Paleo or vegan, conventional nutritionist or holistic healer, USDA lab rat or NY Times columnist – when it comes to how to be healthiest, there is a lot of disagreement but the one thing every expert* will tell you to do? Eat more vegetables! (Oh and drink water. Fine, that’s two things.) And yet when researchers tally up what people say they eat and what they really eat, almost everyone falls short on their servings of greens. The reason for this is simple: Popeye has been usurped by Iron Man. Actually, it’s because veggies don’t taste like cake. You may have noticed. But from my own experience and from raising four picky little humans, I can tell you that you can learn to not only like, but love, your plant matter.
The other day my friend showed up on my doorstep with two big bags of farmer’s market veggies saying, “For some reason when I think vegetables, I think Charlotte!” Best compliment ever! As I sniffed the Thai basil and caressed the baby bok choy, I realized how happy vegetables make me. One of the most important things I’ve learned from Intuitive Eating is that foods are powerful medicine. Coming from an eating-disordered mindset where food was always forbidden or punishment it’s a total paradigm shift realizing that food can heal, strengthen and fortify in amazing ways – with vegetables being at the top of this superfoods list.
Over the last month or so I’ve been making an effort to eat more vegetables – not in an effort to eat “low carb” or “low fat” or even to lose weight or any other form of restriction but rather to increase the amount of powerhouse foods in my diet. I first got the idea for this from watching “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead” on Netflix. It’s about two severely obese men who completely overhaul their health by going on a juice-only diet. While I am still a little dubious of all the movie’s claims, it did make me more interested in the subject so I checked out Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, the main expert in the movie. It was awesome. He recommends a non-strict vegan diet but what I really liked was how many different ways he had to use vegetables. From restriction to inclusion! (I should add: by way of the bathroom. Even though I started with a high-fiber diet, I’ve definitely had to spend a lot more quality time with Mr. John since starting this experiment. Ahem.)
Veggies contain powerful cancer fighters, immune boosters, mood enhancers and a plethora of other amazing things. But then you don’t need me to tell you this (just like you don’t need me to tell you how adorable Pregnant Beyonce is!). Most of us know that plants are good for us but how to make them good eating is another story entirely.
3 Tips to Incorporate More Veggies Into Your Diet
1. The green smoothie. Dr. Fuhrman has a green smoothie recipe he uses but of course I can’t follow a recipe! However would I ruin perfectly good food? It started with your basic yogurt/protein powder/spinach/berries blend but as I added more veggies it morphed into a vile concoction that I had to gag down – until I discovered unflavored protein powder! I bought a bag from PureBulk.com (cheap too!) and now I put in a random assortment of veggies – today was 1 bunch of bok choy, 1 large handful spinach, a bunch of romaine lettuce from my garden, 2 celery sticks, 1 small cucumber, a tomato – and blend in my Vitamix with a scoop of plain protein powder. Soooo basically I’m drinking gazpacho as my post-workout recovery drink. Who doesn’t love lukewarm gazpacho after a hard lifting workout? If you’re just starting out with green smoothies, I recommend trying one of the variations on the Green Monster Smoothie that are so popular in the fitosphere! (Angela of Oh She Glows even has an entire site dedicated to the Green Monster.)
2. Cauliflower rice and other substitutions. You can sneak veggies into your food a la Jessica Seinfeld or you can use substitutions. I have done both but I found a recipe from Mark’s Daily Apple for “cauliflower rice” and was intrigued. Basically you grind up a head of cauli into rice-sized chunks, steam it al dente and then use it like rice. I added sauteed onions, cilantro and lime to mine and was pleasantly surprised at how awesome it tasted and how much like rice (couscous, actually) it felt. Other popular subs include cauliflower “mashed potatoes”, sweet potato “chips”, eggplant “lasagna noodles”, and squash “spaghetti noodles” etc.
3. Everything’s a salad. “When you said you eat a lot of salad, I didn’t know you meant at every meal,” my sister said in awe at our family reunion as I polished off yet another container of spinach. I’ve found that you can dump pretty much anything on top of salad greens and it tastes great. My current favorite combo: grass-fed ground beef, 1 tbsp full-fat sour cream, a big glop of jalapeno-tomatillo salsa and chopped jalapenos (it’s not a meal if your lips aren’t burning!) all plopped on top of a HUGE plate of salad greens, cilantro and sliced bell peppers. I’ve also topped salads with marinara sauce, Mexican bean & corn casserole, chili, salmon and dill sauce and scrambled eggs.
What’s your secret weapon for getting more veggies onto your plate? Do you have a great Green Monster recipe or a fave food substitution or a killer salad combo I should try?? (Feel free to post links in the comments!)
*Except sometimes for Gary Taubes et al who do on occasion recommend an all-meat diet. Yes, I’m serious.
You know the old saying, vote early and often? 🙂
Well, the same with veggies, early and often.
I literally put them on Skylar’s breakfast plate…who said some sugar snap peas dont go with breakfast or carrot sticks don’t…she thinks it’s normal to eat broccoli at most meals and for a snack. Even if it’s slathered in ketchup or peanut butter, that’s ok too 🙂
“Even if it’s slathered in ketchup or peanut butter, that’s ok too ” I totally agree! My kids are big fans of the PB on everything too! Also, this is unrelated, but Skylar is one of my fave fitblogger kiddos – she just seems so chill and happy!
I love salads, it’s one of my favorite meals. I definitely don’t like the low fat things, and I did try the paleo approach a little while ago, that didn’t go so well, I lost some muscle that I am still trying to recover. So I just decided to go back to my old ways, eat what I like and what my body craves! I think it’s is always best to listen to our own body.
I also think the best way to incorporate more veggies and salads is to cut them into tiny pieces and then mix the dressing it, in Russia we make all of our salads that way, it just tastes better.
I remember the first time I tried American salad I couldn’t understand why the leaves were so large, LOL.
I’ll have to try this tip! And yeah, I had the same experience with Paleo – didn’t work great for my body either (but then neither did veganism).
I’ve found that when I cook in bulk, if I don’t portion out my veggies into servings in tupperware… I eat them all in snack form. Almost instantly. I’m a big fan of roasting my veggies and I throw EVERYTHING on top of spinach. I go through spinach almost as fast as I go through water.
Hahah – you and I are keeping the spinach industry in business!
I love vegetables, I can’t imagine being able to get through the day without a good few servings. My favourite salad combo at the moment is tonnes of veg, with some marinara sauce stirred in and a big dollop of hummus on top. MMMM
Marinara + Hummus? Sounds delish! I’ll have to try it!
I too have become vegetable-obsessed. Green smoothie in the morning (though I add fruit too), big-ass salad at lunch, and several servings of cooked veggies and/or salad with dinner. I still eat some junky crap as well, but veggies + lean protein + healthy fats make up the bulk of my diet.
Friends/family think I’m nutty, of course, but that’s par for the course. I’d still be nutty even if weren’t OCD about vegetables.
Haha – yeah, I’m sure people think I’m nuts too!
I actually had a GI doc tell me that my stomach pains were from eating too many vegetables. Needless to say, that was my last appointment with her. Also, it turns out I’m gluten intolerant NOT vegetable intolerant. My favorite way to eat veggies is probably kale chips. I can eat an entire bag of kale myself if they’re in chip form.
I’ve heard some people sometimes I have some gas and stomach pain when they go from no-veg to lots of veg but vegetable intolerant?? Glad you got another doc! I love kale chips too!
No problem with the veggi love here! Once I made eating them a consistent habit, I started really liking them!! Who knew?
Good post. I really have no secret when it comes to incorporating veggies. Like Averie, I put them on my daughter’s plate at EVERY meal. 90% of the time it’s spinach or another green, along with carrots and other veggies she likes.
As far as gagging down a protein powder smoothie-i honestly don’t believe it’s necessary. Make a drinkable/likeable smoothie 🙂
I actually crave spinach smoothies-NO yogurt or powders or milks. Just banana and spinach.
I understand refueling the muscles after a heavy weight workout session, but if you don’t like it, don’t do it.
Also, I don’t think your progress will be hindered if you don’t have protein powder after EVERY workout.
When is the last time you heard of a protein deficiency in the modern American diet? Protein is in EVERY plant based food and added to many processed foods too.
In my opinion, The last thing the American diet needs is more protein 🙂
I definitely agree with this. Even when I was eating really organic and unprocessed I still had issues getting in a fair share of greens!
I like the suggestions you list – particularly the smoothie as you can alter it to suit your taste…
you’ve inspired me to go back to baby spinach…I’ve been making romaine my default leafy green ’cause it’s crunchy, last like crazy in the fridge, gotta shake it up a little….but I don’t think I can choke down a green smoothie. 😉
If you like banana, add it, and that’s what you’ll taste! — not the spinach. I also add peanut butter and cinnamon.
I do love me a green smoothie! Sometimes I add chia seeds to thicken it up a bit. (Gotta start slow, though. Talk about fiber-iffic! Oy!)
I also love spinach. One of my favorite meals is a hard-boiled egg or Quorn chick’n, brown rice, spinach, and cherry tomatoes all nuked together in a bowl and topped with either sweet chile sauce or Juffran (a Filipino ketchup-like sauce). Yum!
“it’s because veggies don’t taste like cake” 🙂
I went to the farmer’s market on the weekend for scones and came home with a bunch of veg instead…he hee…to be fair they were out of scones. This cute old lady selling produce convinced me to get all these new wierd kinds of squash, so tonight’s supper should be fun.
🙂
I get the “salad again?” comment a lot at work as most lunches a giant salad is my lunch. I just don’t get tired of it. Mound of spinach topped with chicken, apple, cucs and other random veg and a bit of oil and vinegar and I”m a happy camper 🙂
#3 – Everything is a salad. Yeah. Now that I’m down to 1 grain per day, it’s salad, salad, and more salads for lunch (until I get my butt in gear and start being more adventurous). But the good news is I LOVE salads and there are a lot of different types – beef and chicken “taco” salad, greek salad, ceasar salad, regular ol’ side salad w/soup, and now I’m starting to get a vision of a pizza salad since you mentioned marinara… 🙂
#2 – going to HAVE to try that – I was able to get about 1/2 and 1/2 cauliflower/potato mix before it started to taste weird, couldn’t go all the way, but the “rice” sounds interesting.
My nutritionist seems to think I’m doing fine on veggie/fruit consumption so I’m not trying to push it (but finding subs for grains definitely helps my mental health!!!).
Oh my goodness spinach is the love of my life. One of my many, many favored ways to consume it is through spinach pancakes/muffins. It sounds horrible and disgusting an unusual, but trust me, they’re incredible. You can get premade ones with Dr. Praeger’s brand, or make your own by draining a bag of spinach and mixing in egg whites and spices and then baking the goo in a muffin pan! The results are tasty, savory, and absolutely AMAZING hot or cold!
Seen the movie, and read the book before the movie! I even have a juicer now. It’s a great concept and kinda of hard to get people on board when they want a steak every night but some things are good and helpful about this way of life.
Your salad tip reminded me of our lunch date at Mall of America – salmon, veggies, cheese…on salad! Great minds eat alike…
Great tips!
I also make a lot of soups that are vegetable based. I usually make a huge pot then freeze about half to reheat later. I can’t wait for crisp Fall weather when soup sounds more appetizing!
Another way to “hide” veggies is in these Zucchini Pancakes. I use whole grain flour and no sugar. They are really good with maple syrup or they can be eaten savory with a little butter or cream cheese.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/zucchini-pancakes/detail.aspx
Green smoothies are great! I’ve been drinking them for a couple of years, through two pregnancies, and they give you so much energy. My smoothie is not for the faint of tongue though… this is my recipe
http://wellnessmama.com/126/how-to-make-my-extremely-healthy-but-horrible-tasting-veggie-smoothie/
and I usually add a few egg yolks, some olive oil, and whatever herbs and spices sound good. Doesn’t taste the best, but gives me tons of energy!
First off – I LOVE THAT CARTOON AT THE TOP!
I am not a smoothie person much anymore.. something about my tummy now does not like them OR maybe too many in my younger years & into the 40’s! 😉
I am not a salad person, just veggies so that helps. I also count salsa as a veggie! 😉
The salad that I used to convince my boyfriend that he didn’t hate salad was a mix of dark leafy greens, chopped apple, red bell pepper, gorgonzola cheese, and candied walnuts with a raspberry vinaigrette. These days I can sub in other things (omg, roasted beets? to die for!) and he still happily eats a giant bowl of this alone for dinner. He’s dubbed it “fancy salad”. I still haven’t managed to convince him that a bit of dressing on lettuce is a salad (when I’m feeling lazy) but I’m working on it!
I’ve been waaaaaay lacking on the leafy greens lately. I got “out of” doing salads for a while, but the other day I had a massive craving for a really quality salad. Plus I somehow have wound up with two big containers of hummus in my house, and they are delicious topped on salad.
Tomorrow afternoon I’m going shopping for veggies!
I don’t do the green smoothie thing. Ick. I often use veggies in place of pasta and rice.
…Does it count that I eat fruit like this?
Mostly because (almost all) vegetables make me sick?
…and that’s why we’re seeing a doctor.
‘Coz salad shouldn’t make me barf. 🙁
it’s not a meal if your lips aren’t burning! <– this. Once you processthat green chile = vegetable it is veryvery easy to eat veggies every meal.
Todays versions of my favorite salad was: A big bowl of romaine with red onion, tomatoes, black beans, avocado, hard boiled egg, and cooked corn scraped off a leftover cob, a few broken pita chips…. dressed with 1 T of Italian dressing and a couple of T of mango salsa. So delicious. It varies from time to time in its composition, but always contains the Romaine and black beans. Sometimes a hot salmon pattie replaces the egg, sometimes some chicken.
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