Achieving your fitness goals requires smart decisions about exercise and diet. If you ignore the impact of what you eat, jogging, swimming, or weight lifting will have only limited results. To stay fit, you have to remember what your mom said when you were growing up, "eat your vegetables!"

Fruits and vegetables provide energy, fiber, and the vitamins and minerals to help keep your engine running. They offer the added benefit of helping to reduce your risk of cancer, diabetes, and other chronic diseases. Fruits and vegetables can help you reduce body fat as they are naturally low in fat and filling. So, substituting them for some of your current diet choices can have a significant impact on your overall health.

How can you cut calories and still feel full? Here are some tips from the CDC on cutting calories and increasing the fruits and veggies.

1. Replace an egg or half the cheese in you standard omelet with onions, mushrooms or spinach.

2. Use half the normal amount of cereal you normally use and replace with cut up fruit.

3. Add more veggies and less meat to sandwiches and wraps.

4. Add veggies to your favorite soup.

5. Switch one cup of pasta or rice with vegetables in your favorite dish.

6. Replace sugary snacks with fruit.

7. Bring cut up fruit or vegetables to work to replace the snacks you might normally eat from out of a vending machine.

The CDC also reminds consumers to consider how food is prepared. Steaming vegetables is much healthier than frying them. It locks in the vitamins as well. Use low-fat dressings and herbs and spices as opposed to table salt to flavor your vegetables. Also, read the content information on canned fruits. Many are packaged with high amounts of sugar so be careful to avoid these when possible.

Look for fruit juices that are 100% juice or make juice yourself. Many juices come with large amounts of sugar too, so be careful to read the packaging before you buy. Finally, remember to consider the calories you are consuming. Achieving your fitness goals by increasing your fruit and vegetable intake only works when you substitute for less healthy choices.

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