It’s Worth the Trip! Semi-Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

MyPlate encourages Americans to fill half of their plates with fruits and vegetables because research has proven that diets filled with them will assist with meeting weight goals, lower blood pressure, reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke, prevent some types of cancer, and lower the risk of eye and digestive problems. The amount of vegetables and fruits recommended per day varies depending on age, sex, and activity level; but, for the average adult, the combined minimum amount is about 5-6 cups per day. Just know that health experts aren’t encouraging healthy individuals to keep their intake below this amount. In fact, you would be hard-pressed to find some say that eating too many fruits and vegetables is bad for them. Building your diet with mostly fruits and vegetables is a healthy choice.

Aiming to eat a variety (“Eating a Rainbow”) of fruits and vegetables is just as important as the overall amount consumed. This is because no single fruit or vegetable provides all the nutrients the body needs. Because fruits tend to be higher in calories than vegetables, increasing the variety with mainly vegetables is a great strategy to keep calories balanced. Just be sure to also eat some fruits.

Based on their nutrients, vegetables are organized into 5 subgroups: darkgreen, starchy, red and orange, beans and peas, and others. It isn’t necessary to eat vegetables from each subgroup daily. However, over the course of a week, the recommended amount of weekly intake from each subgroup should be consumed. All cooked, raw, canned and frozen varieties count toward meeting the weekly goals. One cup of raw or cooked vegetables or vegetable juice, or 2 cups of raw leafy greens, can be considered as 1 cup vegetables.

Each week, adults should aim to eat between 4-5 cups from the red and orange vegetable subgroup. Some of the key nutrients that the red and orange subgroup of vegetables provides your body with vitamins A, C, and potassium. Vitamin A helps to promote healthy eyes, skin, hair and teeth and strong immune system. Vitamin C also keeps the teeth and gums healthy and keeps the immune system strong, while also helping with wound healing and the body’s absorption of iron. Dietary potassium lowers blood pressure and may reduce the risk of kidney stones.

This meal features a semi-homemade “starter” marinara sauce that will help you in meeting the recommended weekly level for red/orange vegetables, while also keeping the sodium and sugar levels in check. Have fun with this sauce by using it in other meals and adding more vegetables, like peppers, zucchini, eggplant, or mushrooms, etc.