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Leave the skin on fruits and vegetables whenever possible. Make fresh fruit or fruit salad your first choice for dessert Eat vegetables raw or crisp-cooked. Try cooking combinations of fresh fruits and vegetables, such as carrots with apples, squash with apples or pineapple, beets with oranges, red cabbage with apples. Make tossed salads out of a wide variety of vegetables. A good guide is color. If you use a vegetable of ever color, you generally have a nutritious salad. Replace half the flour in a recipe with whole wheat flour. Choose 100% whole wheat bread, not "wheat bread." Other good choices are rye bread and corn bread, provided they are made with whole grains. Be aware that when grains are milled, most of the bran and germ, and therefore most of the fiber, is removed. Make your own bread crumbs and croutons out of toasted whole grain bread. Choose breakfast cereals that list a whole grain as the first ingredient. Use rolled oats in place of bread crumbs in your next meat loaf. Use oat bran to thicken soups and sauces. Put a cup of uncooked brown rice or mixed grains in the crockpot at night. Add cinnamon, vanilla, and 3 cups of water. You'll love your breakfast! Have leftover grains for breakfast. They're great hot or cold with skim milk, raisins, and cinnamon. Cooked legumes make a tasty and nutritious addition to any soup or stew. Make burgers out of mashed, cooked beans and add them to your favorite burger or meat loaf recipe. Use wheat germ in place of bread crumbs for dishes such as oven-fried chicken.