Fruits and Vegetables to Reduce Anxiety

I hope you are doing well. We are sending so much love to our brothers and sisters in Afghanistan, Haiti, Lebanon, California and all the places where fear, sadness, and suffering are running amok. Prayers that you continue to protect your heart and your health and keep kindling the light of love, peace, and kindness in your own ways.

One way that we are trying to protect our mental and physical health in our house is by eating more vegetables and fruits. I recently read a medical study that said that 7-8 servings of fruits and vegetables per day have been shown to reduce anxiety and depression as much as some medications. Isn’t that incredible?

Have you ever heard of the plate method?

The plate method is an easy way to add more veggies and fruits to your plate. Using the plate method, ¼ of your plate is protein, ¼ of your plate is starch or grains, and ½ of your plate is filled with vegetables and fruits.

For breakfast, this could look like oatmeal cooked in plant milk and a spoon of flaxseed with cut fruits on top. For a meal later in the day, you could build your plate around cut salad or steamed veggies and add potato and baked beans, tofu and rice, plantains and black beans, or sweet potato and chickpea curry.

This is an easy way to balance your meals and include more immunity strengthening plants into your diet.

Here is a quick 15-minute lunch recipe for you to try that packs a lot of plant power. It’s called Sheet Pan Edamame. Let me know if you make it and how it turns out.

I teach affordable cooking classes twice per month on Zoom. We are all in our own kitchens chatting and cooking together while we whisk up two dishes and something sweet. You can find out more about them here.

Wishing you excellent health, a lot of laughter and happiness, and deep and abiding peace,

Monique