Not a big fan of veggies? Or perhaps you’re just looking for a way to fit more vegetables to your day?
You’re in the right place.
Most of us aren’t eating enough vegetables as recommended by the US dietary guidelines which is 2 to 2 and a half cups of vegetables a day. The exact amount depends on your age and gender but shows a clear indication of how much vegetables we should be eating.
In most cases, we simply aren’t making the cut.
From healthy nutrients such as fibre, potassium, folate and vitamins to helping in weight loss and healthy digestive systems, there are countless benefits to eating vegetables.
And with vegetables being an essential part of our daily lives for health and well-being, more needs to be done about our diets.
You may think that vegetables just taste horrible, but perhaps you simply haven’t tried the right preparation for you. Broccoli may taste horrible when steamed, but try it roasted and topped with some sprinkled Parmesan cheese and the game completely changes.
So whether you don’t like the taste of veg or just need some inspiration to fit more into your diet, here are a few effective tips to help you eat more vegetables every day.
Easy pre-packed and prepared vegetables
Preparing vegetables for meals isn’t just tedious, but it’s also highly time consuming. With the preparation process taking up most of your cooking time, doing advanced preparations for meals ahead makes life so much easier thus making vegetable consumption higher.
The easiest way to prepare vegetables is right after your grocery run when you’re in chore mode. Wash the vegetables with vegetable soap or bicarb soda solution, dry them thoroughly ensuring as much moisture is removed, cut them into chunks ready for cooking, and pop them into fresh and crisp vegetable bags to help keep them fresher for longer in the fridge.
Now that your vegetables are easy to access without having to prepare them each time for meals, you’ll find it extremely easy to increase veggie intake daily.
Veggies for brekkie
According to a study conducted by Cornell University, consuming vegetables in the morning helps maintain a healthy BMI and weight. It’s as easy as throwing some pre-cut vegetables in your omelette or roast some tomatoes and mushrooms.
More veggie soups
Eating veggie soup doesn’t just boost your vegetable intake, but also helps you consume fewer calories. The great thing about soup is that you could pump a load of different varieties of veggies and still end up with a beautiful, delectable soup that is a great complement to your main meal.
Vegetable snacks
Potato chips and French fries would be great veggie snacks if they weren’t so highly processed and contained a bunch of flavouring to them (salt included).
If you want to opt for potato snacks, make them yourself at home using an oven or dehydrator.
If you’d like to make veggie chips, you could always go with beets, sprouts, kale and sweet potatoes popped in the oven. Simply slice them thinly with a little salt sprinkled on top and you’ll have yourself an irresistible veggie snack on the go.
Other veggie snacks such as carrots and cucumbers dipped in hummus or celery with peanut butter help you feel fulfilled in between meals.
Wrap it up with lettuce
When fresh and crispy, lettuce gives you a satisfying crisp, crunch with every bite of a homemade wrap. Think butter lettuce leaves, kale, swiss chard, and cabbage leaves as a similar filler to lettuce.
To help you prepare easy veggies for wraps, prepare them ahead of meals and store them in Fresh & Crisp known to keep your salad greens fresh and crispy for up to 3 weeks in the fridge.