Top 10 tips to add more vegetables to your diet

“Eat your vegetables!” – The constant message expressed by our parents throughout our childhood in an effort to install healthy habits that we all know we should follow. “You are not leaving the table until you eat all the vegetables on your plate” we are told on a daily basis.

We would all love to eat a lot of vegetables in order to keep us fitter and healthier, but they just aren’t as appealing as chocolate, sweets and crisps and are unsure how to fit them into our daily diet.

Here are some helpful hints and tips to add more vegetables to your diet:

1. Have a starter before your main meal. Whether you’re in a restaurant or preparing a healthy meal at home, you can easily prepare a tomato bruschetta or a spinach and artichoke dip with carrots.
2. Double up the amount of vegetables on your pizza. Order extra veggies and cut back on the cheese. Artichoke, broccoli or zucchini can add a new taste to your pizza and also try onions and green bell pepper too.
3. Double your pleasure. Put two slices of tomato on your hamburger instead of one.
4. Make vegetable lasagne instead of a meat and cheese version.
5. Include a salad with every dinner. Incorporate plenty of colorful vegetables such are carrots, radishes, edamame, bell peppers, cucumbers and cauliflower. Some of these vegetables you may never have other than on a salad.
6. Drink one of your vegetable servings each day. Breakfast can be a particularly difficult time to think of vegetables, but a glass of vegetable juice can give you a refreshing start to the day.
7. Keep your fridge filled with bite sized snack bags filled with carrots, bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower or celery to grab when you feel the urge to munch. If the snacks are handy you’re more likely to reach for them rather than having to cut up vegetables.
8. Have a dessert with a vegetable base. Carrot cake or zucchini bread will provide a veggie edge to your diet whilst satisfying your sweet tooth.
9. Add vegetables to your spreads. Shred carrots and add to your peanut butter and also add some chopped vegetables to cream cheese for your morning bagel.
10. Use vegetable broth as a base for soups and sauces instead of meat or poultry broths. Many of the necessary nutrients from the vegetables are still available from the juices even though you may lose a good portion of the fiber you would consume by eating the whole vegetable.

Adding vegetables to your diet can provide you with huge benefits such as satisfying your hunger while providing you with the nutrients needed for a healthy active life.