Everyday diet advice to get more vitamins

Vitamins nourish the body, help ward off chronic diseases, and prevent premature ageing. Looking to get more? Here are some simple ways to boost your intake.

Enjoy an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables across the colour spectrum. Some good foods to pay attention to are vegetables that are orange or leafy and dark green. Deep-hued berries are great too. Remember that home-grown fruit and vegetables are more nutritious than produce that's been packaged, transported and stored.

A good intake of raw fruit and vegetables helps provide the nutrients destroyed by cooking, so eat salads and crudités, and choose fresh fruit for dessert. However, studies show that overzealous "raw foodists" can miss out. For instance, tomatoes have more available lycopene (a powerful antioxidant) when cooked.

How you cook things can also make a difference ; you'll lose fewer nutrients if you steam your veggies rather than boiling them.

• Favour fresh foods. Whole, natural foods are richer in vitamins than heavily processed ones.
• Eat plenty of oily fish, which are plentiful in fat-soluble vitamins.
• Scrub rather than peel your veggies, or remove as little of the skin as possible. Most peel is edible and rich in vitamins. The nutrients in a potato are mainly concentrated just under the skin.
• Steam rather than boil. Water-soluble vitamins leach into cooking water. Whether you boil or steam, save the liquid to make soup.
• Avoid deep-frying, which is destructive, especially to vitamin E.
• Meat contains vitamins too! Don't overcook it though, as this will break them down.

Getting more vitamins doesn't need to be a chore. Most vitamin-rich food is delicious if prepared and seasoned well. Find your in-season favourites and learn how to prepare them for the tastiest, most nutritious meals possible.