One point that is frequent with a lot of people's diet plans is that they don't eat sufficient vegetables. Vegetables are the real king of healthy foods supplying fibre, nutritional vitamins, minerals and other phytonutrients. So it's no surprise that when I recommend people eat much more veg I'm met with a blank look or the response of "I just don't know how to eat more veg". To be fair some vegetables can be fairly boring and at times it doesn't taste wonderful. So how can we get much more of it into our ?
I have come up with a couple of great tips to get a lot more veg in your diet plan and still enjoy some of your favourite foods. We all enjoy spaghetti Bolognese, curry or chilli con carne, but we have to eat these foods with rice or pasta right? Well, no! Substitute the rice, spaghetti and pasta for veg. Here is how...
Use spaghetti squash instead of spaghetti. A spaghetti squash is like a pumpkin - you roast it and scrape the flesh out from the within and it comes out just like spaghetti (hence the name). Instead of rice or pasta try using diced kale, cabbage, chard or otherwinter greens as the base to put your sauce on. Also put loads of veg in to the sauces to bulk them out.
Here are some other great ways to get veg into your diet:
Stir fry
Most veg can be stir fried - bean sprouts, cabbage, onions, ginger, garlic, chestnuts, peppers, mushrooms, green beans, peas, corn, mange tout, broccoli and chard. Throw in some prawns or chicken and add some tamari for a wonderful tasting stir fry.
Steamed
Broccoli, carrots, cabbage, chard, spinach, winter greens, squash and sweet potato. These are are a great addition to a roasted meat or fish.
Roast
Roast Mediterranean veg - onions, courgettes, aubergine, pepper, garlic. Also roast carrots, beetroot, parsnips and sweet potato. Lovely with a piece of fish.
Raw
Think salads - all leaves, tomatoes, spring onions, beetroot, artichoke, peppers, cucumber and corn. Fantastic summer bites with meat or fish or just a boiled egg.
You can also juice vegetables to make tasty smoothies and also add herbs and spices to flavour.
Good luck with these recipes and get a lot more veg into your diet.
