Vegetables: More Than Just Rabbit Food
Why should I eat my veggies?
Vegetables have so many benefits it’s hard to narrow it down to a small enough list to give you the greatest hits. The main overlying theme is vegetables contain vitamins and minerals, which keep our body functioning the way it should.
The role of vitamins and minerals is extremely vast, and ranges from things such as controlling inflammation, to helping muscle and nerve function, controlling blood sugar, and helping energy production.
All plants contain something called phytochemicals, which are nutrients that occur only in plants. Here is a short list of the many benefits that phytonutrients can help with:
•Control inflammation (short term inflammation can be good, long term is usually bad)
•Help protect and repair DNA from free radicals
•Protect against a wide variety of cancers
•Decrease risk of heart disease
•Reduce overall mortality
Here is my 5 Step process to getting more vegetables in your diet
Step 1: Choose Your Vegetables!
Of all the vegetables out there, the majority of us usually only eat a few different kinds. I’m no different, and I have my go-to’s that I pick up every week, or every other week. The big factor when choosing vegetables is to get a wide variety of colors. Different veggies will contain different micronutrients so it’s important to mix it up. Eat the Rainbow!
Green- green beans, kale, chinese cabbage, arugula, brussel sprouts, snap peas, cabbage, asparagus, green peppers, collards, broccoli, spinach, cucumbers, lettuce, zucchini
Red- tomato, red cabbage, beets, red lettuce, radish, red peppers, red onions, rhubarb
Orange/Yellow- pumpkin, orange peppers, butternut squash, carrots, yellow carrots, summer squash, yellow beets, acorn squash
White- parsnips, garlic, onions, cauliflower, white carrots, mushrooms
Purple- eggplant, purple cauliflower, rutabaga, purple carrots, purple cabbage
Step 2: Choose Your Source
When it comes to getting your veggies in, there are a few different sources we get to choose from. Here’s my list in order of preference!
1) Fresh- Fresh produce is always the best. Bonus points for locally sourced, but anytime you can get fresh vegetables that are in season, it's a plus. The downside is their shelf life, and out of season veggies, which can sometimes spend a long time in transport and destroy some of its vitamin content.
2) Frozen- Frozen can be just as good as fresh, as they are frozen at their peak freshness, which preserves nutrients. Benefits is they last a very long time in the freezer, downside is they don’t taste as good as fresh local produce. Note: I am talking about plain veggies, not things such as “Frozen Creamed Spinach”
3) Canned/Jarred- Depending on the process, canned/jarred can be good or bad. The big thing to watch out for is sodium content and other preservatives to enhance flavor and increase shelf life, try to find ones with no salt or sugar added if possible. I want to be clear that sodium is not a bad thing, especially if you’re training/sweating, but be careful not to overdo it. I Personally include canned sauerkraut and beets in my diet regularly since they are a quick easy thing to grab and bring with me with no prep work.
4) Powdered- While I include powdered greens in my diet, it is a last resort. Just like protein powder, whole foods are preferred. Nine times of out ten I get my veggies in with fresh, frozen, or canned veggies. However if it’s 8pm and I realize I’ve only had 1 serving today, I’m going to mix up my powdered greens, which is just a concentrated powdered version of a bunch of vegetables. Because of the variety you could argue that it is more beneficial than simply eating 1 salad with lettuce and tomato every day, but compared to a well balanced rainbow intake, whole foods win. Keep it as a last resort, but if you want to bump up your veggie intake, it is an option.
Step 3: Prepare Your Vegetables
Part of the fun in vegetables is there are so many different ways to prepare them, and when done right, veggies can actually taste good *gasp!*
Here is a quick list of how I usually prepare my vegetables
1) Raw- Veggies such as spinach, lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, and peppers taste good uncooked, and can be dipped into dressings or things such as hummus
2) Steamed- Either in a pot, or something like an instapot, which is a staple for me when preparing dinner. Put some water in, put the veggies into the steamer basket, set timer, wait, enjoy. Easy!
3) Baked- Veggies such as beets, eggplant, broccoli, and carrots taste awesome baked with a light crisp to them. Toss in some light olive oil, add some seasoning, cook on 400 for around 30ish min, or until desired crispness.
4) Sauteed- In a pan, add some oil (I prefer olive or coconut), and toss in your veggies. Peppers, onions, summer squash, mushrooms, and zucchini all work!
5) Grilled- With the weather warming up, this is my favorite. If you’re already grilling your meat, toss some veggies on there as well, either have large enough cuts to place directly on (I like cutting eggplant into discs and cook them like a burger), or grab a grill basket and dice everything up.
Step 4: Add Some Flavor
Spices- red pepper, black pepper, red pepper, paprika, garlic, cumin
Sour- lemon juice, lime juice, vinegar, wine
Salty- salt, feta cheese, olives, capers
Sweet- honey, maple syrup, berries
Fats- olive oil, avocado, goat cheese, almonds, bacon, butter
Step 5: Enjoy!
A Challenge!
A question I get a lot is “how much vegetables should I eat a day?”. The simple answer is more than you are now! You really can’t overdo it with veggies. One of my secrets when I’m trying to lose weight is eat as many veggies as I can first, and try to fill myself up before moving on to the rest of my meal. With relatively few calories, and tons of nutrients, more is better.
That said, I like using the hand method here for measuring servings. Take your hand, and close it into a fist. That is 1 serving size. For the next 7 days, try and get 6 servings per day! For you vegetarians out there, this should be easy! For everyone else, it may take some focus. Like anything else, the trick is to mix it up, and space it out.
When I make my eggs in the morning, I always put in some veggies such as garlic, spinach, kale, peppers, and onions. Lunch will be either left overs from last night, or maybe canned beets or a salad. Dinner is something baked, grilled, sauteed. I may even grab some carrots and hummus for a snack.
Good luck, and let me know how it goes!
References
Berardi, John. The Essentials of Sport and Exercise Nutrition: Certification Manual. Precision Nutrition, Inc., 2017
Berardi, John, and Ryan Andrews. “Fruits and Vegetables: This Is What Your Grandma Never Taught You.” Precision Nutrition, 18 Sept. 2019, www.precisionnutrition.com/color-chart.
Heathers, James, and Jennifer Nickle. “3 Steps for Prepping (and Loving) Your Veggies.” Precision Nutrition, 10 Oct. 2019, www.precisionnutrition.com/dont-like-vegetables-infographic.