeled, or cooked as soon as possible, or within two hours. Refrigerate within one hour if the temperature outside is above 90 degrees. Chill them at 40 degree or below in a clean container.

Anyone can get a foodborne illness, but some individuals are more likely to get sick and to have a more serious illness. These groups of people are:

Adults aged 65 and older

People with weakened immune systems

If you or someone you care for has a greater chance of food poisoning, it's especially important to take steps to prevent food poisoning when preparing and eating fresh fruits and vegetables.

Brittney Tschudy, BSH, RN, TTS Hocking County Health Department writes a weekly column published in The Logan Daily News. The views of this column may not necessarily reflect that of the newspaper.

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Speaking of Your Health: The importance of fruits and vegetables - Logan Daily News

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