Knowing how to get more fruit in your diet will come in handy if you are trying to improve your health. Have you ever heard the expression that you should be eating a rainbow of foods every week? Do you know what that means? Basically, you should be eating something of every color at least once during a 7 day period. Fruits and vegetables all have different types of nutrients so eating a varied diet can help ensure that you cover all of your nutritional needs. Green vegetables are higher in different nutrients than bright red strawberries so making sure you choose produce that comes from every color of the rainbow is important. In my family, I must admit, we eat a lot more fruits than vegetables because I find them easier to include them in just about every meal or snack. I have learned many tips and tricks over the years to get my family to eat more fruit, even when they didn’t realize they were eating it! If you would like to know how to get more fruit in your diet, keep reading for a few of my helpful tips.
How to Get More Fruit in Your Diet
1. Hide it in baked goods: This is one of the easiest ways to get more fruit in your diet because who doesn’t like a tasty muffin, my homemade applesauce oatmeal quick bread, or pancake? You can shred or chop the fruit into small pieces to include in the recipe. You can also replace about half of the oil in a recipe with applesauce. This will not only help you get more fruit in your diet but it will also help cut down on the fat and calories in your baked goods.
2. Make fruit desserts: This is one of my favorite ways to get more fruit in your diet because honestly, I absolutely love dessert! You can top a bowl of frozen yogurt with chopped fruit, bake a fruit pie or crisp, and even just top a bowl of fresh berries with a dollop of homemade whipped cream. Nothing says that you have to give up whipped cream just to get more fruit in your diet!
3. Make it dip-able: My kids would happily eat their weight in fruit if given a bowl of fruit dip….just blend cream cheese, yogurt, cinnamon, and a touch of brown sugar together and serve with sliced apples or a bowl of strawberries. Nut butters are also great for dipping and an apple with peanut butter is one of my favorite breakfasts. The apple is filling and the protein helps keep me full longer.
4. Dried fruit is still fruit! Don’t forget that dried fruit is still fruit. While it is usually higher in calories and sugar than a fresh piece of fruit, including it in your daily routine will help you get more fruit in your diet. Toss a handful of raisins onto your cereal in the morning. Put an assortment of dried fruits into a batch of trail mix and take it to work with you for some mid morning snacking. You can even make some homemade granola bars or oatmeal raisin cookies if you want a sweet treat. Dried fruit is loaded with fiber, which will help keep your digestive track moving along smoothly.
5. Grow your own! During the summer, we eat tons of blueberries, blackberries, and rhubarb because I have all of those things growing in my yard. It is convenient to go into the back yard in the morning and grab a few berries off the vine to add to my cereal. This year, I need to see if I can beg my neighbor for his peach tree harvest. They never harvest them and I hate to see the squirrels eating all those luscious Georgia peaches!
Get More Fruit in Your Diet With Naked!
6. Drink your fruit as a smoothie: Smoothies are a great way to get more fruit in your diet. Whether you choose to make your own or buy one premade, it is amazing how much fruit you can cram into one tall glass of smoothie. Even when my kids were little, they were always happy to drink their fruit out of a cup. I usually try to keep a few Naked smoothies in my fridge for lunchboxes. They are easy to pack and I don’t have to worry about them getting squished when my kids toss their lunch bag into their backpacks or sit on it by mistake on the bus ride to school. My husband and I like them, too, because they fit into our busy lifestyle…they can be grabbed on the way out the door to run errands or quietly sipped during a lunchtime business meeting.
I recently tried out a couple of Naked flavors I have never tried before, the Strawberry Banana and the Mighty Mango. I have no idea how they jam packed the Strawberry Banana smoothie with 22 strawberries and 1 1/3 bananas but according to the bottle, that is how much goodness is in this drink! It is chock full of potassium and vitamin C. The Mighty Mango is made with mangoes, oranges, apples, bananas, and lemon. It contains 100% of your daily allowance of vitamin A. That is seriously impressive! I found both of these flavors in my local Kroger store in the produce isle and was happy to see that they come in several different sizes. The smaller bottles are good for transporting in lunch boxes but the larger sizes are great for keeping in your fridge to drink with breakfast or as a quick snack while working on the computer.
So, how did the Naked smoothies taste? Honestly, I can sum it up in 2 words: Incredibly fresh! You can just taste the fresh fruit in both of these smoothies. I would love to know how Naked gets their smoothies so, well, SMOOTH! When I make smoothies at home I inevitably end up with several lumps and bits of fruit floating around. The Naked Strawberry Banana and Mighty Mango are both yummy and I am not sure I could really pick a favorite. I love that Naked pledges to use Non GMO ingredients and these smoothies are vegan, gluten free, and contain no added sugar. They are also Rainforest Alliance certified and contain absolutely nothing artificial.
I love that the Naked company not only cares about our health, but also has their eye on their environmental impact. From their fruit sourcing partnerships to their LEED-certified bottling facility and 100 percent postrecycled reNEWabottles®, they give serious thought to reducing their carbon footprint while still helping me get more fruit in my diet. Check out their website for more information on Naked Juice sustainability…they have a ton of information about their environmental commitment!
Want to try these smoothies for yourself and get more fruit in your diet?
Want a coupon to save money when you do?
Naked Juice has partnered with charity Wholesome Wave to improve access to fresh produce in communities across the country. You can help by visiting www.nakedjuice.com/gooddeeds. For every coupon downloaded, 1 LB of fresh produce will go to an underserved community, up to 100,000 pounds.
Grab a coupon for $1.00 off Naked smoothies and juices!
Naked Juice is worth its weight in good! There’s a pound of fruit in every bottle!
Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Naked Juice via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Naked Juice.
Diane is a professional blogger and nationally certified pharmacy technician at Good Pill Pharmacy. She earned her BS in Microbiology at the University of New Hampshire and has worked in cancer research, academics, and biotechnology. Concern over the growing incidence of human disease and the birth of her children led her to begin living a more natural life. She quickly realized that the information she was learning along the way could be beneficial to many others and started blogging and freelance writing to share this knowledge with others. Learn more about her HERE.
Great ideas! I make pancakes with blended fruits for my niece since she’s wary of whole fruits in them.
I’ve added this to my StumbleUpon. 🙂