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By CYNTHIA M c FARLAND

OK, SO IT’S BEEN A WHILE SINCE YOU SET THOSE GOALS TO EXERCISE AND EAT HEALTHIER.

If you’ve hit the fast food drive-thru lately or fed the family frozen pizza for dinner again this week, take heart. The year is young. There’s still plenty of time to make good on those intentions of eating better.

AAccording to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 75 percent of what is spent each year on health care goes to treating preventable chronic diseases, most of which are diet-related. The CDC also notes that over 72 million people—that’s more than one-third of adults in the United States—are obese, along with 16 percent of American children. Even more disturbing is the research showing that if current trends continue, half the people in this country will be obese by 2030. Americans spend over $190 billion on fast food each year. Not bad considering fast food chains only spend about $4.2 billion on advertising annually. And those burgers, fries and sodas they’re selling? Their average size has more than tripled since the 1970s.

“In this country we don’t tend to value food. We’ve come to think we’re entitled to things cheap and easy, but you see the health of people who eat cheap processed food,” observes Jeri Baldwin, founder of Crone’s Cradle Conserve, a 756-acre ecological preserve and education center located in northern Marion County. “We preach healthy eating, so we believe in eating fresh produce year-round, but it’s hard to grow here in the heat of summer, so we researched plants that would tolerate it. This led us to the east, as in Asia, and introduced us to a host of heat-tolerant produce, which we now offer—items like bok choy, Malabar spinach, red noodle beans, shishito peppers and greens like mizuna and tat soi.”

It’s time to dust off those resolutions to eat healthy, starting this week. It’s not as hard as you think. Eating at least five servings of vegetables and fruits each day can reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke by 30 percent. It can also help you lose pounds and power up your immune system.

For optimum nutritional value, choose locally grown fruits and veggies that are freshly harvested at their peak.