Three Easy Ways to Eat More Fruits and Vegetables

If you read my recent post about setting goals, you know one of my goals is to eat 5 servings of vegetables and two servings of fruit each day.  For some people this sounds like a ridiculous amount of produce, however it's actually about what's recommended for most people each day.  I'm close.  Most days I eat at least one serving of fruit and 3 or more servings of vegetables...but that's not my goal.  Since setting the goal, I've done well.  Here are three tips for eating more fruits and vegetables:

1. Eat salad.  Obvious, I know, but you can pack in a lot of vegetables by eating salads at least once a day.  A small side salad with dinner or a big salad at lunch.  Just 1 cup of leafy greens counts and who's only eating 1 cup of salad?!
   
2. Smoothies.  Love them! You can get so much goodness into a smoothie.  Fruit, vegetables, greek yogurt, peanut butter, and the list goes on.  You can sweeten with honey or add fiber and omega-3 fats with chia or flax seeds.  Yum!
   
3. Sneak them into casseroles, pasta, and eggs.  Adding vegetables to these kinds of dishes makes them simply disappear, but they still count!  Shred some spinach, carrots or zucchini and toss them into any of these dishes for more nutrition without changing the flavor at all.  Or add salsa and spinach to your egg sandwich.
   
    
   
   
   Try these ideas and let me know how they work for you!  Or you can do what my sweetheart advises...marry a dietitian.  Be healthy!