Most of us know that we should be eating vegetables daily – in fact, we should make half of our plate vegetables for at least one meal per day, but putting this into practice can seem like a challenge. Here are some easy ways to add vegetables to your day.
Breakfast
- Keep a bag of pre-washed spinach in your fridge and a bag of frozen spinach in the freezer as back-up. Whenever you cook eggs – add the spinach to them. The spinach is easy and cooks in minutes.
- Even better - in addition to the spinach, add some peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes and any other vegetables that you like to your eggs. This makes a great dinner meal too!
- Make extra vegetables for dinner and save leftovers to add to morning eggs.
- Make a batch of egg muffins: Preheat oven to 350F. Spray muffin tin with non-stick spray or use muffin liners. Add a variety of cut-up vegetables to the muffin cups. Beat 12 eggs in a bowl, add a bit of salt and pepper and pour over vegetables. Bake for 15-20 minutes until done.
Lunch:
- Add lettuce, tomato and avocado to your sandwich.
- Have a side salad instead of fries with your burger.
- Choose a salad with protein and some healthy fat for your lunch entree. Start with lots of greens and other vegetables. Add protein such as chicken, tuna, beans, hard boiled egg, etc. Throw on some walnuts or sunflower seeds and avocado.
- Have your burrito on a bed of lettuce instead of in a tortilla.
- Add spinach and peppers to your quesadilla.
- Add extra vegetables to your soup or have a side salad with it.
Dinner:
- Like rice? Try cauliflower rice! If you don't want to rice the cauliflower yourself, you can find riced cauliflower in the produce and frozen vegetable sections of most markets these days. Use it in place of rice, or ½ and ½ brown rice and cauliflower rice.
- Love pasta but not all of those carbs? Try spiralized vegetables such as zucchini. You can purchase a spiralizer and do it yourself, or buy already spiralized vegetable strands at most markets in the produce and/or frozen vegetable sections. Use in place of pasta with your favorite sauce, or go ½ and ½ with the vegetable strands and whole grain pasta.
- Craving mashed potatoes? Steam and mash cauliflower instead! Or go ½ and ½ potatoes and cauliflower.
Snacks:
- Snack on raw vegetables and hummus. Sweet mini bell peppers, cucumbers, carrots, raw cauliflower, whatever type you like.
- Munch on carrots and celery with peanut or almond butter.
- Wrap a slice of turkey and some avocado in a leaf of romaine lettuce for a quick balanced snack.
Put some of these suggestions into practice and you will be meeting your daily vegetable needs with ease. Your body will thank you.
Allegra Burton, MPH, RDN
Nutrition with Allegra
310-429-0205
Santa Monica, CA
