Enter to win our raffle each day you complete the challenge. Enter on Facebook September 25 through October 1.
By Carolyn Twesten, Weaver Street Market Produce Merchandiser
There are so many diet fads out there at a given time that it’s easy to get confused about what to eat. One thing that pretty much ALL dietitians agree on, though, is that you should be eating MORE vegetables. Why is that? So many reasons!
- Vegetables are filled with fiber, which most of us do not get enough of (recommended is 25 grams for women and 38 grams for men). Fiber is “nature’s sponge,” helping to clear away impurities from your digestive tract. It also helps get us feeling full throughout the day. To many people’s surprise, grains are actually not the foods that contain the most fiber—it’s vegetables!
- Vegetables are filled with vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients! Phytonutrients are plant-produced compounds that are effective in warding off disease, boosting the immune system, and lowering inflammation.
- Vegetables are low-calorie! Combined with their vitamin, mineral, and fiber content, vegetables pack way more nutrition than your average processed snack food, with far fewer calories. So next time you’re hungry, reach for a bag of baby carrots instead of that bag of chips!
Nutrition experts have historically recommended 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day, but now studies are showing that 7 to 10 servings are needed for a healthy diet. Unfortunately, less than 1 in 10 adults is meeting this suggestion. I am challenging all of our readers to commit to eating at least 7 servings of fruits and veggies per day: 2 fruit servings and 5 vegetable servings. Are you up for the challenge?!
Winning the Challenge
Okay, so all that said, you are probably wondering HOW to add more vegetables to your diet. “I already have a serving at lunch and a serving at dinner, and sometimes even a veggie snack… how do I fit more in?”
Now I’m going to tell you to do something crazy:
Eat your veggies for breakfast.
That’s right, the best way to get MORE veggies into your diet is to cut out the foods in your diet that aren’t serving you! Those are the easy-to-grab starchy morning snacks like bagels, muffins, cereal, and (please don’t tell me you eat these)… pop tarts.
Try one of these two tasty breakfast recipes to incorporate more veggies into your morning routine. (1) My favorite weekday recipe is this green smoothie, which is quick and easy to make. (2) For a more leisurely weekend breakfast I like to make this sweet potato toast with poached eggs.
Now I’m going to tell you to do another crazy thing:
Instead of eating a grain for dinner like pasta or rice, try eating several different vegetables. Say, one starchy veggie and one green veggie. Or one cooked and one raw, like a salad or slaw.
Now count up those servings:
- Breakfast= 1 fruit, 1 veggie
- Snack= 1 veggie
- Lunch= 2 veggies
- Snack- 1 fruit
- Dinner= 2 veggies
That’s 8 servings! You can do it!
Enter to win our raffle each day you complete the challenge. Enter on Facebook September 25 through October 1.