JCSC Wellness Blog

• Increasing vegetable intake is one way you can change your diet to improve your health and promote weight loss. Vegetables provide various essential vitamins and nutrients that bodies need to work properly every day.

How to Add Vegetables to Your Diet:

• Try to include 1 or 2 vegetables in every meal or snack you eat throughout the day.
  • You can include raw, cooked, fresh, frozen, or canned vegetables in your meals. Choose whichever type based on your personal tastes, the meal your are making, how your prepare it, your budget, and what is in season.
  • For instance, if you do not like cooked carrots, try them raw. If fresh asparagus is too expensive or not in season, try canned.
• Eat raw carrots, celery, or any other raw vegetable. 
  • Adding vegetables to your diet with a low-fat dressing or dip can be a nutritious and filling snack.
• Eat a salad for lunch or dinner.
  • You can also eat a salad before lunch or dinner to reduce your appetite for your main dish. Prepare salads in various ways by using various leafy greens, other vegetables, and dressings so you are less likely to tire of eating the same foods repeatedly. Try to avoid fatty dressings and toppings.
• Drink vegetable juice that is 100% juice.
  • This is an ideal alternative if you do not have time to prepare vegetables any other way or have a hard time dealing with the taste of texture of them.
• Make smoothies with yogurt and vegetables of your choosing.
  • Green leafy vegetables are easy to hide in a smoothie and provide plenty of nutrients.
• Hide vegetables in your favorite meals.
  • For example, add a vegetable assortment to your spaghetti sauce. Vegetables will add more depth to the flavor of the dish, but usually will be unrecognizable.

Tips for Adding Vegetables:

• Hiding vegetables in main dishes can ensure that eaters are getting enough vegetables in their diet.
• Raw vegetables will have more nutrients than cooked or canned. Cooking, canning, and even freezing can destroy some, if not all, of the nutrient value in a vegetable. Eat raw vegetables when possible, but any vegetables are better than no vegetables at all.
• Avocados pair well in salads if you want to change things up.
• Consider drinking a fruit and vegetable juice blend if a straight vegetable juice does not appeal to you.

Sources:

Leafy Green Vegetables: How Food Affects Health

Top 10 Leafy Green Vegetables