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Invest in fruits and vegetables in your diet and increase your chances of living longer by at least 10%. They never told you the price that you pay for things you might not have done.

Motivation to eat well is a tricky thing. It’s not just a physical process; there are emotional and psychological factors as well. If someone places a doughnut and a banana in front of you and your task is to choose one, many would choose the doughnut over the banana because of all the pleasure centers that light up at the thought of eating all that frosting and sprinkles.

However, others would choose the banana because of the relief and comfort found in eating healthy. Mere sight of the doughnut triggers a fear response, a fear of making oneself sick and unhealthy.

No matter the food placed in front of you, it’ll trigger an emotion. The latest research on fruits and vegetables just might help trigger a stronger, more positive response to fruits and vegetables. Researchers have known for a long time that the regular consumption of produce helps you live longer. Until recently, we haven’t known for how much longer

The Research The first study to follow people over time evaluated a “dose-response” curve between fruit and vegetable consumption and mortality. Compared to those eating five servings of fruits and veggies a day, those only eating four lost a month off their lifespan.

When it dropped to three servings, people generally lived three months less. And then that’s where statistics took a sharp dive.

Two servings a day, people lived seven months shorter. Limiting consumption to one serving a day shortchanged people practically a year and a half off their lifespan. Two years gone at half-serving a day, and then three years off our lives when people skipped produce altogether. Just a single serving of fruit, like the aforementioned banana, could mean 19 months added on to your lifespan. Scary, huh?

The interesting part about this study is it followed mostly people in their 50s and 60s. So far the data show that it’s not too late to turn things around in your 70s. Women in their 70s who had the most carotenoid phytonutrients in their bloodstream were twice as likely to live five years longer than those with the lowest. All those extra years just from eating more fruits and veggies.

The Cost of Eating Healthier It’s easy to explain how healthy eating can save you thousands on medications and copays, but grasping the scope of money spent over the course of a year is often hard to keep in perspective. So let’s take a look at it from grocery-bill-level.

In this study out of Taiwan, spending just 50 cents a day on fruits or vegetables appeared to buy about a 10% drop in mortality. That’s $15.00 per month with a return of five healthier years of life. That’s quite the bargain.

Now, that 50 cents can vary on exactly how many servings of fruits and vegetables you can get in a day. It all depends on what’s in season and what your tastebuds prefer. Enter Optimal Fruit & Veggie Plus. It contains 30 servings of organic whole food fruits and vegetables per scoop, tallying up to $1.83 a day.

Fruit and Veggie Plus uses fruits and vegetables picked at peak ripeness. The powder includes banana, pineapple, strawberry, noni, coffee berry, broccoli sprouts, acerola cherry, camu camu, tomato, broccoli, carrot, mangosteen, spinach, kale, and Brussels sprouts. The following are organic juices added for their high ORAC value: raspberry, cranberry, strawberry, blackberry, carrot, blueberry, pomegranate, acai, cherry, and watermelon. We also add a variety of herbs and extracts to increase the free radical fighting capabilities of this formula. Twenty-four fruits and vegetables remain completely raw with all enzymes, vitamins, and minerals intact.

The highest antioxidant potency in the world, this formula delivers 20,000 antioxidant units per serving. Optimal Fruit & Veggie Plus™ promotes cardiovascular health, healthy glucose metabolism, vision, inflammatory response, brain function, healthy aging, and support a healthy immune response, healthy skin, and urinary tract health.