“Any tips on how to incorporate more veggies into your diet?”
I guess if it were up to our mothers we would eat green vegetables with every meal! But mom wasn’t too far off…
Nutrient packed vegetables not only add essential vitamins and minerals to food, but they can help fill you up as well. While fresh is typically best, don’t discount frozen veggies (if no preservatives were added). A very convenient way is to buy individual steamer bags of frozen veggies. You pop them into the microwave and 5 minutes later you have perfectly cooked vegetables. Add some key toppings and you will be in heaven. Salsa, hot sauce and pink Himalayan salt will change the flavor instantly.
Salads are another easy way to get more veggies into your diet; skip the French fries and cheese! Adding cut up veggies onto your salad is another way to make it colorful and delicious, appealing to more of your senses. Some of my favorites are chickpeas, colored peppers, banana peppers, cucumbers, dates, sunflower seeds and shredded carrots. Top that with homemade balsamic dressing and it rivals any gourmet restaurant salad.
A few more sneaky ways to get more greens in are to cut up veggies, such as colored peppers, really, really small and mix them into chicken and rice. Or put fresh spinach atop your food before reheating it and it basically disappears! Asparagus, mushrooms and artichokes are great additions to omelets. Similarly, when kale and spinach are added to a protein shake or smoothie they add tons of nutrition without much change in flavor. So, don’t forget your mother’s advice and eat your veggies… even if you must sneak them in yourself!!!
