With all the health benefits vegetables offer, why is it people don’t eat more? Try these tips to sneak a few more veggies into your diet.
Let’s be honest, how many people would rather have vegetables over many of the modern foods surrounding us today such as pizza or hamburgers? Most of us know the great importance of consuming an abundance of vegetables, but many individuals aren’t even getting the minimum recommended daily requirement! This can lead to deficiencies and a great lack of health. Vegetables should really be the foundation of our diet, as they provide an abundance of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, phytochemicals, fiber, and other essential components for optimal health. The more vegetables we eat, the better!
The good news is that there are some great tips and tricks for sneaking more vegetables into your day to boost your nutrition and health! Getting more vegetables in your day doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice taste or eat salads all day. You can easily boost your intake without even really noticing!
Breakfast
If you enjoy vegan eggs (or even the regular kind) for your breakfast, use this opportunity to amp up the flavor and nutrition by adding in an assortment of veggies and turn it into more of an “omelet” or egg scramble! Some popular additions include onions, bell pepper, mushrooms, avocado, and tomato, but get creative with it!
If, instead, you prefer scrambled eggs without chunks of vegetables, a great way to sneak in a vegetable is to mix in steamed or pureed cauliflower into the eggs and cook them together!
If you are more of a smoothie or shake kind of person, this can be a great opportunity to really sneak in a bunch of veggies without even noticing! Spinach is a common addition to many people’s smoothies, but there are so many other options that also make for delicious and nutritious shakes! Some ideas include kale, cilantro, parsley, avocado, sprouts, and broccoli.
Another great vegetable addition for the breakfast enthusiast is a sweet potato hash brown! Sweet potatoes can be used in a variety of ways to eat with eggs or another food of choice. They can be diced, shredded, or made into patties. They’re a versatile vegetable to be enjoyed plain or with additional veggies such as onion or avocado.
A breakfast vegetable “stir fry” is also a delicious option. Stir frying vegetables takes minutes and can be enjoyed by themselves or even with a whole grain toast. This is a great opportunity to get some variety with the vegetables you’re using!
Oatmeal doesn’t need to be sweet to be delicious! Have you ever considered a savory oatmeal? Cook oatmeal plain and then add steamed or sautéed vegetables of choice! You can also top it with an egg or with some Warrior Blend Natural protein if you’d like additional protein.
For those who enjoy sweet breakfast foods, another option beyond smoothies is an avocado-based healthy pudding, made with wholesome ingredients such as chia seed.
Many recipes incorporate vegetable ingredients such as pumpkin, sweet potato, butternut squash, zucchini or other similar ingredients in the batter for pancakes or waffles!
For those who aren’t big breakfast fans, a great way to get some extra vegetables for breakfast or a between-meal snack is a freshly pressed juice. The options and varieties for juices are endless.
Lunch or Dinner
For those of you who love pasta, try adding in some steamed or sautéed veggies of choice, including garlic, onion, mushrooms, or broccoli!
Getting away from traditional noodles and experimenting with a spiralizer can be a great way of getting more veggies. Using a spiralizer can allow you to make noodles out of many different vegetables, including zucchini, squash, or carrots!
When making sauces of any kind, especially sauces such as spaghetti sauce, incorporate vegetables such as onion, garlic, cilantro, or zucchini!
Dishes such as casseroles or quinoa or rice bowls are great places to sneak in onion, garlic, squash, or other vegetables of choice.
Wraps, either cold or warm, are a very versatile and enjoyable way of getting some good servings of extra vegetables. Some favorite wrap additions include spinach, different lettuce and leafy green varieties, cilantro, parsley, avocado, onion, sprouts, tomato, or cucumber. The pairing options again are endless, so start experimenting with your favorite combinations!
If you or your family love some of the traditional lunch or dinner foods such as grilled cheese, quesadillas, or burritos, slip in some extra nutrition by including avocado, onion, tomato, cilantro, or other vegetables of choice!
If you are a fan of baked goods such as muffins or bars, finely shredding foods such as carrots, zucchini, or other types of squash can be a great way to hide more vegetables in the food you’re already eating!
Root vegetables such as sweet potatoes or lucuma and others make great alternatives to the traditional white potato for homemade fries or chips and boosts the amount of nutrition.
Rather than ordering out, make pizza at home using a sauce with added vegetables, and top your pizza with some tasty additions such as mushrooms, garlic, or onion.
Soups are another incredibly versatile food that can easily be a source of an abundance of hidden veggies. Whether the soup is chunky or blended, cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, or squash can easily and pleasantly be added to many different soups!
When making sweet dessert foods, many recipes can include vegetable additions such as avocado, pureed beets, squash, pumpkin, or zucchini to boost nutrition, flavor, and give a nice texture!
These are just a couple of examples of how easy it can be to sneak in extra vegetables in your day, through foods you’re likely already eating!
A great recipe for incorporating vegetables into breakfast are Cloud Nine Pumpkin Pancakes!
