Vegetables...
Another great start in your weight loss journey, health journey, whatever journey you're on is to incorporate more vegetables in your diet. Certain veggies have gotten a bad rep from time to time or from diet to diet but overall are so good for you! Vegetables offer an array of health benefits, are a good source of fibre, full of nutrients, are low calorie for the most and low fat. Diets high in vegetables are known to help reduce blood pressure, help control and reduce blood sugar spikes, help reduce the risk of cancer and help strengthen your immune system. The list of health benefits is so long I could go on for pages!
The struggle is incorporating veggies into your diet. A lot of people aren't fond of vegetables or they load them with unhealthy sauces and dips. For instance we tend to have a salad for lunch with grilled chicken and then load it with ranch dressing or even worse, high sugared dressings like French or Catalina. Or we'll make stir fries and load it with sweet and sour sauce. Or we'll cut up raw veggies and eat with processed dips.
What's even more of a struggle is trying to find ways to include more veggies in our children's diets. If you're like me, you have at least one, if not all of your children who do not like vegetables. I can barely cook a meal, with the exception of tacos and poutine, that all 3 of my children like! It is one of the most frustrating issues with cooking healthy suppers and one of the contributors as to why we have been eating out of convenience. We sat down with our kids and let them know that as a family, we want to become more healthy and one of the ways was eating better. I told them we would let them offer suggestions on suppers and I would figure out healthy ways to cook them. I'm still working on figuring out how to incorporate more veggies though.... but we've just started this journey again.
So how do we get more vegetables in our diet?
#1. Always have cut up vegetables in your fridge.
Let's face it, when we are hungry, we don't want to take the time to cut up vegetables! We want something now! If they are already in the fridge, you can just grab them. Most likely your children will as well cause if they're like mine, they don't want to take the time to make anything. They will grab the cut up vegetable just so they don't have to make themselves food! Is that a sad reality? Yes! But it's fact plus if it will get them eating healthier, I'll do it! I also mix up dip using greek yogurt, epicure dip mixes like ranch and add just a touch of real mayo just to take away some of the bitterness of the greek yogurt. My kids love it!
#2. Find ways to hide vegetables in your meals, sauces and bake goods.
Zucchini is so versatile and great for this. It adds moisture to baked goods and where it doesn't really have much flavour, it can be hidden in pretty much any sauce or smoothie. I add spinach to my smoothies as well. In spaghetti sauce you can hide pretty much anything!
#3. Be purposeful in adding some kind of vegetable with every meal.
This morning I made an nice omelette with spinach, mushrooms and tomatoes. I sautéed my veggies in a little olive oil and then I added 8 eggs, salt, pepper, Epicure Pizza spice and just a little cheddar cheese. Then once it was on my plate I added a little hot sauce as I love hot sauce on my eggs. My daughter came up and didn't want to cook so she ate some. She picked out the mushrooms but she still ate veggies and a healthy breakfast. This was much better than the bagel and cream cheese she would have had.
#4. Train yourself and your family to like and want vegetables.
This is something I have incorporated in my life with other things, not just veggies. I have a massive sweet tooth. You can say it is a generational curse. Everyone on my mother's side of the family does. I have trained myself to not like things as sweet as I use to. Don't get me wrong, I have a LONG ways to go on that one but I've trained myself on things like, I prefer dark chocolate over milk chocolate. I love the bitterness and richness of a good quality piece of dark chocolate and because it's rich, I am satisfied with one piece. I have also trained myself to drink my coffee and tea without sugar. I even make unsweetened ice tea and enjoy it. I've trained myself to like vegetables that I never used to like onions, cooked broccoli, brussels sprouts, and cabbage to name a few. If you're like me, you want results now! Sometimes though we have to train ourselves and our families to eat a certain way. Be patient! You will get there! Start by adding a few vegetables. Then once you get used to having them, you acquire a taste for them and you find yourself reaching for the veggies.
I am by far no expert on this subject and have a lot to learn. I am on this journey with you! I would love to hear of ideas and other ways you sneak vegetables in your family meals.
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