Increasing Your Veggie Intake

I was talking to a friend recently about how my diet has been lacking veggies as of late (which is weird because I love veggies) and I wasn't sure why. I think partly it was a result of battling a nasty cold and cough that left me with zero appetite; part was laziness regarding food prep, and the last part had to do with feeling sad.

Holidays are hard for some and the holidays were hard for me, both my parents are gone so the holidays are always a mixed bag of emotions. I knew things had to change and I needed to get back into incorporating vegetables to my daily meals, so I started doing the following to up my veggie intake.

How to increase veggie intake

I buy a large bag of veggies that I like and can use in multiple ways

In this case, a 2-pound bag of organic rainbow carrots (tastes like orange carrots, but so much prettier) at my local big food chain (and only $0.89 cents more than non-organic orange carrots, so it didn't break my budget) and brought them home for prepping. I washed about 10 of them, patted them dry, sliced the fat ones down the middle and I don't bother to peel because I don't want to lose the nutrients. I then place them in a pyrex food container and store in the fridge.

Every morning I grab 2 or 3, put them in a ziplock bag, and add them to my lunch. Every night while I prepare my dinner, I grab a couple and snack on them. It doesn't have to be carrots; pick your favorite vegetable and go for it!

I Go Frozen

Learn which of your favorite veggies are in season! Right now, Brussels sprouts are on sale, so I'm buying them and sautéing them in lemon and olive oil! I'm big into frozen green beans. Whenever I make homemade soup (which is usually once a week), I add a few generous handful to the soup. I also throw them in stir-fry dishes with a little sriracha sauce and sesame oil because of the extra flavor and spice.

Frozen veggies are flash frozen so they keep their taste, are loaded with vitamins and as long as you put them back in the freezer, they last - not to mention the cost less than fresh.

Getting my avocado on

When avocados go on sale, I buy three or four and eat one at breakfast every morning with hot sauce. They're low carb, super easy, super filling and SO GOOD.

CHOP

I keep a container of chopped carrots and celery in the fridge and add them to green salads, tuna salad, soups and the occasional turkey sandwich. And sometimes I just eat them straight from the container.

I still have days where my veggie intake is lacking, but doing all of the above has made a difference. How do you up your veggie intake?