Published on July 26, 2022

Healthy Tips Video: How to Incorporate Healthy Carbs

Hi, I'm Jenny Young registered dietitian and diabetes and education specialist here at the Health Park. And I'm here today to talk to you about fruits and vegetables and how to incorporate them into your diet, if you're concerned about your carbohydrates or weight management.

So the great thing about fruits and vegetables is they help to decrease your risk of heart disease and stroke, they help to decrease blood pressure, and also help to decrease the risk of many cancers. So most vegetables can be freely added to any meal or snack. They are super low in calories and carbohydrates, like we said really high in vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, and fiber.

But there are a few vegetables that we do need to be mindful of our portions when it comes to if you have insulin resistance, prediabetes, diabetes, or if you're concerned about weight management. So those vegetables are, your potatoes or sweet potatoes, your corn, peas or dried beans, and then also your winter squash like your acorn squash.

So pretty much one serving of these vegetables is about 1/2 a cup. So our next topic is our fruits and fruits are also high in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber have lots of health benefits. But they're more like our starchy vegetables when it comes to carbohydrates and calories. So we do have to be mindful of that portion size again if you have insulin resistance, prediabetes, diabetes, or if you're just concerned about weight management.

So one serving of fruit for berries is about 3/4 of a cup, your melon is a one slice, and then a piece of whole fruit. So one apple, one peach, one pear, one orange those are all servings of fruit.

Then we also have our juice so just about a 1/2 a cup of juice would be equal to 1 piece of fruit. So when we talk about the health benefits of fruit. It is better to eat your fruit, because you get more fiber and it also doesn't affect your blood sugar as much as if you drink juice.

So just a reminder the American Heart Association recommends that you have four to five servings of fruits and vegetables every day. So for more information, visit our website or give us a call at the Healthpark at 270-688-4804.

About Owensboro Health

Owensboro Health is a nonprofit health system with a mission to heal the sick and to improve the health of the communities it serves in Kentucky and Indiana. The system includes Owensboro Health Regional Hospital, nationally recognized for design, architecture and engineering; Owensboro Health Muhlenberg Community Hospital; Owensboro Health Twin Lakes Medical Center; the Owensboro Health Medical Group comprised of over 350 providers at more than 30 locations; three outpatient Healthplex facilities, a certified medical fitness facility, the Healthpark; a weight management program, and the Mitchell Memorial Cancer Center.

On average each year, we have more than 19,000 inpatient admissions, deliver 2,000 babies and provide the region’s only Level III NICU. Owensboro Health physicians perform nearly 33,000 surgical procedures, including nearly 150 open-heart surgeries. Our physicians and staff have 90,000 Emergency Department visits and more than 1.25 million outpatient visits annually. Visit our home page for more information.