Everyone agrees. It’s in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s My Plate food plan. It’s in Weight Watchers, the Biggest Loser Diet, the Atkins Diet, the Mediterranean Diet, vegetarian diets, and many other diets and food plans. Eat more vegetables.
Fortunately, I love most vegetables. However, due to a busy schedule, I don’t always get them prepared and eaten.
Here are some tips I’ve recently come up with for eating more vegetables:
Buy spinach that’s been washed and trimmed.
I used to buy spinach at my local co-op that needed to be washed and trimmed. Sometimes it didn’t get prepared, and I had to throw it away. The co-op also has organic bulk spinach that’s been washed. It’s much easier to use. I wash it again when I get home. I also buy 1 pound containers of organic spinach at Costco.
Add chopped vegetables to meat.
I put spinach or zucchini in scrambled eggs and also sauté them with turkey burger.
Eat more salads.
I ate salad for years and got tired of them. Like spinach, I now buy organic mixed salad greens at the co-op. Although it’s already been washed, I wash it again and spin it in a lettuce spinner I got recently. I also buy 1 pound containers of salad greens at Costco. I put a small amount of chicken or turkey burger in the salad along with cucumbers, green peppers, broccoli, or other raw vegetables. Figure out a home made salad dressing that doesn’t add many calories. I’m using about a tablespoon of organic mayonnaise, some rice milk, and a dash of turmeric.
Use a crock pot.
Recently, I made a nice beef stew. I thought about how nice it would be in the cold winter weather to have more stews. At the co-op today, I bought organic cabbage, carrots, turnips, yams, celery, and carrots plus beef stew. I got out my crock pot, and I even found the directions. It’s cooking right now. When I get up in the morning, I’ll have a nice stew, and the house will smell great.
Eat veggies for breakfast.
Now that I’m eating salads again, I sometimes have a salad with turkey burger and vegetables for breakfast. I also frequently have scrambled eggs with vegetables.
Buy peeled carrots and other prepared vegetables.
I’ve wasted carrots in the past, so buying the peeled ones is helping.
Try raw veggies with dips.
I’m eating peeled carrots with humus, which is tasty.
Eat sweet vegetables instead of candy, cake, and donuts.
Beets, sweet potatoes, and cooked carrots are quite sweet and can be eaten if you have a sugar craving.
Try mashed cauliflower.
It’s good and is more nutritious than mashed potatoes.
Boil vegetables with bacon.
My mom always put chopped bacon in green beans. You can also use bacon with collard greens. Be sure to get bacon without sodium nitrate. You can get it at co-ops and natural food stores, and some supermarkets are beginning to carry it.
Use lettuce wraps instead of bread.
Get your sandwich items out and wrap them in lettuce or collard greens.
Try kale chips.
They’re more nutritious than potato chips and are easy to make.
Get in the habit of Meatless Mondays.
Eat a variety of vegetables throughout the day. See Meatless Mondays for suggestions.
Try baked sweet potato fries.
I learned how to make them when I visited my niece. I like them, and they’re easy to make.
Plant a garden.
Every year, I grow lettuce, spinach, kale, Swiss chard, green beans, cucumbers, zucchinis, tomatoes, and carrots in my garden. It's wonderful to go into the garden and harvest healthy, organic produce.
Make menus.
It takes time, but if you plan your menus for the week you can have vegetable “plan overs” that will save money and reduce waste.
Good luck. Eating more vegetables will improve your health. In addition, buy as many organic vegetables as you can. More and more supermarkets are now offering them.
