You’ve heard it many times, “eat your vegetables,” but how can you easily increase your vegetable intake this summer? With the new season brings a perfect opportunity to focus of eating more delicious veggies. If you read my article last week, you would know how vegetables can aid in immunity. Let’s take a look into specific reasons vegetables are good for you and how you can increase your vegetable intake for your health and wellness.
Ultimately, vegetables benefit your body by providing an abundance of various vitamins and minerals. For example, Vitamin A is found in orange vegetables like carrots and sweet potatoes while Vitamin E is found in dark leafy greens and avocado. Vegetables aid in digestion by containing high amounts of fiber and can help hydrate you since they are full of water. Due to the high fiber and water content of vegetables, they can aid in weight management by keeping you fuller longer. Vegetables come in a wide variety of textures and flavors. No matter if you roast, blend, or steam vegetables, you are bound to make a delicious and low-calorie meal that is very nutritious. To add, eating vegetables instead of packaged-processed foods aids in helping the environment!
Eat more vegetable soup. Vegetable based soups are the easiest and quickest ways to maximize your vegetable intake while eating a comforting meal. Adding legumes and beans into soups provides extra plant protein into your diet. Other vegetables that are great in soups includes tomatoes, chopped celery, spinach, potatoes, onions, carrots, and essentially the majority of vegetables. Try making a minestrone soup this week. This low-calorie soup contains vegetables like potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, beans, celery, and is quick to prepare. Another option if you prefer a more simplistic soup is butternut squash which has a creamy and rich flavor!
Swap pasta noodles for vegetables. The main two vegetable substitutes for pasta include zucchini and chickpeas. Zucchini contains vitamin B, C, fiber, and minerals while providing a soft texture similar to noodles when bakes. Try making a zucchini lasagna or swapping out spaghetti noodles for zucchini spirals. On the other hand, chickpeas are legumes that provide an abundance of plant protein. When grocery shopping, look for pasta made from chickpeas. Careful, chickpea pasta looks identical to normal pasta.
Dedicate 50% of your meal to vegetables. Try to incorporate veggies into sauces, salads, smoothies, omelets, and as toppings on pizza. Ultimately, the best way to increase vegetable intake is simply eating more vegetables at meals or as snacks. Focus on filling up your plate first with veggies. You don’t necessarily need to start at 50% of your plate dedicated to veggies, but slowly increase the amount over the course of a few days and weeks. The more you eat vegetables, the more you’ll develop a taste for them.
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Kay Loughrey, MPH, RDN, LDN
Transformational Speaker, Breakthrough Coach, Nutritionist-Dietitian
Candice Shipley, Student Nutritionist
Nutrition & Food Science – Dietetics
University of Maryland, College Park | 2023