Whether you want to lose weight, reduce your chances of developing certain cancers or chronic illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, or lower your cholesterol level, you’d better map out a diet that includes anywhere from four to thirteen servings of vegetables (including fruits) a day. As it is, most Americans eat perhaps as few as three such servings daily, making them very deficient in these beneficial foods.

While upping your vegetable intake may seem daunting, think of it as an exercise in coloring your palate: as the CDC points out, selecting vegetables —and fruits—in a rainbow’s color assures you that you are getting the nutrients, including fiber, that you need for good health. That includes such multiple hues as red beets, white onions, blue blueberries, orange winter squash, and black beans.

Although using canned and frozen vegetables makes adding vegetables to mealtimes convenient and easy, shoppers should take advantage of growing seasons to sample everything from organic spinach to Asian long beans when these are stocked at supermarkets or farmers’ markets.

Fresh—and local—vegetables are often best. Like any living thing, plants have a finite life after harvest; greens are the most fragile and ideally should be eaten within a few days of purchase. On the other hand, sturdy vegetable like onions, potatoes, and winter squash last longer.

Important Health Findings

Do you still need convincing? Then consider the findings of the health experts about how valuable vegetables are for keeping fit. Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health cited figures from a 14-year-long study of nearly 120,000 men and women and their dietary habits.

The conclusions: Those who ate a diet rich in vegetables and fruits—about eight servings a day—had the lowest occurrences of stroke; reduced rates of certain cancers such as prostate and colon cancers; lower blood pressure and reduced risks of heart disease; better functioning digestive systems; and healthier eyes.

How to Up Your Vegetable Intake

Getting more vegetables onto your plate—or into your bowl—is really quite simple: for example, fold cut-up vegetables into a breakfast omelet; top your morning cereal with two different kinds of fruit; eat a salad for lunch and dinner; have fruit as a between-meal snack; top pastas with quick-cooked vegetables; put vegetables into such portable foods as sandwiches, tacos, burritos, and wraps; and blend fruit into a smoothie.