Fruit Intake? It's the Pits

Let's face it. You're more likely to lift weights than to eat the fruit your body needs.

Only 16 percent of Americans get enough apples, oranges, grapes and the like each day, according to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Guidelines call for eating two to four small servings each day.

"Strawberries -- I can't stand the smell of them," said Marcy Wilson, a retiree in Omaha, Nebraska. "Raisins I don't like but grapes I do. I don't like cherries but I like the cherry flavor. I like cheesecake with cherry stuff on it, but I don't like the cherries."

Omahans Vicki Loeffler and her 13-year-old son, Christopher, avoided fruit for years. Loeffler developed an aversion in childhood when her parents insisted that she eat whatever fruit or vegetable she was served. Christopher ate fruit as a baby and stopped eating it as a child. He doesn't like the texture.

"I don't like the fiber in oranges and stuff," he said. "I really don't like grapes -- the way they squish and the skin splits and comes apart in your mouth."

In the last two years, Christopher's health care providers at Children's Hospital & Medical Center have encouraged him to eat fruit as part of a lifestyle to reduce his cholesterol. He has modified his diet and activity and learned to accept applesauce, bananas and pears.

Christopher is trying to eat fruit at least once day.

And his mother is trying to eat more fruit to set a good example.

Not eating fruit puts you at greater risk of heart disease, according to the CDC. The federal agency studied how well Americans observed nine major recommendations for heart health and found you're more likely to exercise 150 minutes or more per week, eat your vegetables, control the sodium and the fat in your diet, and get your blood pressure and cholesterol checked than you are to eat the fruit you need.

In May, the agency reported that 84 percent of Americans fail to eat enough fruit, while 92 percent of Americans had their blood pressure checked in the last two years and 29 percent ate the recommended three to five servings of vegetables per day. Of the nine recommendations for heart health, eating fruit was the recommendation least likely to be followed.

A piece of whole fresh fruit about the size of a tennis ball equals one serving, as do one-half cup of canned fruit, one-fourth cup of dried fruit or six ounces of fruit juice (read the label to make sure it's 100 percent fruit juice).

Tamara Dolphens, a physician's assistant in the Pediatric Preventive Cardiology Program at Children's, said the lack of fruit is a problem at any age. But she is particularly concerned to see that adults ages 20 to 39 were the group least likely to follow guidelines for fruit consumption and other heart-healthy behaviors. People in that age group are the most likely to be rearing children at home, she said.

"That's the age that needs to be practicing heart-healthy lifestyles so they can help the next generation," Dolphens said. "It's important for parents to be good role models with the foods that they choose."

Dolphens recommends eating a variety of fruit that is close to its natural state, skins on if possible. She also says you should avoid fruit juice.

"Anything you have to bite into -- apple, pear or peaches -- is better. They're the ones that have fiber and the heart-healthy properties to them. Fruit that has the skin on has the higher fiber content and that fiber is important in lowering cholesterol," she said.

"When I dismiss a patient, I give them a task: When you come back to see me, I want to know about a new fruit and a new vegetable you have tried. You don't have to like it. You just have to try it."

Wilson, the retiree who can't stand strawberries, is trying to eat more fruit. She rarely ate it at all until about two months ago, when she started a weight-loss program with advice from Toni Kuehneman, a dietitian at Alegent Health. Eating fruit as part of the program helped her lose about five pounds, Wilson said, but including two servings of fruit a day is still a goal rather than a habit.

Taste aside, she also said fruit is inconvenient and expensive.

"I love the clementines (a citrus fruit) but they are seasonable," Wilson said. "I like cantaloupe but I can't eat it before it goes bad. I can't buy more than three bananas at a time or they go bad. I don't want to keep running to the store. I like watermelon, but I can't eat a (whole) watermelon. If I buy a fourth of a watermelon. I feel cheated because I pay as much as people buying a whole one."

Kuehneman, however, said many fruits are as easy to consume as fast food. Just rinse and eat. It's also easy to simply add fruit to what you're already eating. And then, if you're enthused, make something: a salad, a fruit crisp or a smoothie.

Kuehneman helped us with the accompanying charts showing simple ways to pump up your diet with fruit, the fast-food way, the add-on way and with some preparation. She said she was happy to do so, but she doesn't want anyone to cut corners and stop what they're already doing right.

"Keep on eating your vegetables," she said.