3 Quick Ways To Get More Vegetables In Your Diet

  

Are you guilty of ‘skipping’ your vegetables?

Do you eat at least 10 DIFFERENT vegetable varieties each week?

Optimum health, wellbeing and fertility depend upon a super healthy diet.

Most of us do not eat enough vegetables on a daily basis and we certainly don’t get the variety in our diets we should. Some of us go weeks without eating any vegetables at all! (No, potatoes are not considered vegetables!) And some of us believe that taking them in the form of supplements in a capsule is going to be enough of a good replacement but replacements simply do not come close to the real thing.

Whenever we process vegetables in any way we lose some nutrients and when we dehydrate or heat them, most if not all of the vitamins they contain are lost because vitamins are very sensitive and become damaged by heat.

The best way to consume your vegetables is raw (whenever possible)—but this does not mean you shouldn’t ‘break them down’ just before eating to ensure better absorption of nutrients though the gut.

Start by making sure to choose at least 2 new vegetables to try each week, so you can increase your variety.

And then begin preparing and eating your vegetables in an innovative fashion. Here are 3 simple ways to revolutionize your vegetable intake and help you begin eating more high nutrient, raw or lightly cooked vegetables daily:

 

Juice ‘Em

Be sure to choose a whole variety of organic vegetables you enjoy eating and put them through a good quality juicer that keeps the nutrients intact through the process. Juicing is a fabulous way of getting a large quantity of vegetables in a compact way.

You shouldn’t buy vegetables juices from juicing bars, most of them are not washed properly and are chopped up sometimes days in advance of featuring in your juice. You will have little nutrients left by the time you drink it. Without mentioning they are probably not organic—this makes them into a concentrated cocktail of herbicides, pesticides and bacteria.

When juicing, avoid fruit. Once fruit is processed for juices it becomes devoid of more than half of its goodness:–fibre. Fruit is best consumed whole to balance its impact on blood sugar levels due to the high amounts of sugar present.

 

Dip ‘Em

Have your vegetables for morning and afternoon tea with delicious humus, tahini or nut butters. You can use ‘dipping vegetables’ such as carrots, celery, snow peas, capsicum, sprouts, but you can also lightly steam cauliflower, broccoli and more for the same purpose. It’s a great way of getting more (raw) vegetables into your diet.

 

Shred ‘Em

This is a personal favourite of mine. Shredded vegetables make great, versatile meals and require very little cooking (if any). And you can even add shredded vegetables to other dishes. I like using them as the basis for a salad but you can also add them raw to an omelet, soup, stir fries and more!

All you need to do is shred some (raw) vegetables you would normally cook such as zucchini, carrots, beetroot, squash, radicchio. Then you can finely chop other vegetables such as capsicum, tomatoes, herbs, leafy vegetables (e.g. spinach, Chinese broccoli, rocket) and so on. Combine it all to complete the experience.

If you choose to eat them as a salad, it is lovely to add freshly roasted nuts and seeds to the mix. Season with balsamic vinegar or lemon and your favourite olive oil and enjoy!

 

Leading clinical naturopath and natural fertility specialist Gabriela Rosa publishes the two celebrated ‘Natural Health Booster’ and ‘Natural Fertility Booster’ ezines with 1,000+ subscribers. If you’re ready to optimise your health, wellbeing and fertility, get your FREE tips now at www.boostyourfertilitynow.com or www.boostyourhealthnow.com.

Keywords: Fertility > Health > Healthy diet > Wellbeing