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18 Ways to Get More Veggies in your Diet
With most things in life, the key is ‘everything in moderation.’ Not that this means you can eat pizza in moderation, but you get my point. One thing that certainly shouldn't be moderated however is your intake of delicious, fresh veggies. We could all benefit from upping our vegetable intake, and certainly shouldn't be aiming for the paltry ‘5 portions a day’ recommended by so called ‘experts.’ If you’re running out of ways to boost your veggie intake, why not give some of these ideas a try?
Use them in:
- Soups
- Vegetable based juices
- Vegetable based smoothies – spinach, raw beets and pre roasted sweet potatoes go great in smoothies. Aim for a 50:50 fruit to veg ratio!
- Home-made guacamole
Hide them in:
- Sauces – like this romesco sauce or as a base to a Paleo pizza
- Baked goods, like these sweet potato and chocolate chip muffins
- Omelettes – try a spinach and red pepper omelette for a delicious breakfast
- Dips – why not try replacing the basil with spinach or kale in pesto?
- Curries – Why not throw some sweet potato, squash, courgette or mushrooms into your curry?
- Stews / Casseroles – You can ever add some extra veggies like onions, parsnips and carrots and blend them up to make a delicious fresh sauce
Make Paleo Alternatives:
- Make Paleo Tortillas with Lettuce Wraps
- Make Paleo Noodles with Courgettes – you may need a spiralizer!
- Make Paleo Spaghetti with a Spaghetti Squash
- Make Paleo Rice with Cauliflower
Eat lots of salad!
- Making your own salad is a great way to consume loads of fresh, colourful veggies in one sitting. You can throw together all sorts of leafy greens, tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, beets, broccoli, cauliflower, avocado – just about anything really!
Snack on them raw
- Carrots, Cucumber, Celery and Peppers make excellent nibbles at snack time. Spread them with a little almond butter for a little indulgence if you like!
Make a vegetable based broth
- This is an excellent way to use up all your leftover vegetables – simply throw them all into a pot and cook very gently for a delicious broth!
Go to your farmers market
- A trip to your local farmers market can make you see vegetables in a whole new light. The colours, shapes and sizes of the produce on offer will be outstanding, and might just reignite your passion for vegetables. An otherwise boring tomato or bunch of kale will probably look much more fun here – so stock up at your local farmers market, and aim to walk away with at least one new vegetable.
How do you get extra veggies in your diet? Are there any ideas I have missed?
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What happens to the ugly ones?
I was interested to read that Australian retailer Woolworths are now selling ugly, misshapen fruit and vegetables. Normally when you go into a supermarket there is no variety whatsoever. Carrots all look identical and perfectly shaped. Apples are all shinny and the exact same size, with no blemishes. But if you’ve grown fruit and vegetables yourself, you’ll know this is not how most of your harvest will usually turn out. In fact, I’m convinced the “ugly” fruit and vegies actually taste better in my paleo cooking than their aesthetically pleasing alternatives.
This move by Woolworths does make me wonder – what do the growers usually do with this fruit and veg? The official line is that this new initiative will reduce waste – but I can’t believe they’d otherwise just let this misshapen produce rot. Surely those processed and ready meals and sauces already receive ugly fruit and vegetables? Aren’t oddly shaped tomatoes the ideal candidates for tomato sauce? Don’t they used some of the produce as animal feed?
I think most of the food waste happens in our kitchens up and down the country. How many of us are guilty of over purchasing fresh produce, with good intentions – then finding it rotting a week later? Unfortunately I can’t help but think cheaper fruit and veg would make this problem worse, as it could encourage us to buy more than we’re realistically going to eat.
Surely it would be better if we could just accept a carrot is a carrot. Instead of selling cosmetically perfect carrots and ugly carrots, can’t they just sell us carrots? Those of us making a stew could pick them at random, and those with high carrot expectations could rummage around to find the prefect specimens.
I’d love to hear your views. Would you buy ugly fruit and veg, or is beautiful produce important to you?
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How to Make Perfect Roast Pork Belly
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Why You Should Add More Sulphurous Veggies To Your Diet
I hadn't given much thought to sulphurous veggies, until reading about the Dr. Terry Wahls protocol. Dr Terry Wahls reversed her multiple sclerosis in part, by modifying her diet. She recommends eating 3 cups of leafy greens, 3 cups of antioxidants and 3 cups of sulfurous veggies every day.
What’s so special about sulfur and why should we eat more?
It might smells like rotten eggs, but sulphur is found all throughout our body in the connective tissues such as nerve cells, skin, hair and nails. It’s therefore essential that we can replenish the sulphur in our bodies – and what better way than eating sulfurous veggies?
So which vegetables are good sources of sulphur?
Broccoli
Broccoli is the top vegetable in the list of sulphurous vegetables. This cabbage is rich in the sulfur glucoraphanin. As soon as broccoli is chewed on or cut, the glucoraphanin is transformed into sulforaphane.
Other cabbages
Like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, red cabbage and all the other forms of cabbage, are sulfurous vegetables. They contain organic sulphurous substances and are packed with vitamins.
Vitamin U, or cabagin, can be found in cabbages too, another reason to eat more cabbage. Cabbages are also rich in indoles, which help regulate estrogen metabolism. What is there not to love?!
Garlic
Garlic is probably the most used medicinal plant in history. Garlic works as an anticoagulant, which decreases the silting of platelets and inhibits the formation of blood clots.
Garlic also helps the immune system. The different sulfur compounds have antibacterial, antiviral, antiparasitic and antifungal properties.
Asparagus
As well as being a great source of sulphur, asparagus is rich in glutathione.
Other Sulphurous Vegetables
Chicory, endive and onions are also good sources of sulfur.
How to eat more sulfurous veggies?
You can eat these vegetable raw of cooked, so try adding to salads, or using for a green smoothie. Keep you fridge stocked with prepared veggies, to make it easy to add them to your meals.
How much do sulphurous veggies play a role in your diet? Have you tried the Dr Terry Wahls protocol? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Phytonutrients & The Paleo Diet
Phytonutrients are compounds which are found in natural plant based foods and these are known to offer a range of health benefits to the human body. The bright colours which are found in a range of fruits and vegetables, such as carrots, pepper and squash are thought to be the cause of phytonutrients.
There are a range of phytonutrients found in our foods and these all offer different benefits to our health. Anthocyanins for instance, are thought to help us burn fat more easily and these are found in foods such as blackberries and blueberries. Another member of the phytonutrients family is carotenoids which may help to reduce our risk of cancer and can also help to slow down the ageing process. These are found in carrots, tomatoes and lettuce. Catechins are those phytonutrients which act as a great accelerator for weight loss and these are mainly found in green tea. Flavonoids are abundant in cherries, grapes and berries and these also help to reduce the risk of cancer. It is, therefore, a good idea to have a mix of these foods so you are consuming a variety of types of phytonutrients which will offer a range of health benefits.
The benefits of phytonutrients are wide ranging and are of upmost important as they include a reduction in the chances of suffering from life threatening illnesses such as cancer and heart disease. It is also thought that phytonutrients can help reduce our chances of suffering from mental health illnesses, including Alzheimer’s. The reason for this is that foods which are rich in phytonutrients also act as antioxidants, which can do wonders in improving our immune system and the function of our hormones. They are important nutrients for helping our bodies to heal more effectively and are a good way to promote the healthy functioning of our main organs.
It is important to consume a good mixture of phytonutrients, which is why the Paleo diet is the most successful in ensuring our bodies remain healthy for as long as possible. As we follow the diet, we are consuming lots of different fruits and vegetables, which provide us with a range of phytonutrients for a healthier lifestyle. Nuts and seeds also contain phytonutrients which makes them a great choice for a snack on the Paleo diet. They are also present in herbal teas, which is a good enough reason to switch from coffee to this healthier drink choice.
These food groups are not only important for a high intake of phytonutrients, they also provide the body with a range of other nutrients, which all work together to maximise the health benefits. The Paleo diet is a great way to ensure we are consuming the right mix of a variety of healthy foods to get the best possible benefits from them. There are many diets which don’t even consider the benefits of phytonutrients and other plant based nutrients and this is the reason the Paleo diet is one of the most successful and important around.
A healthy meal on the Paleo diet will usually consist of a good portion of meat or fish, together with a serving of fresh fruit and if you stick to eating this every day, you will be promoting your intake of phytonutrients, as well as all of the other health benefits these offer. A snack of nuts and seeds or fruit will offer additional health benefits and will help you to look and feel as good as you possibly can.
Phytonutrients can also be found in supplements but it is much more effective to consume the right foods and take good care of our diet, as this can offer other health benefits and is a much better way of managing our intake of these nutrients. It is just about having good awareness when following the Paleo diet and ensuring we consume a good mix of different foods, rather than sticking to the same all the time.
The addition of these phytonutrients will not only reduce the risk of suffering from serious illnesses, but it can also help to reverse the illness, which is why it is vitally important to start and stick to the Paleo diet at any time in our lives. The sooner we start to realise the health benefits of the Paleo diet, the more we can look forward to a long and healthy life.
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