1 . Colorful fruits and vegetables are good for our health. Their natural colors help protect our bodies from disease. Think about the colors of fruits and vegetables: the red of tomatoes, the orange of carrots, the yellow of bananas and the purple of grapes.

You can enjoy eating fruits and vegetables of all colors: green, yellow, orange, blue, purple and white. After studying different colors of fruits and vegetables, scientists have found how these different colors of fruits and vegetables keep us healthy. Each color is important to our health. These colors work together to protect our bodies. The list below shows the benefits of some colors in fruits and vegetables:

◆Red helps keep our heart strong. It can lessen the risk of heart disease. Apples, strawberries, tomatoes are good choices.

◆Yellow can make our skin better. Lemons can help our skin look white.

◆Orange is good for our eyes. We can eat more carrots, pumpkins and oranges.

◆Green helps our hair and bones grow better. So if you want to grow taller, eat more green fruits and vegetables.

◆Blue is good for our brains. It can help us keep a good memory as we grow old.

So when you are buying or eating fruits and vegetables, remember to try different colors of fruits and vegetables.

4 . About 80% of people do not get enough vitamin (维生素) D every day. But this vitamin is very important for your health.

Vitamin D is really important for our bones (骨骼). When we are young, vitamin D builds up our bones and makes them strong. When we are older, we still need vitamin D to keep our bones strong. Our bodies keep the vitamin D in our bones and teeth. Then we lose vitamin D as we work and exercise during the day. But our bodies can’t make vitamin D. So we have to get it from outside of our bodies.

Where can a person get this very important vitamin? Vitamin D is in foods like fish and eggs. Sometimes, vitamin D is added to bread, milk, and orange juice. Food is not the only way our bodies can get vitamin D. The sun also gives us vitamin D. If we want to be healthy, we should spend some time in the sun each day. Too much sun is not good for you, but about 15 minutes a day is usually enough. And we should be sure to eat foods that are rich in vitamin D, too.

6 .

The sugar industry has one goal. That goal is to sell more sugar. It is also the goal of the companies that make sugar-sweetened products.

As we all know, eating too much sugar can cause a person to get fatter, so you should try to eat less sugar. In order to eat less sugar, you should know about the following tips.

First, sugar is almost everywhere in the modern diet. It is in sandwich, chicken stock, pickles, salad dressing, crackers, and yogurt. And of course, it is in drinks and foods, like soda and desserts.

Second, you do not need to worry about the sugars that are a natural part of fruit, vegetables, and dairy products. Most people do not overeat natural sugars. The fiber, vitamins, and minerals that surround natural sugars fill you up.

Third, come up with a few simple rules and habits that become second nature. One idea is to drop (停止) all added sugars for one month. Then add (添加) back only the ones you miss. It is easier than it sounds.

Fourth, don’t drink too much juice. Real juice does not have added sweeteners (甜味剂). Rather, it has natural sugars. Drinking too much juice can be dangerous because even natural sugars can be too much. You are not eating the fiber of a single orange when you drink a glass of orange juice. Keep your juice portions (量) to no more than six ounces (盎司). Have only one glass per day.

7 . Will it matter if you don’t take your breakfast? A short time ago, a test was given in the US. People of different ages, from 12 to 83, were asked to have a test. During the test, these people were given all kinds of breakfasts, and sometimes they got no breakfast at all. Scientists wanted to see how well their bodies worked when they ate different kinds of breakfasts.

The results show that if a person eats a right breakfast, he or she will work better than if he or she has no breakfast. If a student has fruit, egg, bread and milk before going to school, he or she will learn more quickly and listen more carefully in class.

The result is opposite to what some people think. Having no breakfast will not help you lose weight (减轻体重). This is because people become so hungry at noon that they eat too much for lunch. They will put on weight instead of losing it. You will lose more weight if you reduce your other meals.

9 . At the end of year 2022, the Singaporean government announced that all drinks sold locally must use nutritional grade labels (营养等级标签) A, B, C, or D on their packaging, marking the percentage of sugar and saturated fat (饱和脂肪) in the drinks. So recently several Singaporean drink companies have already started to put these labels on every drink. In March, 2024 Shanghai, China did the same. The labels are from A to D. The more sugar and saturated fat a drink has, the less healthy the drink is.

10 . Chips, cookies and ice-cream...Many kinds of food that we like are ultra-processed (超加工). And you may be addicted to (上瘾) them, said a new study in the British Medical Journal.

What are ultra-processed foods (UPFs)? In short, you can’t re-create them in your kitchen. They are usually made in factories. They have long list of additives (添加剂)—some you may never have heard of.

The study looked into 281 other studies from 36 different countries and areas. It found that UPF lovers may strongly crave such food. If they stop eating it, they can feel very sad.

Why are UPFs addictive? Usually, natural foods are either high in carbohydrates (碳水化合物) or high in fat.

UPFs, however, are usually high in both. So, such foods can have more calories than natural foods.

Such foods also bring carbohydrates and fat to the gut (肠道) faster. Our body breaks down the fat from natural foods slowly. However, the body breaks down the fat in UPFs as soon as it reaches the stomach. This makes the brain create more dopamine (多巴胺). It makes you feel happier and want to eat more.

About 14 percent of adults and 12 percent of children are addicted to UPFs, said the study. They cause problems to people’s health around the world. Scientists are now calling for more attention to the UPFs.