Easy Ways to Get More Vegetables

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Last week I touched on the power of saying YES more often to the most healthful foods rather than focusing on saying NO to certain foods, as most popular diets will have us do. Staying in YES mode gets us out of the deprivation mentality and into a wide world of culinary possibilities. It shifts the emphasis toward the positive of eating well, while the ingredients best used sparingly (added sugars, refined grains, saturated fats) are inherently displaced.

For these first paid issues of the new year I will do a dig into each of the YES foods--- vegetables, fruit, beans, nuts and seeds, whole grains and seafood—explaining why they are so good for you, and providing tips, inspiration and recipes for getting them into your life. 

First up, vegetables.

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Say YES to Vegetables

Whatever your wellness goals for the New Year, the one powerful change that will likely help you achieve it is to eat more vegetables. The proven benefits of doing so read like an infomercial: Boost gut health! Manage blood sugar! Reduce inflammation! Improve immunity! Keep blood pressure in check! Improve hearth health! Support a healthy weight! But wait, there’s more! In this case, though, the too-good-to-be-true is actually true.

We know why, to a degree. Vegetables brim with health-protective compounds, including essential vitamin and minerals, fiber, and a broad spectrum of antioxidants which quench damaging free-radicals in the body. While scientists have isolated and studied many of these plant compounds, they have only scratched the surface. But we know that taking the compounds in pill form doesn’t have the same benefit. It’s the package-deal of the vegetable itself that protects us. As my friend, Dr. David Katz, specialist in preventative and lifestyle medicine, so cleverly put it in one of my favorite quotes ever: “The active ingredient in broccoli is broccoli.”

But about 90% of Americans fall short of the recommended vegetable intake (2-3 cups a day for women and 3-4 cups a day for men), and most of the vegetables we do eat comes from the same five sources, three of which are white potato-based, with one of the most common being French fries. Not that there is anything wrong with potatoes—they are nutrient rich and darn delicious. We just really need to branch out (and maybe not fry them as often).

Different vegetables have unique nutrient and antioxidant profiles, so more variety means a broader spectrum of health-protective properties. It’s helpful to use color as a cue, since different antioxidants impart different hues to food.  Harnessing the full color wheel of produce (including white) not only works in our favor nutritionally, it also makes our meals so much more alluring.

Whether you are a beginner who is ready to venture beyond the occasional baby carrot, or a vegetable aficionado who is wants to broaden your horizons, here are some ideas and inspirations to make it happen.

Four Easy Ways to Get More Vegetables