What are some creative ways you get the right fruits and vegetables into your diet?!
1 cup of raw leafy vegetables OR
1/2 cup of other vegetables, cooked or raw OR
3/4 cup of vegetable juice
This is equal to one serving of fruit
One medium apple, orange or banana OR
1/2 cup of chopped, cooked or canned fruit OR
3/4 cup of fruit juice
According to the food pyramid we're to eat 3-5 servings of veggies per day and 2-4 servings of fruit per day.
So what are some creative ways you have found to ensure that you get those fruits and veggies you need? If you don't currently do this, then your answer could be along the lines of what you would like to do, or might plan to do in the future to ensure this.
Answers: The food pyramid says this is equal to one serving of vegetables:
1 cup of raw leafy vegetables OR
1/2 cup of other vegetables, cooked or raw OR
3/4 cup of vegetable juice
This is equal to one serving of fruit
One medium apple, orange or banana OR
1/2 cup of chopped, cooked or canned fruit OR
3/4 cup of fruit juice
According to the food pyramid we're to eat 3-5 servings of veggies per day and 2-4 servings of fruit per day.
So what are some creative ways you have found to ensure that you get those fruits and veggies you need? If you don't currently do this, then your answer could be along the lines of what you would like to do, or might plan to do in the future to ensure this.
Im a spinach salad lover like Kimberly... I love doing the same.. I use apples, oranges and walnuts or almonds over the spinach, I also use tiny slivers of red onion in mine.. I like the tang/sweet mix.. and I make my own salad dressing with yogurt, honey, mustard, and a dash of apple cider vinegar, black pepper and pour over this...
also I am a natural smoothie lover.. I use low fat yogurt and I use frozen bits of whatever fruit I have.. When I buy fruit, when it gets to the point I dont want to eat it crisp and fresh, I dont toss it, I cut it up and freeze it in bits in a huge ziplock freezer baggy. then later I take out pieces, pop in the blender with yogurt and a tsp of honey, some almonds and mmm!..
I also make huge buckets of vegetable soup, like minestrone and I freeze some for later on those days, I just dont like cooking.. when I roast chicken or other meats. I pile root vegetables like carrots, potatoes, onions, garlic, turnips etc all over the pan and roast it along with the meat..
I also like to do light oriental sautes.. I slice green or red bell peppers, garlic, onions, bamboo shoots, juilienned carrots and saute them lightly with a little chicken breast.. I eat this over steamed rice...
for snacks.. I eat apple wedges with natural peanut butter on them...
I like to snack on frozen green seedless grapes in the summer. they are like mini popcycles for me..
Buy a juicer.
for breakfast i have a smoothie with a whole banana, fresh blueberries and skim milk, mid morning maybe some nuts, lunch veggie soup (made on the weekend and frozen into individual portions) and for dinner meat or fish with salad or veggies and as a snack some fresh fruit cup up with yoghurt. I also keep Weight Watches Fruit & jelly in the office incase i want a snack
Slice up some fruit in your oatmeal or cereal. Yes, smoothies are a good idea; but not all fruits are good for the body to mix together; check out this site: http://www.hps-online.com/food/index.htm and scroll down and check out the list under Food combining rules.
I put peeled and sliced oranges and apples, with nuts (almonds) on a bed of spinach salad. I splash some homemade salad dressing.
this covers my protien, my fruit, my iron, and it tastes GREAT!
also the big salad helps me eat less of the carb's later.
Creative or not I have found the best and most beneficial way is to get a juicer and juice fruit for breakfast and then later veggies. I am alive and well because of pure veggie juice and the maximum benefit the juice delivers to your cells within 15 minutes. Great Stuff!!!
Salads and veggie side dishes are obvious choices.
I have started growing a small vegetable garden so that I have some greens and other vegetables fresh between trips to the store.
The new individual serving fruit cups are really good for snacks. Trail mixes with dried fruit such as raisins and cranberries also make good snacks.
I also like smoothies with fruit as a meal replacement about 1-2 times per week when I can.
One of my favorite sandwiches in the whole world is mashed banana and peanut butter.
I also like to cook things like soups, stews, and stir-frys with fresh, frozen, or canned vegetables. There are lots of good recipes on the internet, but one of my favorite is to use Lipton onion/mushroom soup mix as the base & add potatoes, carrots, corn, tomato sauce, and browned stew meat or ground beef. You can cook this in a crock pot or a dutch oven.
I also always try to keep fresh fruit around--whatever's in season. Right now it's mostly apples, bananas, and oranges (those little clementines are delicious, but they're kind of pricey), but in the summer it will be melons, grapes, and berries.
Try different combinations to add zing to the prepared salad bags (don't forget to wash thoroughly!) such as dried cranberries, mandarin oranges, or even blueberries or sliced strawberries.
Sometimes I add just a bit of fruit juice to bottled water to make it like flavored water. I have tried the V-8 drinks, and they're not that bad, if you can get past the weird color (maybe put it in an opaque glass & don't look at it?)
When you keep portion control in mind, it's really not that much, especially if you are eating a salad or stir-fry that combines several different veggies at once.
There are a couple of things for me that are really hard about getting the fresh fruits & veggies in. One is that they go bad fairly quickly, and the other is that they have to be cleaned, pared, and the veggies often cooked. To get around that,
I keep frozen vegetables on hand to add to reduced sodium canned soups, like add green beans to vegetable beef soup, or add diced carrots to chicken noodle soup. I pack a container of them with the can of soup and heat it in the m'wave for lunch, with some break & cheese. It's pretty easy to take that for a lunch.
At home, I put mixed "Asian" vegetables in chicken broth with Japanese style dried noodles to make my own soup. Course, I also add light soy sauce, sesame oil, and other seasonings, depending on my mood.
I like the "baby" carrots as a snack in the afternoon, while I'm working at the computer. They are crunchy, sweet, and they don't make my fingers greasy!
V8 is a vegetable drink, and Weight Watchers counts it as a vegetable, so you can, too!
I eat some dried fruits, esp. I like apricots, cherries, prunes/plums, and they are easy to take in my lunch bag for snacks.
I do buy bananas every week, so it's easy to have a banana a day. I also buy a bag of apples, and I have two apple corers/slicers. I have one in my lunch bag, and I keep one in the fruit bowl in my kitchen. I often take two apples in my lunch and a couple of tablespoons of natural peanut butter. It's great snack--fruit and protein, and it tastes to me like a candy apple, because the ones I've had were rolled in peanut pieces. I like Fuji apples best, but I also like small Yellow Delicious, and small Red Delicious. There is a slight difference in taste and texture between them, and by mixing them up, I keep from getting bored.
I keep frozen blueberries on hand, and I eat those a lot of ways. I m'wave thaw a hand full to put in my oatmeal in the morning; I eat them in cereal for a light dinner (I m'wave them JUST enough to take the freeze off them, but not to thaw them, cause I like them frosty in the milk!); I put them into vanilla yogurt (I don't like sweetened yogurt, so I buy vanilla and add my own fruit); I put them on ice milk as topping.
I will buy the small canned six-packs of fruit in their own juice and use those for my lunch.
Hope some of these ideas help!
Interesting question!
Many people choose V8.
I don't care for it, myself.
For raw leafy vegetables, I do those in a salad.
Spinach of course is good for your heart, and
makes a fantastic salad base.
I know that's not a winning comment, but I like your question!
Thank you!
I've learned to love produce in all its forms. This includes:
Making a low fat pizza (mozzarella with skim milk, whole grain flour) and topping it with a good amount of onion, garlic, mushrooms, peppers, and yes, pineapple. VERY good!
I add things like apple slices where folks won't expect it (serve it to me, I don't scare folks with these things) but like an apple sliced onto a cheese sandwhich. I will put raisins as well as carrots and onion in coleslaw.
I like amazing salads--pretty much any produce is fair game:
asssorted lettuce, tomato, peppers, onion, mushrooms, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, carrots, apples, grapes
with a nice vinaigrette.
I make tuna salads or sandwhiches which MAY include
lettuce, tomato, mushroom, celery, frozen peas, carrots, peppers, onion, broccoli, cauliflower.
You can make amazing soups--I prefer chicken base then you can throw everything in there--what I've mentioned in other things--some folks like corn in soup, zucchini, other kinds of squash, etc.
You can put virtually anything in a fruit salad.
If you puree veggies (like cauliflower or broccoli) you can put them in soups and stuff and folks don't even know it's in there. Look at a bottle of V-8 fruit fusion I think it is--veggies & fruit in there.