If you are here, you probably want to increase your vegetable intake. This is something I am still working on, but I definitely eat more vegetables than I did before. So, I wanted to share some tips with you that have helped me along my journey.
Maybe the goal of eating more vegetables is a bit overwhelming for you, but I recommend just starting small. Stick to one tip that you find useful and try it out! When we start to make improvements, we feel encouraged to build up on them, so it is usually better to start by setting small goals because it is easier to stay motivated. Don’t forget to celebrate your wins too, as small as they might seem!
1. Start with why
This is a concept from Simon Sinek that helps us identify our motivation. This can help us feel more fulfilled on our day-to-day and inspired to continue making some choices. So, here are some reasons why you might want to start eating more vegetables:
✅ To increase your fiber intake, which is good for your gut health.
✅ To get more vitamins and minerals through your food.
✅ To eat more foods that make you feel energized, happy, and healthy.
✅ To improve your health by changing your dietary habits.
✅ To live under the motto “food is medicine”.
If these inspire you, then that’s great! I also recommend you reflect about it and think about reasons why this might be important for you. Hopefully this helps to get back on track on those moments when motivation is low.
2. Make more soups
This is one of my favorite tips because it is so easy to implement, particularly when the weather is cold because a warm bowl of soup can feel so comforting.
The nice thing about soups is that they can incorporate 1-2 servings of vegetables in one portion, depending on the recipe you follow. So, choose your favorite vegetables and make a nice blend of them with some bouillon, spices, and maybe even cream cheese! You can just get creative and let your inner chef shine or follow a nice recipe. To make things even easier, you could even buy ready-made soups and just warm them up!
You can incorporate some protein into your soup by topping it with feta cheese or blending some legumes like lentils into the soup. There are so many options, which keeps this tip to eat more veggies doable if you find variation important.
3. Use more veggies in your sauces
You can sneak in some veggies in your sauces as well! Many sauces I enjoy are already based on tomatoes so they have some veggies in them, but lately I like to add some thinly shredded carrot to my pasta and curry sauces as well and you can barely even notice that it is there! I think this is a good way to eat more vegetables when you don’t like them so much because they are barely noticeable.
My recommendation if you want to use this tip is to choose neutral-tasting veggies so that you don’t notice a strong change in the taste. If you want to use this tip to hide veggies you might also consider adding a vegetable with a color that is not so different from what the sauce is meant to look like. What you should also keep in mind is that depending on the vegetable you add, the water content of your sauce might increase, so the sauce might initially be more watery than you would like it to. To fix this, you can just let the sauce simmer for a longer time so that water evaporates, which will make the sauce thicker (this is known as reduction in gastronomy 😉). If you want to make your sauce thicker you could also add some shredded potatoes.
4. Eat more salads
To be honest, I wanted to share this tip because I know that it might be helpful for some people, but I rarely ever eat salads because I don’t like them so much. Probably I just haven’t found a good salad recipe, so if you have any feel free to share it in the comments!
Anyway, I wish I liked eating more salads because they are an easy way to eat more vegetables and because they can be quite refreshing during the hot summer weather. So, if you like eating salads, this might encourage you to make some more either as a side or main dish throughout your week!
Also, with this tip I want to highlight that you should just take what is useful and realistic for you! We all have different preferences so what I have found most helpful might not be the same for you! Just keep an open mind and keep exploring the options that seem most exciting for you.
5. Add hidden veggies in your food
Perhaps you have noticed that in some supermarkets you can buy products like wraps or pastas made with vegetables like carrot, beet, or tomatoes. I like using these instead of normal wraps sometimes because they are an easy way of eating extra vegetables and because I already know some recipes I can make with them. This is also a tip that people who don’t like vegetables so much could try because other than the difference in color, you don’t really notice that you’re eating more veggies.
Another way you can add “hidden” vegetables into your food is by making dishes where vegetables are outshined by other ingredients. For example, in dishes like Korean vegetable pancakes, the overall taste takes the spotlight, not the vegetables themselves.
6. Make veggies the main character
Sometimes, it is all about finding a good recipe. Veggies are usually eaten as a side dish and usually meat is the star of the dish. But what if veggies took on the spotlight once in a while? For me, the best example is in Disney’s movie Ratatouille. When critic Anton eats the ratatouille, it seems so delicious that every time I watch the movie, I crave it! Examples of dishes where veggies take the spotlight include of course ratatouille, parmigiana di melanzane, spinach lasagna, zucchini boats, and stuffed tomatoes. Brainstorming on how to highlight the fresh and delicious flavor of vegetables can be fun way to use your creativity too! You can treat your kitchen as both your lab and art studio.
7. Add veggies to your dishes, even if they were not originally meant to be there.
Sometimes when I make traditional food, I notice that not all dishes have vegetables in them, but I try to add some as a side dish instead so that the flavor of the dish is not altered at all. This could be adding grilled corn and zucchini as a side dish to my meat, or adding some small chopped vegetables to foods like instant noodles.
When we eat pasta at a restaurant, it normally just comes with a sauce and sometimes meat, but when you make it at home you have the freedom of adding anything you like, including vegetables! To make it easy, you can use some pre-cut vegetables or some easy ones to use, like spinach. You could even combine this with tip #3 and make a vegetable sauce for your pasta or curry.
8. Make veggie snacks
This is something I am trying to implement more. Veggie snacks are very nice because they contain fiber, so they keep us feeling full for longer, especially when we combine them with a protein source (like cheese or hummus). So, you can brainstorm about all possible ways in which you can make some veggie snacks you crave! Here are some ideas:
- Carrot or celery sticks with a cottage cheese dip or hummus.
- Carrot, corn, or cucumber with lime and tajin.
- Corn with butter, salt, and pepper.
- Roasted zucchini topped with salt, pepper and parmesan cheese.
- Mini peppers filled with cream cheese.
- Zucchini fritters.
9. Look for new recipes
Sometimes it is fun to try cooking something new. A nice thing about having so much technology nowadays is that recipes from all over the world are available at our fingertips. You can get inspiration from books, YouTube, blogs, or Pinterest! You can try to look for recipes that have your preferred vegetables or that have them hidden! I recently stumbled upon an Indian dish called Palak Paneer, which is a type of cheese covered in a spinach-based sauce. I was hesitant to try it because I personally don’t like spinach so much, but in this recipe the spice mix was so delicious that I didn’t even mind the spinach! So, try to keep an open mind because even if you are not fully convinced about a recipe, you might be surprised.
10. Make it as easy as possible for yourself
When you know that you have a busy week ahead, make eating more veggies as easy as possible for you. That way, it is more likely for you to choose to eat more vegetables. This could include buying pre-made salads or soups, buying frozen vegetables, or buying pre-cut vegetables so that you can just add them to the pan while cooking.
Other tips to make adding veggies into your food as easy as possible could include having a meal prep day where you pre-cut some vegetables, prepare some soups and sauces that you can use throughout the week, or buying a chopper box, which saves time on cutting.
I hope that some of these tips were useful for you! As I said before, try to keep an open mind and start by implementing small changes. Celebrate each of your wins too 🥳.
All the best,
~ Lucia