Fruit and Veg Increase Life Satisfaction

Everyone knows that you need to eat plenty of fruit and vegetables on a regular basis to keep your body healthy. They contain vital vitamins and minerals that improve overall well-being. However, it seems that eating more fruit and vegetables could also help your mood.

New research has suggested that consuming more of the green stuff on a daily basis actually makes you happier. A study of 12,385 people found that those who eat more vegetables and fruit have higher life satisfaction scores, suggesting that healthy eating really is the key to happiness.

Researchers from the University of Warwick and the University of Queensland looked at the diaries of each of the adults involved in the study from 2007, 2009 and 2013. They found that individuals who went from having almost no fruit and vegetables a day to eight daily portions experienced a jump in life satisfaction.

In fact, the increase in happiness was apparently the equivalent of going from being unemployed to having a job, which is a pretty big leap!

Professor Andrew Oswald, leader of the study, said: “Eating fruit and vegetables apparently boosts our happiness far more quickly than it improves human health. People’s motivation to eat healthy food is weakened by the fact that physical-health benefits, such as protecting against cancer, accrue decades later.

“However, well-being improvements from increased consumption of fruit and vegetables are closer to immediate.”

It was found that the happiness changes between eating no fruit and vegetables and consuming several portions happened within two years, which is much faster than the physical benefits of a healthy diet, which can take ten years or more.

This means that a diet that consists of more vegetables and fruit could help to fight illnesses like depression, as well as generally lift people’s moods.

If being physically healthy wasn’t enough of a reason to swap that chocolate bar for a carrot stick or apple, these new findings could definitely help to convince you to keep your diet healthy!