Feeling fruity

I'm here, I'm here! A little behind schedule, but it's a three-day weekend, so I'm cutting myself a nice big length of slack. Americans, do you have the day off for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day? Do you commemorate the day? We didn't really do much (sadly), but Espen's library book ties in quite nicely for the occasion. 

For the third week of my small steps challenge, I will be eating a piece of fresh fruit every day. At least. It's kind of silly that I need to make this a specific goal, because not only do I know how good for you it is, I also love it. In fact, the only pregnancy cravings I ever had were for fruit. Some women crave raw hamburger and heavy cream, I could not get enough strawberries and fruit smoothies. Weird. 

As usual, I'm not going to lecture you why this is good for you and your body. But I will point you to some helpful reading here, here and here. The second one is especially helpful. 

And here I am two years later, needing to make a goal to eat fruit. Like I said, it's not that I don't love fruit or recognize how crazy-good it is for you, I'm just not all that great at eating it. Here are a few of my problems with eating fruit: 

1. I like it best when it's freshy fresh and lose interest after it has spent a few days in our kitchen. 
2. Fruit often requires a bit more effort (washing, peeling, cutting), and I am a lazy lazy girl. 
3. Both of these often lead to less-than-appealing fruit that sits around and eventually gets thrown out at out house. Knowing we often waste it discourages us from buying more. 

But the benefits of fresh fruit and vegetables are so immense that I just need to make an attempt to step it up. Not that long ago the recommended daily intake of fruits and vegetables was five. Remember the 5 A Day campaign? (Or Fem om dagen for you Norwegians?) Well, these days* that recommendation is nine.  So it's time to get chomping, friends! Who's with me? If you're already an impressive nosher of fruit, maybe try adding another serving to get you even closer to that magical number nine. And if you're already at nine, can you tell us how you do it?

*OK, this "new" recommendation came in 2005, so it's not exactly cutting edge. But it was news to me!
Image borrowed here.