Eating vegetables should be an important part of every person’s day. Veggies include nutrients, fiber and are naturally low in fat and calories. Most people don’t eat nearly enough…
Canada’s food guide suggests that veggies should take up half your plate with whole grains taking up one quarter and meat/meat alternatives completing the picture. Eating more vegetables can help protect you from some diseases and maintain a healthy body weight.
Knowing how important it is to eat veggies, how do we add more vegetables to our plates?
7 Sneaky Ways to Add More Vegetables to Your Day
7 sneaky ways to add veggies to your day Click To Tweet
Add spinach to your smoothie
This is one of my favourite ways to add vegetables to my morning. By putting spinach or kale into my smoothie I get an extra burst of vitamins, fiber and nutrients but don’t taste a thing. I usually add about a cup of leafy greens to my smoothie and then add in my fruit, nut milk etc.
This sneaky method even gets my very picky 5 year old to eat his greens.
Start your dinner with a salad
No matter what type of meal we’re having, E and I always start with a salad. It’s usually pretty simple with romaine lettuce or spinach (better for you than iceberg), tomatoes, carrots, peppers and cucumbers. Easy to throw in a bowl and eat. Adding these definitely increases our veggie intake for the day.
Choose a new veggie every week at the grocery store
I really enjoy trying new foods including new vegetables. I challenge you to try a new veggie each week. If you’re not sure how to make it, search Pinterest for ideas. Most vegetables are great roasted in the oven with some olive oil, herbs and a bit of salt. I’ve made root vegetables, zucchini, summer squash, butternut squash, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and many other types of vegetables using this simple method.
Make sure you have at least one veggie on your plate at each meal
This is one that I’m working on for sure. At dinner I always add an extra veggie to our plates but lunch is a challenge. I’ve been trying to make more chopped veggie salads for lunch or bringing sliced peppers, cucumbers and peppers in a baggie as a snack.
Cut up your veggies when you first buy them
This tip goes with the tip above. I find that it’s much easier to eat more vegetables if I chop them up when I first bring them home. Then I can just pull out the Tupperware with veggies inside, put some in a Ziplock baggie and take them to work.
Put veggies in new places
This is where your creativity comes into play. Try adding more vegetables in interesting places. I’ve added all kinds of different veggies to my mac and cheese – broccoli, roasted squash, peas and cauliflower to name a few. You can try adding pureed squash or carrots to the egg mixture when making french toast and experiment by adding veggies to baked goods.
If you’re making something like tomato sauce, soup or chili include some additional veggies. You’ll be adding nutrients and healthy benefits and no one will even notice…
Have one meal per week that is vegetable based
One day per week, put veggies in the spotlight. Instead of having steak, chicken or fish, try a vegetable stir fry, a vegetarian pasta with loads of veggies or try having big salad for dinner.
I hope these tips make incorporating more vegetables into your life easier. I’d love to hear how you include veggies in your day!
Here are some great healthy recipes to try:
- Sushi bowls
- Fresh tomato sauce
- Honey chicken and roasted veggies
- The best roasted root veggies
- Vegan superfood smoothie
Too bad veggies can`t taste like chocolate, right? I like these tips though, and I always make sure there’s a veggie on my plate (and somehow, making it part of a regular routine really make you enjoy them more!)
I know I could eat more vegetables. But they need to taste more like carbs 🙂 Thanks for sharing at Family Joy Blog linkup.
You are so right, veggies need to be the main part of the dish. Coming from a family that used to serve fresh cucumbers ad tomatoes with every meal….I totaly get this and love it!
Thanks so much for joining the DI & DI Link party.
Occasionally we do salad and serve it first when we’re hungriest. When we’re mostly finished we bring out the main dish, and people eat less of that and more salad.
Great ideas you have here! 🙂
I would love for you to share this with my Facebook Group for recipes, crafts, tips, and tricks: https://www.facebook.com/groups/pluckyrecipescraftstips/
Thanks for joining Cooking and Crafting with J & J!
I love vegetables and these are great tips. Sorry my comments is short but you have a box that pops up and I can’t see what I am writing. Thanks for linking with #KCACOLS. We hope you come back next time
These are some great ideas! I really need to start making more salads. #KCACAOLS
Some great tips! We always add either spinach or kale to morning smoothies. Our kids actually think that all smoothies are green no matter what they have in them! #KCACOLS
Great ideas! Getting the vegetables in is always a challenge!
Great idea to try a new veggie each week. I always go with the same ones and it can get boring. Great tips
We need to eat more salads!!! Adding greens to our juices is like the number one way we get our greens, because you really can’t notice them at all. Even my toddler drinks a handful or two of spinach every day! Thanks for sharing <3 #KCACOLS
I need to start picking a new veggie a week! Thanks for linking up to Merry Monday! Sharing on Twitter! Have a great week!
Kim
Thanks for sharing on Twitter Kim!
Great tips! I tweeted this – you can never have too many veggies in a day <3
Agreed! Thanks for sharing and commenting Elle
Great tips! 🙂 Adding spinach or kale to my smoothies is my favorite way to sneak in veggies too! I also agree that almost any veggie is going to taste good roasted! Yum! 🙂
Thanks Erin!
I love the roasting veggies idea. My family and I have also gotten into grilling the veggies. So yummy! I’m actually due to juice some veggies right now. Need to get the ginger! Great article!
Thanks Rosemary – I love grilling veggies as well especially peppers and corn yum!
Great share found you over at Small V just g+ share 🙂
Thanks for sharing my post Mari!
Great ideas, thank you for sharing #KCACOLS
I really love the idea for trying something new each week, also the one on chopping them up right away, I think I’ll give those a try for sure 😀 #SmallVictoriesSundaylinkup
Thanks Claire! I have to work on the chopping one this week with back to school etc
I love your idea of choosing a new vegetable at the grocery store. Thank you for linking up with SmallVictories Linkup
Thanks for your comment Leigh. Have fun trying new veggies!
I love to put spinach in the smoothie! You are right- the kids don’t notice a Thing!
Thanks for sharing!
Michelle
Great ideas. Our grocery store has a Culinary Kitchen with classes each day. This would be another way to try new foods. Thanks for sharing your post with us at Creatively Crafty #CCBG http://tryit-likeit.com/link-party-it
Thanks Janet I’ve been meaning to try the cooking classes at our local store. I’m sure I’d learn lots from the chefs and dietitian there.
I definitely don’t need sneaky ways to add more veggies as I ADORE THEM SO SO SO much! haha! In fact, I think I over eat them! 😮
Lol GiGi – I’m not sure if you can over eat veggies 😉