Ways to eating more Fruits and Vegetables

Today’s Usage Tip: Ways to eating more Fruits and Vegetables

 

Whao! Are you worried about the little actions that can increase your fruits intake? Here are some tips on how to daily increase your fruit and veggies intake without stress:

1.    Try at least one new vegetable or fruit each week.  To enliven meals, switch from the old, familiar green beans, apples and bananas to okra, winter squash, papaya and kiwi. This will keep your appetite dynamic.

2.    Eat more “meal” salads.  Use a large salad as the base, but throw in meat “condiments” several ounces of cooked chicken, turkey, tuna or some low-fat cheese and/or legumes.  Add warm bread, and you’ve got a complete meal.

 

3.    Put fruit in your vegetables.  Add sliced or chopped apples, pears, grapes, melon, kiwi and orange sections to tossed spinach and cabbage salads. You can even combine cooked vegetables with fruit. 

4.    Take advantage of ready-made bag salads.  These are great when you’re in a rush or feeling tired.  Look for fresh ingredients, and add a low-fat or fat-free dressing.  Experiment with some of the darker greens, like Romaine, kale, and leaf lettuce, they’re tastier and more nutritious. 

5.    Have at least one fruit serving with each meal.  It’s easy. For instance, have a banana or strawberries on cereal, a piece of fresh fruit with your lunch and/or as a snack and a fruit serving with dinner.  (If you don’t feel like cooking a vegetable or making a salad, slice up some cantaloupe or honeydew melon.)

6.   If you’re in the dessert habit, try substituting fruit, served in a creative way, in place of at least three deserts a week.  For instance, try an apple baked with some cinnamon and a few raisins, a banana with a small amount of reduced-fat peanut butter.

7.    Experiment with nonfat flavorings.  Sprinkle nutmeg and lemon juice on spinach or broccoli, dill week and Dijon-style mustard on green beans or carrots, and basil on tomatoes.

8.  Mix your vegetables.  For example, combine corn and beans, zucchini and onions, red potato and carrot slivers, eggplant and tomatoes, cucumbers and onions. Frozen mixtures without sauce are fine too.

9.    Eat more vegetable-rich main dishes. 

10. Combine vegetables with tasty broths and juices.  Green beans cooked in chicken broth, summer squash in tomato juice, and carrots or beets in fruit juice are flavorful and need no added fat.

11. Have at least one vegetable at lunchtime.  Take along ready-to-eat carrots, cucumbers and celery, or red pepper slices with fat-free salad dressing.  If there’s a refrigerator at work, keep these items on hand.