Fresh fruits and vegetables are packed with vitamins and minerals, fiber, and antioxidants which are all beneficial for your health. Many experts including the USDA and the Canadian Food Guide suggest eating between five and ten servings of fruit and vegetables daily. Sometimes, it can be difficult to get in all your recommended servings in one day. Here is a list of some ideas to get you to add more fruits and vegetables into your diet.
1. Precut your favorite vegetables the next before or that morning and keep in the refrigerator for convenient snack bags that you can stash in your purse or lunch bag before running errands or going to work.
2. Keep fruits in plain view to allow you to see them more often and help you choose them over high calorie snack bars and cookies. Many fruits do not require refrigeration and should be consumed within three to five days. These fruits include: apples, oranges, pears, bananas, mangos, papayas, and kiwis. Leave them on your countertops or on your desk to remind you to eat them throughout the day.
3. Sneak vegetables into your meals – for even the pickiest eaters. Here are a few examples:
- Try pureeing butternut squash or sweet potato into a typical macaroni and cheese sauce for children who refuse vegetables.
- Finely chop lots of fresh vegetables when preparing homemade tomato sauce for pasta or pizza. Try chopped peppers of all color variety, finely chopped spinach, tomatoes, and celery. You can even puree mushrooms to the consistency of ground meat and supplement a meat sauce without anyone but you knowing the difference.
- Try a variety of vegetables on a homemade pizza, and load up with different kind of strong, healthy cheeses like goat cheese, feta cheese, or parmesan cheese to change the predominant flavor of the pizza.
4. Try adding a small salad to every meal. It does not have to be a large salad – aim for a cup of greens and about a cup of various chopped vegetables. Salads do not have to be boring. Try a spinach salad with raspberries and strawberries or an iceberg lettuce salad with orange segments and slivered almonds. By constantly changing up your salad choice, you are more likely to keep eating those greens.
5. Juicing your fruits and vegetables are another fantastic way to get more fruits and vegetables and their wonderful vitamins and minerals. An added bonus is that juice is portable, tasty, and keeps very well.
Add some or all of these suggestions into your life to give your body a chance at being happier and healthier.