How do you make sure you add fruits and vegetables to your daily diet?

[bidgewoe689]

How do you get more fruits and vegetables into your diet? Do you have any creative recipes or simple tips?

[laohaire]

What/how do you usually eat? That makes a huge difference in the advice you receive.

If vegetables are not currently part of your diet, I'm guessing you eat mostly meat and grains? Pasta? Pizza?

Do you cook? If so, do you cook from whole foods or prepared or semi-prepared foods?

What are your favorite foods? Let's say you like pasta, it's easy to add vegetables to that, you can toss linguine with sauteed vegetables in season and either a cream sauce (milk or cream with garlic and parmesean and salt and pepper) or a pesto (olive oil and basil) or maybe just olive oil and balsalmic vinegar (feta cheese goes well with that). And you can have chicken or sausage in there as well.

So, where are you now? Then we can add suggestions on where to go next?

[calebsmommy25]

Juicing has helped us get more in our diet, and green smoothies. I add spinach to everything! Eggs, soups, pasta sauces, etc. We also keep a plate of fruit on the table. Cutting up raw veggies like broccoli, peppers, celery, cucumbers, etc. ahead of time and keeping them in the fridge ready to grab with hummus is always an easy way to add them in. Be adventurous with soups and salads. You can add anything to them to bulk them up in nutrients. I'm making one tonight or tomorrow that has apples, red onion, pecans, gorgonzola with a raspberry vinegrette dressing. It is really good on top of a heaping pile of arugula, spinach and other mixed greens. YUM! Such a delicious switch from a 'normal' salad.

[elanorh]

I have a large container that I fill with 'salad bar' type veggies once a week. Basically when I get back from the store, and am putting groceries away, those veggies are the last thing I put away - I wash and cut them up and put them in the container so that whenever we need a snack, the vegetables are READY to go. I think one of the easiest ways we miss out on veggies is that they take 'prep time,' whereas a box of crackers or whatever, are easy to just open and go. So my veggies are just as easy to use this way.

We probably have veggies from the container with half our lunches during the week, and then with snacks at other times. I put in whatever is good and available (we do as many organic as possible where we live, and during the summer it's mostly from our garden). So right now, our veggie container has: Carrots (peeled and cut up); Green peppers (slices); Radishes; Green onions; Cherry tomatoes; Broccoli. [Typically it's either broccoli or cauliflower, whichever is organic and looks best]. Other things we've put in include jicama, celery sticks, summer squash 'sticks.' I don't know how mushrooms would hold up, and suspect cucumbers would need to be eaten almost immediately after their preparation.

I also keep our fruit out where we can see it, other than apples which dh likes COLD so they stay in the fridge.

You can do a version of the veggie container with melons if your family likes them - whenever I buy cantaloupe or honeydew melon or even watermelon, I cut it into chunks and put it in the fridge so we can dish out as desired. Throw some grapes in there and you've got a bit of a salad even.

We garden and have a CSA membership which honestly is another way to get your veggies in. When I know that I'm getting another box of veggies at the end of the week, I'm more motivated to make sure I use up what I have.

[mamatoablessing]

From the time I started feeding my kids solids, I always incuded a fruit with every meal and a veggie at lunch and dinner. I do this for myself as well. Fruit and veggies are just part of my meal planning. When I make lunch, for example, we always have a main meal (sandwich or soup or roll up or pasta or whatever), a veggie and a fruit. Same with dinner although I include a starch or other side dish about 50% of the time. With fruit, I just buy what looks good (I try to keep 2-3 different kinds), wash it, cut it and store it in the frige in tupperware. This allows the kids easy access whenever they want a snack too.

[EdnaMarie]

My simple rules:

1. Oatmeal always has a fruit in it (generally a frozen berry stirred in while the oatmeal is nearly done), eggs are always topped with spinach (when I first start to fry them, so spinach is wilted by the end, collard greens can be sauteed and subsituted, same with chard), yoghurt has fruit in it. So that's breakfast.

2. Snacks: There are only three kinds of snacks in our house: fruits, veggies, and dairy. Period. And you can't have more than two dairy snacks a day. Just because that's too much milk and the cow gets tired.

3. Lunch: You get a fruit with lunch and you get lettuce on your sandwich.

4. Dinner: A green salad, even if it's just lettuce leaves with a bit of olive oil, is always served with dinner. Always. Ideally as a first course but I'm a little weak on that.

Those four things, which are super easy and fast, mean that we eat a minimum of four fruits and veggies a day. Of course, we eat more, because then there so many veggies in the recipes themselves.

Other things that are less simple:

We don't eat fancy veggies now- we can't afford it- but between collards/spinach/chard/whatever we can afford, even beet greens or carrot greens, apples, bananas, oranges, lettuce, carrots and canned tomatoes that I use in a lot of different recipes, we do okay, and that's really a poor man's selection.

Oh yeah- and cabbage. I buy a head of cabbage a week and I have to use it or toss that money away, which again we cannot afford. I usually put it in soup or saute it with carrots.

We also eat a lot of frozen vegetables. To me, a meal is a meat / protein, grain, and vegetable. So all of my "emergency" meals are pasta, a defrosted frozen veggie with butter, and a broiled meat. Sometimes we skip the grain.

Oh, and dessert is fruit and nuts, even if the fruit is dried. Cake, cookies, etc. are never bought, and only made for special occasions, so there's no choice there.

If a vegetable or fruit is on sale and not going bad within the day, I buy a lot and force myself to use it.

[oceanmamma]

Green smoothies, we have 2 that we make and my kids love. they are so used to having them daily that my oldest (10yo) says she doesn't have as much energy when she doesn't have her smoothie. Also, I use greens almost daily in our meals and the kids like to make "ACE" juice from carrots, oranges, and lemon.
Hummous (or any other healthy dip), celery with nut butter, in summer we have "salad bar" for lunch, I put out lots of those little IKEA bowls with veggies, olives, beans, sunflower seeds, corn, frozen peas, cubed tofu, etc... and the kids fill their plate with lettuce and put on the toppings that they want.
Soups and sheperd's pie are also easy ways to put in a lot of veggies. Fruit is all over the kitchen and they can grab that whenever they want.

And our dessert are always fruit based and sweetened with only dates, or we just have fruit salad (yummy, yummy) and here in Italy after dinner they bring out a big bowl of fresh fruit and a bowl of mixed nuts to crack open. So we sit and crack open nuts and chat and it's a nice healthy way to end the meal.

That's all I can think of at the moment!

[ambereva]

I had to completely change the way I think about food. Now, fruits and veggies ARE my daily diet, it's the other stuff I have to think about ways to add. For instance, for dinner tonight I have butternut squash. Now I have to figure out what to put with it. Getting more produce into my diet requred a shift in my 'food-consciousness'.

[caiesmommy]

We have fruit and or veggies at each meal/snack-We eat vegan except for dh and ds eat eggs

Ex-
Breakfast-multi grain pancakes w flax seeds and dried blueberries stired in. Almond milk to drink and orange segments on the side
-scrambled eggs w fruit(apple orange or banana) on the side/veggie(v8ish) juice to drink

Snack-pumpkin/flax seed/ww muffins
-banana/hemp seed
-piece of fruit

Lunch-peanut butter(and banana but ds doesnt seem to like the combo right now) sandwich w carrot/celery sticks either almond milk or veggie juice to drink
-chickpea noodle soup with potatoes/carrots/onions/celery/garlic/peas/corn
-veggie maki rolls w avocado/cuke

Snack-popcorn
-ww chips and salsa
-fruit

Dinner starts with a salad of some sort-
-tossed green w veggies
-coleslaw w vinegarette

Also has another raw veggie-carrot sticks/celery/tomatoes/peppers(whatevers cheap and in seasonish)

Some main dish examples are

Soup-vegetable ministroni w homemade veg broth, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, beans and pasta
Pasta w eggplant, onion, garlic, peppers, celery tomato sauce
Vegie stirfry
Taco salad-homemade tortilla bowl w refried beans, lettuce, tomato, peppers, onion, corn, cilantro, guacamole, salsa, soy cheese,

[Storm Bride]

We have fresh and dried fruit for snacks. The kids can have roughly one serving of dried fruit a day, and it's pretty much "help yourself" with fresh fruit. So, they usually have a couple of servings of that, at least. I, personally, start my day with two hard-boiled eggs, then a banana, apple, orange, or whatever.

My kids usually don't eat the greatest lunches - Kraft mac'n'cheese (I'm working on this, and we have cut back to about 1-2 times a week...we peaked about about 4!), or PB&J are by far the most common. I use a three-part plate. With mac'n'cheese, I put it in one of the small sections. With sandwiches, I put them in the big one. Then, I fill the remaining sections with fruits and/or veggies. For ds2, the veggies are usually grape tomatoes, sugar snap peas, or carrot sticks. For dd1, I usually use cucumber slices, celery sticks, broccoli or carrot sticks. Fruit can be anything - apple slices, a whole orange, some berries or grapes - whatever. Neither of them are very picky about fruit, except that ds2 doesn't like pineapple. So, they get at least one serving with lunch, sometimes two - depends how much I put out.

With dinner, we sometimes have a cooked veggie (asparagus, green beans, broccoli, whatever), but not that often, because I'm the only one who likes most of them. We always have a big bowl of salad...usually a prepackaged spring mix, with a good mix of dark lettuces and greens.

When I make a smoothie (not daily, but usually about 2-3 times a week), I usually use a cup of plain yogurt, a banana, about 3 cups of baby spinach (not packed - just thrown into the blender) and 1.5-2 cups of berries. Between the spinach, banana and berries, the kids get at least a serving there.

Other than that, I just try to guide them to fruits/veggies when they want a snack. If one of them ask for yogurt or cheese, and has already had dairy, but is low on fruits/veggies, I'll say, "how about some sugar snap peas/a carrot/some cucumber?". If they insist they want the cheese, they get the cheese. If they say, "oh, yeah - I've love a carrot!", they get the carrot.

On a really bad day, my kids probably only get about 2-3 servings each. Most days, it's probably about five. Some days, it's more like seven.


ETA: Oops. I just re-read. You're asking about our diets, not our kids. Well, I do the same thing. If I feel like having a cracker (only in the house sometimes), I consciously think "maybe a carrot/some broccoli/an apple" and if that's even remotely appealing, that's what I eat. I put out a big bowl of salad each night, and I eat whatever isn't eaten by everyone else. When I'm really craving sweets, I'll go to a small handful (5-6) of dates or prunes. I look in the fridge and see what we have in the way of fruit (eg. right now, I have a quarter pineapple in the fridge, and I'm going to eat some in a few minutes) and veggies, and either have a snack or work it into my next meal. I add frozen berries or dried fruit (raisins or chopped dates) to porridge.

[lotus.blossom]

I find that its much easier to eat veggies when they are prepped and ready before you get hungry. If I am hungry and in a rush I always choose starch or grains.

Our mid morning and mid afternoon snacks are always fruits/veg. Either a green smoothie, or a choice of apple banana or orange (with cheese or PB or cinnamon etc...) And for myself -since I am not really a sandwhich person- I like to cut up a tomato and eat it with rolled up lunchmeat and a chunk of cheese for lunch. I also love to cut up colorful peppers and dip them in dressing. Or do baby carrots. These things are surprisingly satisfying when you get into the habit. Its very hard to break the habit of junk snackfood though.

Oh and the other snack that we eat a lot is plain full fat yogurt with berries.

And dinner almost always have a veggie. We eat a lot of green beans, broccoli, asperagus, or salads.

[BetsyS]

In the winter, I make an effort to add fruits/veggies to things that I'm cooking.

I use a lot of frozen spinach, other frozen veggies, canned/jarred tomatoes, celery, carrots, and root vegetables. Sometimes, if the local Asian store has specials, I add lettuce and/or avocadoes. We eat mostly apples, bananas, and citrus for fruits. Plus some frozen berries.

You can add a jar of tomatoes to anything. You can also add a package of frozen spinach to almost anything. Soups, stews, pasta. Meatloaf. You can serve spinach as a side dish, make the tomatoes into okra and tomatoes (with frozen okra). The okra and tomatoes becomes a main over rice. I just make a point to add a veggie into anything I cook.

[EdnaMarie]

Lordy I hate okra, but I agree that you can add canned tomatoes to practically anything. And if you're really poor / cheap, you can buy the whole canned tomatoes and puree them yourself in a blender or with a mixer or even mush them with a fork, as I am doing now, until my household goods arrive.

[Sol_y_Paz]

Breakfast has a side of fruit. Sometimes a smoothie. Sometimes fruit inside pancakes or waffles, sometimes a whole fruit. Sometimes orange juice, right now oranges are fairly cheap so I have been making the juice.

Lunch always has veggies. Sandwiches, wraps, quesadillas, pastas, and anything else are loaded with veggies.

Dinner also has veggies, sometimes they are grilled as in fajitas, or sometimes they are stir-fried in with a veggie and tofu stir-fry, or sometimes steamed in a bamboo steamer as a side, and if we can't figure out a way to get a lot of them in a meal, we have a green salad. We eat a lot of salads, sometimes even for lunch with a boiled egg.

Snacks : air popped popcorn, veggies, fresh fruit, and healthy dips like peanut butter, yogurt, and black bean hummus

I drink water or tea. Sometimes orange juice, cranberry juice, and milk.

Good luck!