Do you really eat healthy if you have two pieces of fruit every day, or is that not the case? How bad is it if you don’t eat a banana and a kiwi every day? And can you compensate for that by eating more vegetables?
The Netherlands Nutrition Centre recommends eating two pieces of fruit a day. It is not without reason that you find your bananas, kiwis and apples in the Wheel of Five. They advise eating at least two pieces, because then you can more easily reach those daily amounts of nutrients and vitamins.
It is important to chew fruit instead of swallowing it as a juice. That has to do with (among other things) fiber. Because the fiber in fruit is good for your digestion, says Marianne Rook, health educator at the Maag Lever Darm Stichting (Stomach, Liver, Intestine Foundation).
“Fiber ensures that your intestines move and also stimulate that.” Furthermore, we know that fiber can reduce the chance of a number of conditions. If you eat enough of it, it lowers the risk of bowel cancer and cardiovascular diseases, among other things.
Different types of food, such as whole wheat pasta, potatoes or beans, contain different types of fiber. That means you can’t do completely without fruit. “Fruit offers something extra. It is a different product group than, for example, bread and therefore contains different fibers and other nutrients,” says Rook.
Fruit is indispensable in a varied diet
Fiber is not only good for your digestion, but also for your gut microbiome. That is a collective name for all the different types of bacteria that are mainly located in your large intestine. And all those bacteria together ensure that your intestines continue to work properly. They help keep your intestinal wall healthy and support your immune system.
Your microbiome needs different types of fiber to do its job. That means you have to eat a varied diet and fruit is indispensable in that. “It is difficult to get the fiber contained in fruit from other products,” says Alie de Boer, nutritional scientist at Maastricht University. “That is because fruit often contains a wider combination of nutrients than other products.”
What if you don’t like eating fruit
Eating fruit is therefore important. But how bad is it if you don’t get those two pieces every day? “That is not directly serious,” Rook thinks. “It is difficult to say what the direct consequences could be. The advice is to try to meet the guideline, and to vary. Variation on your plate means variation in your belly. This way you get all the nutrients you need.”
But suppose you don’t like eating fruit, can you compensate for that by eating more vegetables? De Boer doesn’t think so. “Variety is important. Precisely because all the different types of vegetables and fruits also contain different vitamins and minerals. That is why it is also not good to only eat broccoli.”
And vice versa, eating more fruit to restore a lack of vegetables is also not a good idea. “Fruit often contains more sugar, so you don’t want to eat more than two pieces a day of this either. The very best thing is to add both vegetables and fruit to your diet.”