8 Unique Ways To Incorporate More Vegetables In Your Diet
It can be a challenge to eat the recommended servings each day, even for those who like eating veggies.
When faced with other options that are less healthy and more processed, it is often hard to make the “healthy choice”.
Susan Watson, registered dietitian and owner of A Little Nutrition was interviewed by Winnipeg Global News on tips for simple and nutritious ways to boost up your veggie intake for meals and snacks!
Getting in our recommended daily intake of veggies isn’t going to happen in one meal. Perhaps not even over two meals. We recommend small additions here and there in your vegetable intake because it really can do add up to make a difference
What is the standard recommendation for vegetable intake to meet your nutrition needs? Health Canada recommends the following:
- Eat at least one dark green and one orange vegetable each day.
- Eat at least one dark green and one orange vegetable each day.
- Go for dark green vegetables such as broccoli, romaine lettuce, and spinach.
- Go for orange vegetables such as carrots, sweet potatoes, and winter squash.
How Many Food Guide Servings of Vegetables and Fruit Do I Need?
Adults between 19-50 are recommended to have 7-10 servings of both fruits and vegetables. We find that recommendation difficult to deliver to our clients, as it doesn’t take into consideration portion sizes and density, like leafy versus non-leafy etc.
Our simplified recommendation:
Aim for at 2 cups of vegetables at lunch and supper.
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More is better 🙂
8 Unique ways to get more veggies into your meals and snacks:
1. Swap out your regular pasta and try out spiralized vegetables like zucchini, butternut squash, or spaghetti squash
2. Switch it up and try baked sweet potato fries
3. Dehydrated Beet Chips
How to make dehydrated beet chips at home: Peel and slice beets as thinly as possible with a sharp knife or mandoline. Combine sliced beets, water, apple cider vinegar, and olive oil in a large bowl. Arrange beets in a single layer on food dehydrator trays. Dehydrate according to manufacturer’s instructions, 8 to 12 hours
4. Baked kale chips
How to make baked kale chips at home: Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a non insulated cookie sheet with parchment paper. With a knife or kitchen shears carefully remove the leaves from the thick stems and tear into bite size pieces. Bake until the edges brown but are not burnt, 10 to 15 minutes.
5. Add vegetable puree into baking
- Roasted beets, either shredded or pureed, should be used in rich baked goods like chocolate cakes or spice cakes
- Pumpkin or squash puree makes a great egg substitute in baking
- Add finely chopped or shredded vegetables to meatloaf, pasta sauce, sloppy joes, chili, soup, lasagna, burgers or meatballs.
6. Get creative with cauliflower. Consider cauliflower like tofu as it really takes on the flavors that it’s exposed to. It also works well as a substitute for sour cream, cream cheese, potatoes or rice.
- Swap out white rice for cauliflower rice
- Swap out potatoes for cauliflower to make a mock potato salad
- Mix in cauliflower for a creamy macaroni and cheese soup
- Swap out potatoes and use cauliflower for a mock mashed potatoes
- Roast up to use in creamy dips instead of cheese
7. Roast up on a sheet pan for quick and delicious soups: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/roasted-vegetable-soup-53658568
8. Add Greens to Smoothies: Hidden-Spinach Berry Smoothie https://www.strongertogether.coop/recipes/hidden-spinach-berry-smoothie
If you are a veggie hater and need help with learning how to start eating more vegetables, a registered dietitian can help!
Give us a call 204-515-7466 to see if working with a registered dietitian nutrition coach might be a good fit for you or click here to book an appointment
*We offer direct billing to most medical insurance companies!
