How to Eat More Vegetables

Remember when you were a child and you were always being forced to eat vegetables? Now today your Doctor, medial advisors, healthy groups, and dieticians are telling you that you need your veggies. Now why is eating our proper number of veggies so important. The American Cancer Society is advising at least five servings of fruit and vegetables each day, five servings can be overwhelming if you are not a normal veggie eater. Veggies give us vitamins, antioxidants, fiber and are low in calories and fat, making it the perfect healthy choice. There are many supplements that can help you get your proper vitamins if you are not getting your daily allowance. But there are some other great ways to get more veggies.

I love doing stir fry’s, you can you use the same vegetables but change up the spices and create many different dishes. My favorite is stir fry and poached eggs, great healthy breakfast. I use zucchini, yellow squash, onions, peppers, spinach, garlic, and tomatoes. I can use grilling veggie rubs, creole, chili powder or a curry powder and get a great mix of different flavors. You can add many different proteins like chicken, shrimp, beef or tofu. Sorry but I am a meat eater, I like chicken in my stir fry, fish on top of it can work but you can’t stir fry fish very well. One of the best things is that you can prep for many meals at one time, it is quick if you have veggies prepped.

I recently read an article in CNN Health called 4 surprising benefits of vegetables and it had some very interesting points about eating vegetables. This one stood out to me, “nutrients like magnesium and vitamin C are quickly depleted during stressful times. Luckily, many vegetables contain these very nutrients, as well as tension-reducing omega-3 fatty acids and B vitamins that fight anxiety and depression.

The potassium and magnesium found in some vegetables can also calm you on the inside as they relax blood vessels and keep your blood pressure down, according to research. And fiber keeps blood sugar levels stable, preventing dips in energy and the associated mood swings.

To reduce stress, eat any vegetable. Mushrooms, leafy greens, squash, potatoes, bell peppers, spinach, bok choy, fennel, string beans and edamame are especially good sources of several vitamins and minerals.”

Vegetables can do so much for our overall health, this is why our mothers were always trying to get us to eat vegetables. As diabetic I have found that I eat a lot of veggies and the more I eat them and try different recipes, I love veggies. I know this is strange, but the only veggie that doesn’t get any love from me is cucumbers, for some reason I just don’t like them.

So, like your mother said, eat those vegetable!