Want to be happy? Eat your fruits and veggies

The work suggests that adding one portion of fruit or veggies to the diet per day can be as beneficial to mental well-being as going for a walk on an extra seven to eight days a month.

While it is well known that eating lots of fruit and vegetables is good for physical health, a new research says that the benefits include mental health as well.

The new study, conducted by Neel Ocean and Peter Howley from the University of Leeds, shows that increases in the consumption of fruit and vegetables are linked to increases in self-reported mental well-being and life satisfaction in data that spans a five-year period, reported CNN.

The work suggests that adding one portion of fruit or veggies to the diet per day can be as beneficial to mental well-being as going for a walk on an extra seven to eight days a month. For example, vitamins C and E have been shown to lower inflammatory markers linked to depressive mood.

One portion is equal to one cup of raw vegetables (the size of a fist), half a cup of cooked vegetables or chopped fruit, or one piece of whole fruit. This result means that there is a way to improve mental health and that could be something as simple as eating an extra piece of fruit every day or having a salad with a meal.

Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter