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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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Why you must wash your pre-washed salad
If you buy a pre-washed ready to eat bag of salad leaves, do you tip straight out onto a plate – or do you thoroughly wash it first? The whole idea of bagged salad mixes is convenience, so it’s no surprise most people don’t wash.
But how do they wash the salad before they bag it? Well it turns out diluted chlorine is commonly used. The chlorine is used to kill any harmful bacteria to ensure the lettuce is safe for our consumption. Seemingly even organic produce is allowed to use a weak chlorine solution for this purpose. Whilst there is supposed to be no trace of the chlorine 24 hours after treatment, do you trust your salad to be chemical free?
With outbreaks of e-coli and salmonella, it’s not surprising the salad growers are keen to sanitise their product. With salad available all year round the pressure is on to produce a cheap product – often meaning growers don’t provide sanitary conditions for their workers – hence the contamination risk. Unfortunately sanitising salad doesn’t remove the risk of contamination, it just makes it less likely.
So what’s the answer? If pre-washed salad could still be contaminated and could contain traces of chlorine is it worth paying the price premium?
Wash your own
A far better option is to spend a fraction of the cost buying fresh, unpackaged greens. Get rid of any wilted, torn or bruised leaves and let them sit in a sink full of ice cold water for 20 minutes. Use a salad spinner to get rid of the water and roll in paper towels to get the rest of the water out. If you store in plastic bags with paper towels to absorb any remaining water, they should remain fresh for over a week in the fridge.
How to you wash yours?
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Why I’m growing my own veggies
Just a few weeks ago I converted the old sand pit that the previous occupants of my house had left behind, to a vegetable patch. Well, when I say converted, I mean mixed some topsoil into the sand. I also re-purposed an old archway they’d left behind into a climbing frame for some green beans.
I put in loads of different seeds to see what would work, and basically forgot about them – until yesterday I saw 28 fully grown beans climbing up the arch! The basil is also working well, but it looks like the spinach I planted has been a bit too much of a hit with the slugs.
I’d love to become completely self-sufficient, even if just for vegetables – hopefully with a bit more experimentation I’ll be able to plant more of what works and abandon planting seeds that have no chance in my garden.
Vegetables are surprisingly expensive to buy – and there’s no choice. There are perhaps three varieties of tomatoes, one type of zucchini, two spinach varieties – whereas in the real world there are hundreds of varieties. Take the beans as an example, they’re currently about $5 a kilo at my local supermarket (non-organic). I bought the entire packet of seeds for $1.50 and it looks like I’m going to get quite a big crop.
I also love the idea of being able to pick my dinner off the vine/ plant immediately before cooking it. You really can’t get any fresher than that! Of course, I can also guarantee that my veg hasn’t been sprayed with nasty chemicals, so that’s another huge win. And what can be more satisfying than eating the rewards of your labour!
I’m hoping that since temperatures never really get down to a frost here, I’ll be able to grow something all year round. But failing that hopefully with the aid of my dehydrator, some pickling recipes and my freezer, I should be able to wean off buying my veggies from the supermarket.
Whilst I have got a garden, I’m hardly using any space for my veg – if you’ve just got a balcony, or can squeeze in a window box, you’d be amazed what you can grow – give it a try!
I’d love to hear if you grow your own veggies, and what you’ve had most success with! Any tips would be gratefully received!
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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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