How to Get More Veggies In Your Diet

Getting more vegetables into your diet doesn’t have to mean eating a salad for every meal!

We all know that vegetables are good for us, but still often struggle to get enough of them in our diets. Eating lots of veggies can be difficulty, especially if you‘re not sure how to do so other than eating salad after salad, which can get boring very quickly.

Don’t get me wrong, your options for salads are endless from your choice of greens (lettuce, spinach, mixed baby greens) to a variety of toppings (tomato, avocado, turkey, hard boiled eggs, beets, carrots, cucumber, olives, celery, and any combination of these toppings or any other of your favorites). It’s easy to create variety within your salad but at the end of day, who wants to eat salad for every meal just to get enough veggies in? I know I don’t; I need variety, and don’t always want to feel like I’m eating a ton of veggies (even if I am)!

Follow these easy tips to Swap, Add and Snack on veggies to increase your vegetable intake without even noticing!

SWAP out your grains/carbohydrates for veggies

Swap out rice for:

·         Cauliflower rice– this can either be done with a food processor or a block grater. Trader Joe’s also now sells organic cauliflower that is already riced, both fresh and frozen. Use this anywhere you might use rice to get vegetables. This works great for fried rice too!

Swap out bread for:

·         Lettuce wrapped sandwiches/burgers– this is a great way to not only add veggies but also decrease grains. You can also do lettuce wraps for things such as chicken and/or tuna salad.

·         Portobello mushroom buns– this is a great alternative for a bun that doesn’t involve lettuce. Or better yet, add some lettuce on top of the mushroom and you get both!

Swap out pizza crust for:

·         Cauliflower pizza crust– there are many recipes online for this. This allows you to up the veggies in your pizza while eliminating the grains/gluten. Then add veggies for toppings and you’ll have even more vegetables turning what can be a very unhealthy meal into one full of veggies!

Swap out potatoes for:

·         Veggie fries: Fries without potatoes?! It can be done! Use carrots and/or parsnips to make delicious fries– this is a great alternative to white potatoes. You can roast/bake them in the oven after tossing with some oil (avocado oil is a great high-heat stable option) and salt. Add some chili powder or herbs for extra flavor. Now you may be asking why you need to swap out potatoes when they are a vegetable. Technically speaking, they are a vegetable, but they contain so much starch and sugar that they are doing more harm to your blood sugar (and your waistline) than they are worth. If you really want to keep your potatoes, eat sweet potatoes which offer more nutrients and less starchy sugars.

·         Mashed root vegetables. Instead of mashed potatoes, use parsnips and carrots to make a colorful mash, or try it with parsnips and cauliflower. Martha Stewart has a great carrot and parsnip recipe here (http://www.marthastewart.com/866497/carrot-and-parsnip-puree).

Swap out pasta for:

·         Veggie noodles! Have fun with spaghetti and try zucchini noodles or spaghetti squash. You can use a spiralizer or a large-hole block grater to make long noodle-like strips of zucchini. Toss them into salads for flavor and texture or use them like pasta with your favorite sauce. Zucchini pairs well with pesto or tomato sauce. Spaghetti squash is also a great alternative. Use tomato sauce with blended veggies (see next post) for even more vegetables!

ADD veggies to (almost) everything you make at home. This works on everything from breakfast to dinner, savory to sweet.

·         Recipes– double the veggies, keep the amount of meat the same. This works for almost any recipe that calls for veggies. Just make sure to watch the water content in dishes that are supposed to be drier as added veggies mean a higher water content.

·         Blended veggies – this is a great way to hide veggies. When using tomato sauce in cooking, blend up some veggies and add it right into the sauce. You can use any veggies that go with your dish’s flavor profiles (such as greens, zucchini, onion, bell pepper). The tomato sauce flavor is strong and will cover up most veggies. Watch out before adding too much spinach/greens though as it may turn your sauce a bit green. This also works for pesto- you can use a mix of basil and spinach when making homemade pesto, or even some carrot greens (this also saves waste as most people throw out the green tops of their carrots). This is a great way to hide vegetables without changing the flavor profile of your dish!

·         Anything cooked– any recipes that you have can almost always have added vegetables which often enhances the flavor. I add a mix of vegetables to whatever recipe I am using- from chicken gumbo to chili to Moroccan chicken to pulled BBQ chicken. I add mixed greens (such as spinach, kale, swiss chard), bell pepper and any other vegetables I have on hand to almost everything I cook! Every homemade meal is a chance to increase your veggie intake.

·         Eggs– most people aren’t sure how to incorporate vegetables into breakfast. Creating a vegetable omelet or frittata is a great way to start your day with vegetables that still feels like breakfast. Mix in any of your favorite vegetables for a healthy start to the day!

·         Smoothies – adding spinach or other veggies to a fruit smoothie may change the color but won’t change the flavor and you’ll get all of the great benefits of leafy greens. You can also add cooked beets which will add natural sweetness and color.

·         Dessert– This one may sound crazy, but if you’re already planning on making a cake, why not choose a (chocolate) zucchini cake to add some veggies even in your dessert! I always use more zucchini than the recipes call for which not only increases the vegetable content but also helps keep it moist due to the water content in the zucchini, and who doesn’t want a deliciously moist cake?!

SNACK smart

·         Snacks: ditch those chips and use veggies as dippers instead. This works great with your favorite dips like hummus, ranch, and peanut/nut butters. Carrots and celery work great for this, but so can sliced bell pepper, cucumber and even mushrooms.

·         Use left overs. Instead of choosing foods that are typically thought of as snack foods, have smaller portions of leftovers from lunches/dinners earlier in the week. This will provide a more satisfying snack than chips or crackers ever could! Chips, crackers, and foods like them don’t have the protein or healthy fats to make you feel satisfied or full. They tend to leave you hungry which means that you are still searching for something more to eat even though you already had a snack.

Eating out: The above sounds easy enough and now you’ve been able to get lots of veggies in at home, but what happens when you are eating out and some of the above options aren’t available? Here are a few easy ways to solve this:

·         Ask for a side salad instead of fries (I know, we’re back to the salad again, but it is a classic!)

·         Ask for grilled/steamed veggies instead of fries

·         Order your sandwich or burger lettuce wrapped (this one works at home and when eating out)

·         Choose items that naturally contain vegetables, such as a veggie omelet or scramble rather than a meat filled one, salads, dishes that are meat and vegetable based (compared to a sandwich which typically has few vegetables). When choosing appetizers and sides, choose vegetable based dishes. This makes getting more veggies in easier when you’re eating out.

Getting more vegetables in your diet doesn’t mean eating plates full of veggies or salad all the time. Experiment with adding vegetables to your favorite recipes, trying new ones, or using the same vegetables you’ve been eating in new ways. Have fun with it, and feel healthier doing it!