WHY WE SHOULD ALL BE EATING MORE VEGETABLES!
The popular western diet has largely insufficient fruits and vegetables to help boost our own natural self-defense system, our Immune System.
You’ve may have heard this before “Eat green, leafy veggies with each meal!” But why?
Some of the benefits…
Some of the benefits come from the many micronutrients they are packed with, important for our bodies to function at their best, like vitamin A, C, folate and the dietary fibers they consist of.
Vitamin A is important for eye health and makes your skin looks better. Vitamin C is important for healing wounds, the absorption of iron, as well as fighting off disease and infections. Vitamin C’s has immune-boosting and antioxidant properties which can reduce the symptoms or risk of various diseases. Foods rich in vitamin C include broccoli, cantaloupe, cauliflower, kale, kiwi, orange, lemon, papaya, red, green or yellow pepper, sweet potato, strawberries, and tomatoes.
Folate helps the production of new red blood cells, which are so important as they deliver oxygen to the cells in our body, otherwise, we would not be able to function!
Fiber helps for lowering cholesterol, reducing the risk of heart disease and providing regular bowel movements, preventing constipation, something very important for a healthy gut and healthy you, as we want to get rid of waste products!
On top of that veggies are very low on calories and it's to overeat them! It is good to rotate them and get different vitamins and minerals from different kinds of veggies and also not to get bored with the same thing over and over again, as the variety is so big.
How to implement this…
Here’s an example of what eating a variety of different fruits and vegetables might look like:
Two fists of veggies with each meal is a general recommendation, aiming for all the colors you can get your hands on. Eat the rainbow!
Breakfast: Smoothie with banana, zucchini, spinach, protein powder, and nut butter
Lunch: Salad of grilled chicken with shredded purple cabbage, arugula, cherry tomatoes and avocado
Snack: Carrot and celery sticks with hummus
Dinner: Salmon with stir-fried mushrooms, red peppers, garlic and onion
Dessert: Blueberries
With a little planning, eating your veggies every day isn’t as hard as it sounds.
Cooking wise opt for steamed or roasted, some vegetables actually release different nutrients when cooked but one method to avoid is the traditional Mom style boiling method as many of the nutrients are lost into the water!
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Get a little accountability and help with creativity in the kitchen! If you would like to join our online nutrition coaching group then click here to become part of a community of people work towards building better nutrition habits long term. This is a paid-for service which we are offering for FREE at this time so make the most of it, there are ZERO catches!
