As kids, having to eat our vegetables seemed like the end of the world—but now that we’re older, all we can think about is how to incorporate as many veggies as possible into our diet! Eating vegetables every day is vital to long-term health. Veggies provide vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients, such as antioxidants and fiber.
Research consistently shows that those who eat at least 5 servings of vegetables every day have the lowest risk for many diseases, including cancer and heart disease. Check out these 5 easy ways to sneak more veggies into your diet!
#1 Drink your Veggies
Drinking your veggies can be way easier than cooking them. Simply toss a handful of spinach, kale, or beets into your favorite smoothie blend for an added serving of veggies. The amazing thing about drinking your veggies as opposed to eating them from a plate is that you can’t taste their flavor in your drink—it’s a great way to add your least favorite veggies!
The unique combination of fruits and vegetables provides a tasty flavor you just can’t beat. You can experiment with fruit and vegetable juices as well. Instead of reaching for a sugar-loaded donut, go ahead and get a jump start to a healthy day.
Making your beverage takes no more than 10 minutes, and you can make smoothies for breakfast, lunch, or dinner! Try a simple spinach smoothie to get you started. Take 2 cups spinach, 1 apple, 1 banana, ¾ cup of orange juice, and a handful of ice. Add all the ingredients into your blender and blend until smooth. Pour and enjoy!
#2 Substitute Veggie Pasta for Regular Pasta
If you’re also a pasta lover, then this easy method of incorporating veggies into your diet will be a snap. Grocery stores now often carry gluten-free veggie pastas of various kinds, and you cook and prepare them just like you would a regular pasta.
This is a great veggie hack, as it reduces your carb intake while adding vegetables to your died. Veggies are a great gluten-free and low-carb option, and they also offer a more complete set of nutrients. For example, veggie noodles provide vitamin A (good for vision, as well as the immune and inflammatory systems), C (an antioxidant that’s good for skin and bones), E (which protects against heart disease), K (good for blood and bone health), and more fiber (good for digestion and cardiovascular health). None of these nutrients can be found in regular pasta noodles!
Treat yourself to a heaping plate of veggie noodles with your favorite sauce and toppings, knowing that you’ve found a great way to get more vegetables into your diet.
#3 Swap in your Vegetables
Eating a well-balanced diet doesn’t have to mean cutting out all the good stuff. Adding vegetables as a side dish to your favorite meals is a great way to incorporate them into your diet, and veggies can also be swapped in for other ingredients.
For example, if you love a good wrap or sandwich, try using some leafy greens to roll up the ingredients instead of tortillas or bread!
You can even sneak veggies into your sweets! Don’t tell the veggie haters, but adding spinach or avocado to a dessert like brownies or chocolate cake will mask the taste of the vegetables while keeping the decadent chocolate flavor. You can also add things like pumpkin or squash puree to pancake batter. Get creative!
#4 Eat them in a soup
Finding healthy alternatives to replace carb-heavy meals is a good way to modify your diet and avoid the unhealthy yo-yo effects of fad diets. Soups are a tasty, healthy way to increase your veggie intake.
A lot of us dislike the taste of vegetables—but it’s often more an issue of how the vegetables were prepared than anything else! Preparing vegetables in new ways, such as adding them to a soup, can unleash their flavor and banish those childhood veggie nightmares.
You can never go wrong with the OG of soups: chicken noodle. Vegetables like carrots, onions, garlic, and celery are staple ingredients for this soup, and give it its rich, soothing taste. Other veggie-packed soups include spicy butternut squash, green vegetable minestrone, and classic tomato soup.
#5 Tuck them in your salad
Adding vegetables to your salad might seem like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how few people think to do it! It’s important to eat a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, and you should aim to eat them in as many colors as possible.
The combination of leafy greens and a handful of vegetables paired with dressing or a drizzle of olive oil will satisfy your appetite while increasing your veggie intake. You can include raw or roasted veggies, and get delicious flavor either way!
Vegetables that pair best with salads include broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, celery, cucumbers, endive, escarole, green onions, mushrooms, peas, bell and chili peppers, radishes, and tomatoes. Add them to a salad composed of lettuce, kale, or spinach, and you’ll be set!
Loaded with vitamins and minerals, a salad a day is a great way to up your veggie intake and increase the level of powerful antioxidants in your blood.
Vegetables are important sources of nutrients like potassium, dietary fiber, folate/folic acid, vitamin A, vitamin C, and more. Diets rich in potassium are linked to healthy blood pressure, and eating more veggies will lead to better overall health.
Related: Spruce Up Your Veggies
A few more quick tips! Kale chips make a great replacement for potato chips. You can try lightly breaded and baked avocados, carrots, or zucchini strips for a delicious French fry substitute. Cauliflower tots are a fun and delicious alternative to tater tots, too!
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