How to Sneak Vegetables into Every Meal
Everyone knows how important it is to eat vegetables. However, the vast majority of people in the U.S. don’t get enough of them each day, even when they consciously try to incorporate them into their diets. For many people, it’s simply difficult to integrate vegetables into their rushed, work-a-day schedules.
Thankfully, there are lots of easy ways to sneak vegetables into every single one of your meals. These vegetable integration tips will improve your overall health and increase the effectiveness of your diet.
Breakfast
Integrating vegetables into your breakfast can seem like an impossible task. However, just think about the format of the average breakfast meal: eggs, toast, and perhaps some fried potatoes. With that format in mind, we’re going to show you how adding vegetables to breakfast is a lot easier than you’d think.
For example, you could replace the carb-heavy potatoes with slices of winter squash or yams. Yellow squash is not only incredibly healthy, but tastes glorious when fried with minced onions and bell peppers, plus a little salt, pepper, and garlic.
Next comes your eggs. Boost their vegetable content by adding spinach, onions, peppers, and tomatoes while you’re cooking. This will improve their taste and add a thicker, richer texture that makes them more filling — not to mention kickstarting your day with higher vitamin intake.
When it comes to toast, you can add basil, spinach, or tomatoes to your butter or margarine. Slice the tomatoes thick for a satisfying and flavorful addition to each slice of toast.
Lunch
Lunch often gets neglected these days, especially for those of us who work in a 9–5 environment. However, just because you’re eating at your desk doesn’t mean you don’t have to think about what you’re eating — a healthy meal in the middle of the day (and hopefully also a walk around the block) will boost your energy and productivity for the rest of the day. Try to add as many vegetables to your mid-day meal as possible. One of the easiest ways is to eat a big salad filled with a wide range of veggie toppings, including:
- Tomatoes
- Cucumbers
- Peppers
- Onions
- Broccoli
- Peas
- Cauliflower
- Carrots
Adding all those ingredients to a bed of lettuce or baby greens like kale and spinach, and topping it with a light vinaigrette, adds a seriously heavy dose of veggies to your diet at the price of only a few hundred calories.
Other ways to add vegetables to your lunch might include putting mushrooms and peppers in your pasta sauce, topping chicken with salsa and avocado, or tossing back a vegetable drink.
Supper
By supper time, you’ve probably eaten the majority of your calories and vegetables for the day. However, you can still end the day with a burst of veggies by creating a delicious veggie puree.
Simply cook some of your favorite vegetables, such as zucchini and sweet potatoes, and blend them until smooth, adding spices to taste. You can then add this puree to just about any recipe, including rice, fish, chicken, and pork dishes.
However, if you’re not comfortable eating what can feel a little bit like baby food, you can also make a homemade vegetable soup as your main dish. Add as many vegetables as you want to create a thick, tasty, and filling soup.
Snack Tips
Healthy snacking between meals is vitally important for keeping your metabolism running smoothly and your energy level at a solid peak throughout the day. Follow these tips to integrate vegetables into your snack schedule:
- Cut raw veggies, bag them, and dip them in hummus.
- Add avocado, spinach, and tomatoes to your sandwiches.
- Make a veggie pita pizza.
- Drink a veggie drink when you feel your energy level dipping.
- Chow down on a full-sized cucumber, topped with a little bit of salt.
The great thing about these tips is that you don’t have to drastically change your day-to-day diet in any way. You’re not cutting anything out: just adding tasty and health-boosting ingredients to everything you already eat.
