Friday, February 26, 2010

Tips to Increase Your Vegetable Intake


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Why the dislike of vegetables?
Why do certain people love vegetables while others hate them? Genetics may play a role. Research has shown that people who dislike cruciferous veggies (i.e. broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, cabbage) have a sensitivity for tasting a substance called PROP (a bitter tasting component). It also possible that you didn't grow up eating vegetables therefore never acquired a taste for them. Some of us don't like the texture of vegetables. Whatever the case may be, the majority of people are not consuming adequate amounts of veggies for good health.

Nutritional benefits of vegetables
Vegetables are loaded with nutrients such as vitamins, minerals (including calcium, potassium, iron, magnesium), fiber, and disease fighting antioxidants and phytochemicals. They aide in gastrointestinal health and can help lower cholesterol and decrease risk of diseases such as heart disease and cancer. In addition, vegetables aide with weight loss as they can help you to feel full - without the calories.

What is a serving size of vegetables?
One serving equals a half-cup of raw, cooked or pureed vegetables (including tomato sauce and vegetable soup), one cup of raw leafy greens, or four to six ounces of juice.

Tips to increase your intake of veggies
1. Be open minded! It is possible to learn how to enjoy vegetables.

2. Try to sneak them into your favorite dishes. Add shredded carrots to meatloaf or zucchini slices into lasagna. Add veggies to your slice of pizza. Add some chopped carrots and onions to your soup. If those little chunks of veggies turn you off, try pureeing them to hide them even more.

3. Change your cooking method. If you usually steam veggies, try roasting or grilling them. These cooking methods can change the texture and tend to impart more flavor. For example, I'm not a huge fat of steamed asparagus, but love grilled asparagus that is brushed with a little olive oil. The same goes for eggplant.

4. If you don't like cooked veggies, try raw ones. This can change the texture. Sometimes the dislike of vegetables is more of a texture issue.

5. Add different veggies to salads (red pepper, shredded carrots, grape tomatoes, chopped steamed broccoli, etc). Try to use a darker green lettuce or spinach as your base to increase the nutritional content.

6. Add interesting sauces to vegetables to help disguise them. Here are some to try:
Teriyaki sauce, a little olive oil and sprinkle of parmesan cheese, tomato sauce, butter spray, low fat salad dressing, stir-fry with garlic, ginger, a splash of soy sauce and a little rice wine vinegar or add a sprinkle a handful of low fat shredded cheese. If you like hot and spicy foods, try adding a little hot sauce to your veggies. If you like sweeter foods, find a marinade or sauce that has a sweeter taste. Of course, if you are watching your weight, check the calorie content of these sauces.

7. If your preference is for sweet foods, try mashed sweet potatoes or winter squash with a little brown sugar and cinnamon.

8. If the whole texture thing bothers you, try drinking your veggies. Juice them (try adding an apple or beets to the greens to add sweetness). You can also buy commercial vegetable juices (i.e.V8 juice). However, you may want to get the low sodium version as the regular ones are loaded with sodium.

9. Make sure you are consuming several servings of fruits a day. While fruit doesn't contain all the same nutrients found in vegetables, it does provide some of them (i.e.vitamin C, fiber, antioxidants, phytochemicals, etc.)

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