The peak industry body for Queensland horticulture, Growcom, has recently launched a national campaign titled Eat Yourself to Health to encourage Aussies to increase their daily consumption of fruits and vegetables.
Recent dietary surveys show that despite the fact that a diet with lots of high-fibre plant foods can help boost but health and prevent against disease, Australian adults are not consuming even half of the recommended amount of fruit and vegetables.
The recommended amount of fresh fruit and vegetables an Australian adult should consume is two serves of fruit and five serves of vegetables per day.
In order to meet these requirements, Australian adults would need to increase their total consumption of vegetables by more than 30 per cent and double their fruit consumption.
Growcom Australia is running an "Eat Yourself to Health" campaign and we thought we'd join them. What better way to start than with healthy Shepard avocados. What's your favourite way to eat avos? #EatYourselfToHealth COVID Cooking Challenge.
Posted by Groves Grown Tropical Fruit on Monday, April 20, 2020
Chair of Growcom, Belinda Adams, said now was the perfect time to branch out and try new fruit and vegetables as Australian farmers produce an abundance of fresh fruit and veggies at this time of year.
"Growers are right behind this grassroots campaign. They dedicate their lives to feeding our nation clean, green and nutritious fruits, vegetables and nuts," Belinda said.
"Looking after our health has never been more important as we find our way through this COVID-19 crisis, which is why we're encouraging Australians to Eat Up and Branch Out."
As part of the campaign, individual growers will be challenging consumers to their own unique COVID-19 Cooking Challenge, encouraging creativity in the kitchen by incorporating a wider variety of fresh produce.
"We're all staying home and cooking more at the moment. So this is a fantastic opportunity to expand our cooking skills and try something new," Belinda said.
"Growers will be issuing the challenge to consumers. Show us how you're incorporating our fresh produce into your meals, and share the results back with us on social media."
