Sort of a S/O of weight loss thread; How do you eat enough vegetables?

[VaKim]

I constantly see the advice that we should eat more vegetables and fruits per day. Usually something like 5-9 servings. While I have no problem with fruit (usually have apples, grapes and oranges in the winter and melons in the summer), I have no idea how to get that many vegetables. For one thing, I only shop once a week, and can't afford to get a bunch of different vegetables for the sake of variety and have them rot, or even not have enough room in the fridge for them. Also, I have no idea what a "serving" of vegetables actually is. I mean, it is obvious what a cup of cooked green beans, for instance, looks like. But what the heck is a serving of celery, or lettuce, or raw spinach or raw peppers? And how in the world do you eat enough of them plus other food in one day? I am only 5 feet tall, btw, so don't require many calories. And vegetables just are not filling. 

[Rosie_0801]

And how in the world do you eat enough of them plus other food in one day?

 

I think this first bit answers the next bit.

 

 

 

And vegetables just are not filling.

 

 

Buy frozen veggies. They won't rot. Legumes also count.

[MEmama]

Do you have freezer space? I have a woefully small freezer but it's usually packed with ready to grab veggies. I cut up things like extra onions, kale, leeks, diced carrots, etc so they are always at the ready when I'm cooking dinner. For me, that eliminates waste and ensures there are always veggies on hand even if the fridge is empty.

 

A serving of greens like lettuce or spinach is essentially a generous handful. I find that makes it easier to calculate when I make salads. For me, making sure I get enough protein with my veggies is essential in staying full. So a big salad is 2-3 cups arugula or spinach, a hardboiled egg, a few nuts, and whatever other veggies I have around.

 

I tend to pack whatever I'm cooking with veggies. I often make enchiladas, for example, with beans, roasted sweet potatoes, kale, onions, and peppers. Breakfast omelettes are often stuffed with beet greens, mushrooms, onions, and garlic scapes and perhaps some cheese.

 

Even as a long time vegetarian, I still find I need to be intentional about servings. I give very little thought to fruit--some blueberries, an apple, and perhaps some grapes or berries most days--because they have much more sugar than vegetables and therefore aren't as satisfying to us.

 

I hope that is helpful!

[Joyofsixreboot]

A serving of cooked vegetables is 1/2 cup. That ups intake right there because most of us eat more than that at a time. So a cup of veg with lunch, a cup with dinner and a small salad or munching raw veggies as a snack gets you your 5 vegetable servings. Add fruit and you're good. I use frozen and canned vegetables mostly. I buy a bag of spinach a/week and throw in smoothies. I also like vegetable soup and Aldi salad is $.99/bag. Eating enough fruit is my problem.

http://www.cookinglight.com/healthy-living/healthy-habits/how-much-serving-fruits-vegetables

[J-rap]

I don't count servings, because that feels like a goal I'll rarely meet! But, I know I eat a lot more veggies now than I used to.  I drink a mostly greens smoothie every day for lunch.  I get either bagged organic kale or organic spinach, and that's the base of it.  I throw in carrots, celery, cucumber, etc.  All of those veggies easily last a week in my fridge.  I flavor the smoothie (because greens alone aren't very good!) with one or more of these:  half a banana, about 1/4 cup of fresh or frozen berries, or honestly, whatever fruit I might have that just helps the flavor of the smoothie.  It might be half an apple or it might be a handful of grapes or slice of melon.  Other things to help the flavor: unsweetened coconut flakes, a piece of fresh ginger, a little bit of coconut milk, cinnamon.  If I have nothing to help flavor it, then I add a little honey.  The only liquid I use is water.

 

Other than that, I always serve an extra side of veggies at dinner now, to take the place of the bread or carb or whatever else I used to have on the side.  (Though I still sometimes have a small carb serving,  I just make sure to have that extra side of veggies and and try to make sure the veggies get eaten before anything else, in case I fill up and leave the veggies.)

[Laura Corin]

I agree about frozen veggies.

 

An average day might include a big bowl of veggie and lentil soup for lunch - two or three servings of veg - and then a supper plate half full of veg. I cut down on empty calories - white grains, for example. Veg is nutritious but mostly not very calorific.

 

When I buy fresh veg I eat it in order, based on how well it lasts. I start with salad, broccoli, spinach.... And finish with root veg.

[regentrude]

First of all, the idea of "serving sizes" is nonsense; nobody actually knows how many vegetables you need. Depends on a lot of things, and it's probably more than you eat. So, I disregard the "number of servings" and just eat lots of fruits and veggies.

 

Also, I have no idea what a "serving" of vegetables actually is. I mean, it is obvious what a cup of cooked green beans, for instance, looks like. But what the heck is a serving of celery, or lettuce, or raw spinach or raw peppers?

Google is your friend. There are tons of websites that have descriptions and visual guides.

1 serving is 2 medium carrots, or 1 large bell pepper, or 1 large tomato, or a fistful of small broccoli florets, or half a medium cucumber, or two large leaves of  Romaine lettuce.

 

 

 

And how in the world do you eat enough of them plus other food in one day? I am only 5 feet tall, btw, so don't require many calories. And vegetables just are not filling.

which is why you can eat tons of them since they are not very calorie dense.

 

A large salad can easily incorporate five servings of vegetables and can be lunch.

You can snack on carrots or other raw veggies.

Vegetable stew or stir fry can pack another few servings.

 

Many vegetables keep well. Carrots , broccoli and cauliflower can be stored for several weeks. Sweet potatoes do not need refrigeration, as do legumes. We eat lots of veggies, and the two bottom drawers of out fridge are enough storage space for the four of us. Frozen veggiess keep long times in the freezer; canned tomatoes and beans can be stored in the pantry.

 

[Laura Corin]

More ideas: if you normally have a sandwich for lunch, make half a sandwich and fill the rest of the plate with carrot or celery sticks, not chips; keep frozen chopped peppers in the freezer to add to omelettes; start eating vegetarian a few nights a week - the veggies will probably pile up on those nights. My favourite veggie dinners are North African tagines: lots of flavour, lots of veg, protein from garbanzo beans or similar.

[Pawz4me]

A serving of veggies is typically half a cup. I don't count servings, though, other than in keeping a ballpark total of calories consumed. I try to avoid fruit due to the sugar content and concentrate on veggies instead. The exceptions to that are the fruits that people usually count as veggies like bell peppers and cucumbers. A normal day for me might mean a bit of sautéed veggies with a couple of eggs for breakfast, a salad or vegetable soup for lunch and another salad or a fairly large amount of sautéed veggies for dinner. I've found that sautéing veggies in a bit of olive oil makes them more filling (or having just a bit of an oil based dressing on a salad). I also try to always have some protein along with veggies.

[VaKim]

Ok. Apparently I am just over thinking things. For one thing, I, for whatever reason, assumed a serving of cooked veggies was a whole cup. I do get frozen cauliflower, broccoli, peas, and spinach, but imagining eating 7 cups of that a day was just too much! Knowing now that my one cup is actually 2 servings is very helpful. Also, I always see stuff about "raw, leafy green" vegetables. Except for in the summer when we do salads, I don't get much of that at all. I do put frozen spinach or kale in smoothies with berries a few times a week. Also love fried cabbage with quinoa or eggs or both. And we eat a lot of bell peppers in chili and fajita filling and such. Oh, and I do snack on raw baby carrots a few times a week. 

 

I guess all the pictures of tons of various, multi-colored raw veggies everywhere I look make it look like you should eat 7 or 8 different kinds of veggies every single day, or you aren't getting enough of the different vitamins and minerals. 

 

This thread is making me hungry.  :)

[abba12]

disclaimer: I am using the forums for a relief from insomnia, too tired to figure out name translations tonight, so any names you don't recognize are things common in Australia, google it for american names or substitutes lol. 

 

servings is difficult, because it varies so much, and between cooked and raw. 

 

But, you could try incorporating veg into breakfast, spinach in an omelette or egg dish for example, or avocado on toast. Really, this is out of the reach of most people though, I don't have time to cook breakfast!

 

Lunch. Salads are LOTS of veggies. A (packed) cup of salad leaves, one or two tomatoes, a handful of sprouts, and a cup of snow peas or sugar snap peas is 4 serves I think. That's a BIG bowl of salad, but, like you said, veggies aren't very filling. With some salad dressing it makes a decent lunch. Even half a large tomato and half cup of lettuce plus cheese on a sandwhich is 1 serving, two servings if you have two such sandwhiches, as many people do.

 

Dinner.... for one thing, add more veg than most recopies! Especially if you use any spice mixes/jarred bases. The green curry base I use calls for 1 bunch of bok choy, and half a capsicum, with a lot of chicken. I generally put in a large onion, 2 bok choy bunches, a full capsicum, plus some snow peas or carrots. The bolognaise sauce jar calls for an onion, and meat. I put in two onions, a capsicum, a carrot, a large handful of spinach and meat. Honestly, while the dishes are a little less 'saucy' we rarely notice the difference.  There's also tricks, like cauliflower rice. And when you do your meat and three veg, make sure those veg are hefty portions compared to the meat. Lowering carbs also helps with this, if you aren't eating bread with your vegetable soup you'll eat more vegetables in the soup itself.

 

Also keep in mind, the servings are a simple suggestion for getting people to eat more veg all around, but, quality is better than quantity to a point. While eating any vegetable is better than none, not all vegetables are created equal. Half a cup of baby spinach is worth more to your body than a cup of iceberg lettuce. Carrots are better to add than corn, which is actually not terribly nutritious. Peas are fairly starchy but beans and in-pod peas like snow peas are better. Not to say you should remove these 'lesser' foods from your diet, we don't! But consider that in your choices. Simply switching from lettuce in your salad to baby spinach will give you a big boost. This is the flaw with the servings system, someone who eats a steak with roasted sweet potato, wilted spinach, and roasted carrots is going to be having a healthier meal than someone who eats a steak with boiled potato, peas and corn. 

[abba12]

Ok. Apparently I am just over thinking things. For one thing, I, for whatever reason, assumed a serving of cooked veggies was a whole cup. I do get frozen cauliflower, broccoli, peas, and spinach, but imagining eating 7 cups of that a day was just too much! Knowing now that my one cup is actually 2 servings is very helpful. Also, I always see stuff about "raw, leafy green" vegetables. Except for in the summer when we do salads, I don't get much of that at all. I do put frozen spinach or kale in smoothies with berries a few times a week. Also love fried cabbage with quinoa or eggs or both. And we eat a lot of bell peppers in chili and fajita filling and such. Oh, and I do snack on raw baby carrots a few times a week. 

 

I guess all the pictures of tons of various, multi-colored raw veggies everywhere I look make it look like you should eat 7 or 8 different kinds of veggies every single day, or you aren't getting enough of the different vitamins and minerals. 

 

This thread is making me hungry.  :)

 

Uh, you don't have a problem. I think you're doing better than me, and I pride myself on my families veggie intake!

 

Variety is good, but I aim for 7 or 8 different veg in the course of the week, not a day! 3-4 types in a day that you dont have salad is a good goal, salad obviously includes a lot of variety.  We mostly eat seasonally, I will generally buy about 10 different veg each shopping day, and those 10 veg will change throughout the seasons (or week to week depending on sales) but we aren't eating them all every day. 

 

I do aim to add variety, so one week I might put carrot in the spaghetti, the next week button squash, the next week silverbeet stems. One week our salad will be cabbage based, the next spinach based. But not all in one week! :D

[Seasider]

It's not always easy to please the whole family when doing this, but I go through stretches of having a salad-based diet. Everything - veggies & proteins - go into a chopped salad. The menu can vary based on whatever I toss in there. As someone said above, I really need to have protein and healthy fats to feel satisfied. So with 1-2 cups of salad greens I'll toss in a chopped small grilled chicken breast, some pecans, crumbled goat cheese, cucumbers, shred carrots. Skip the croutons. Dried cranberries for a tangy sweet touch. Avocado. I prefer balsamic vinaigrette but every now and then mix it up with a blue cheese, ranch or Caesar.

 

For breakfast, sauté some onions, mushrooms, broccoli, peppers for a few minutes, then scramble eggs into it. No more plain scrambled eggs, now they're a vehicle for veggies.

 

It's hard to skip the veggies when they're an integral part of the entree.

[Seasider]

Oh, forgot to say, this is how my doc puts it: half your plate should be fruits and veggies. When I'm focusing on portion control, I've used those divided plates. I treat use fruits like snacks and desserts so on my dinner plate, I would go for 1/2 veggies, 1/4 protein, 1/4 carb (rice or sweet potato).

[umsami]

Yes, we try and do the half plate thing.

 

Frozen veggies help a lot.  We do a lot of beans, too.

 

What helps in our family is we basically almost always have a salad with dinner.  It's easily a one cup serving, so that counts as one serving of veggies.  We often will start dinner with a lentil or bean soup, which also counts as another cup.  So that's two servings of veggies at dinner.  

 

The kids love carrot sticks and hummus for a snack or with their lunch.   So that's three-four servings of veggies.

 

Then we add in probably a piece of fruit with at least two meals.  Voila.  Five. :)

[KungFuPanda]

It helps to switch your thinking so that veggies are the base of your meal. If you always think of them as side items, they'll continue to be an afterthought. Maybe make vegetable soup for dinner. Add a little meat for flavor. It freezes well if you don't put potatoes in there. (I add potatoes when I'm almost ready to eat, but not to the batch I'm freezing.) Burritos also freeze well. You can pack lots of veggies into burritos and enchiladas and go reall light on the rice and meat. Pasta primavera is nice too. The veggies won't rot in the fridge if you actually plan meals around them and use them up. It helps to plan a week ahead and do all your chopping/washing/prepping at once. Then the rest of the week is easier. Smoothies can easily hold some spinach or puréed carrots without interfering with the fruit flavors. Curries and stir fries are also great for using several veggies at once.

 

I think some of the 'vegetables aren't filling' attitude is psychological and will go away when your taste adjusts. It helps to use spices because a big flavor punch is part of why meat is so satisfying. We are now entering Soup Season. I prefer salads in the summer and soup when it's cold. You can thicken soups by pureeing veggies and beans and adding them back to the pot. It cuts down on the amount of flour and cream you need for thickening and gets more vegetables in your body. Even comfort foods like chicken pie have carrots, celery, onions, and peas . . .you can add potatoes and spinach too.

[Carol in Cal.]

I am not so sure that legumes count, but they certainly are healthy.

 

WW Online uses 1/2 cup as the serving size for fruits and veggies, EXCEPT that leafy greens (raw) have a serving size of 1 cup.  You don't have to densely pack them to measure this.

 

I figure a cup is about the size of my fist, and 1/2 a cup is 1/2 of that.

 

While we subscribed to a CSA I learned to sort fresh produce by longevity.  I'd eat berries and tender leaves (like arugula or mache or butter lettuce) first, then heartier greens like romaine and soft fruit like figs, then denser fruit like peaches, apricots or nectarines, then hefty greens like kale or beet greens or root veggies, then onions and potatoes.  I could easily eat for a week like that.  

 

Now that I'm not in a CSA I pop into the store twice a week instead of once, but only buy milk and produce the second time.  Some veggies I eat as I'm doing other things, as snacks.  For instance, bagged, washed salad greens I eat straight out of the bag like potato chips when I'm reading the mail or paying bills.  That's usually 3-4 servings right there.  I keep frozen berries and peaches and OJ concentrate in the freezer to make smoothies.  I find it's easier to make large quantities of produce into snack foods than meals, and often I eat enough to skip or significantly reduce one of the regular meals of the day.

[Amira]

I think that focusing on cooked vegetables is the easiest way to eat a lot of vegetables, especially in comparison to leaf salads.  You have to cook an entire pound of spinach to get one cup of cooked greens, or eat 3.5 cups of raw spinach to equal 1/2 cup cooked serving.  Once we quit eating traditional American salads and started preparing our vegetables in other ways, we ate a lot more vegetables, even compared to leaf salads with other raw vegetables in them.

[Bluegoat]

I tend to go by my plate rather than servings.  In a given meal, I try and make it about half veg or fruit.  I tend to do the fruit for breakfast and veg at lunch and supper.

 

Usually with supper, for a conventional meal with cooked veg I try and do two different veg, one of them green.  So, last night say I had fish cakes (fish and potatoes essentially) along with carrots and broccoli and some pickles.  Usually I do fish cakes with purple cabbage which also includes apple.  Fish cakes are protein and starch which takes up half the plate, and the veg takes up the other half.   I usually do one veg at lunch, say a sliced up raw carrot.

 

Sometimes its not even but I try and make it up over the week.

 

With things like stews or pasta, I try to increase the proportion of beg.  So say I do pasta with some crumbled bacon and Parmesan, I can add a lot more vegetables and decrease the amount of pasta compared to what I would normally tend to do.  This is also a good way to save some money on meat.

 

As far as things that keep, If I am getting more fragile things I eat them earlier in the week, and later I will use frozen or veg that keep well.  Ones that keep well are things like the root vegetables and brassicas like cabbage, Brussels sprouts, or broccoli, and squash or pumpkins.

[TrixieB]

It's not always easy to please the whole family when doing this, but I go through stretches of having a salad-based diet. Everything - veggies & proteins - go into a chopped salad. The menu can vary based on whatever I toss in there. As someone said above, I really need to have protein and healthy fats to feel satisfied. So with 1-2 cups of salad greens I'll toss in a chopped small grilled chicken breast, some pecans, crumbled goat cheese, cucumbers, shred carrots. Skip the croutons. Dried cranberries for a tangy sweet touch. Avocado. I prefer balsamic vinaigrette but every now and then mix it up with a blue cheese, ranch or Caesar.

 

For breakfast, sauté some onions, mushrooms, broccoli, peppers for a few minutes, then scramble eggs into it. No more plain scrambled eggs, now they're a vehicle for veggies.

 

It's hard to skip the veggies when they're an integral part of the entree.

 

I go through salad-for-lunch phases too.  Last year I bought a Rubbermaid Lunch Blox salad set on back-to-school clearance.  It has a main compartment that I fill with mixed greens, cucumber, radishes, carrots, chopped meat, cheese, olives, etc. Then there is an upper tray to put tomatoes, avocado, sunflower seeds or walnuts, or whatever else I have on hand, and a small container for dressing.  I can prepare most/all of it the night before, and then have lunch ready to take to work or school. 

 

During the past couple of months I've gotten out of the habit and my veggie consumption has plummeted... but I'm making my grocery list right now!

 

And I think I will start a batch of sprouts too.  I love them on salads -- just have to get back into the sprouting habit!

 

ETA: I sautéed zucchini/mushrooms/spinach with eggs this morning for breakfast for one of my kids and myself - then read your post and decided to try broccoli & onions next time :)

[Bluegoat]

Also, in winter when I can't easily get a lot of local greens, I tend to do grated salads almost like a slaw, using carrots, beets, and radishes, maybe with some finely chopped kale.  It's more filling and cheaper than imported greens.

[Carol in Cal.]

This week I made a fall salad for lunch for two people.

It had about 5 cups of mixed baby greens, the seeds of one pomegranate, and 1 fuyu persimmon in it, as well as the zest and juice of one lemon.  That totalled 8 servings, not including the lemon, so 4 servings each.  Along with about 1/2 a cup of feta cheese mixed in, and a nice sherry vinegar/lemon vinaigrette with herbes de Provence, it was a filling meal in and of itself.  I also made cheese cookies to serve on the side, since it was a 'company' meal.  If I had also added a cup of celery, we would each have 5 servings of produce, threshholding the 5-9 servings recommendation.  This was a very satisfying and festive fall meal--we certainly did not feel deprived!

[poppy]

I think of it as green and orange veggies. Get some of each every day.

[Annie G]

Roasting veggies helps me get a lot of variety in with little work. Cut veg, add a bit of olive oil, season, and roast.  They can be used a ton of ways. 

 

As Laura pointed out, buying a variety works well when you eat from the shortest shelf life to the longest. Carrots, onions, and frozen broccoli make more appearances at the end of my week because the beginning is when I use asparagus and other fragile veggies. 

 

So far today I've had red bell pepper, mushrooms, and zucchini sautéed to top an egg. Dinner tonight is roasted veg pizza and I've cut the veggies already- onion, pepper, garlic, mushrooms, broccoli, zucchini and yellow squash, carrots, and a couple of brussels sprouts I had left. When the pizza comes out, I toss some baby spinach leaves on and add the cheese. Melt it and serve. I can get a lot of veggies and a lot of variety in that way. 

 

 

 

 

[mommymilkies]

I think last time I looked it was 3-4 cups of salad = 1 serving and that freaked me out and made me pretty pessimistic.  I simply can't afford 5-9 servings of vegetables a day.  We use a lot of canned and frozen veggies and they're just not very good. It's definitely not my strong suit.

[Laura Corin]

I think last time I looked it was 3-4 cups of salad = 1 serving and that freaked me out and made me pretty pessimistic. I simply can't afford 5-9 servings of vegetables a day. We use a lot of canned and frozen veggies and they're just not very good. It's definitely not my strong suit.

How do you use frozen veg? Apart from peas, broad beans, sliced peppers and roasted veg, I tend to put them into soups and stews, where it doesn't matter so much if the texture isn't great.

[ScoutTN]

Lots of great advice here.

One thing to add. When I need some inspiration, I get a vegetarian cookbook from the library and look through for two or three new recipes to try. Or I do some hunting in the web. Or just read thrh the vegetable section of the cookbooks I own. Adding a new veggie dish to our regular meal rotation every so often helps keep things interesting. I let the kids help choose what we try too.

[Desert Strawberry]

We eat a plant based diet. It's very easy to get our servings in.

 

By the freshest possible fruit and veg. Shop around. I like to buy cases from a wholesaler. The fresher it is, the longer it will last.

 

Prioritize usage. Many fresh food can be stored for quite a while-potatoes, onions, cabbage, sweet potatoes, turnips, citrus, apples, beets, garlic. Others need to be used immediately-berries, lettuce, leafy greens. When I make my two week meal plan, I start those recipes that need to be prepared quickly and double star the ones that can't wait. Most of my meals can hang out for at least two weeks.

 

In addition to choosing veg with a longer shelf life, buy dried, frozen, or canned veg. Dried beans, peas, onions, potatoes, bell peppers, garlic, and fruit last nearly forever. Frozen veggies have the added benefit of being quick and easy to prepare. Canned corn, tomatoes, mushrooms, beans, olives can be found in good quality brands.

 

I serve a lot of veggie friendly meals. This week we are having sushi made with cucumbers, rainbow carrots, roasted yellow and red sweet potatoes, avocado, and asparagus. Fish tacos topped with lettuce, tomatoes, fresh cilantro, cooked with onions, seasoned with lime. Roasted carrots, purple potatoes, beets, sweet potatoes, and onions, with mashed potatoes, gravy and green bean casserole. Mushroom stew, packed with veggies.

 

Throw some extra veggies in with everything. Add sweet potatoes and squash to chili. Top nachos with fresh diced tomatoes, onions, and sliced olives. I had a little frozen pizza for breakfast topped with zucchini, onion, and tomatoes. 

 

I like to serve a bowl of soup before dinner. It's a bouillon cube, a handful of rice or small pasta and a cup or two of frozen veg. Chips, salsa, and guacamole is our favorite appetizer.

 

 

I love a good salad. I like to snack on fresh, sliced tomato or cucumber, doused with a tasty vinegar and some good sea salt.

 

There is a whole of delicious veg opportunities that go way beyond salad.

[LucyStoner]

The easiest way to eat more veggies is to eat meals that are made of delicious, flavorfully cooked veggies. Meat on the side, as a flavoring or garnish rather than veggies on the side as a dutiful obligation. Roasted veggies. Stirfried veggies. Vegetable soups. Anything but the pile of lightly salted obligation next to the meat heavy main course.

[FaithManor]

I start the day with veggies which helps. I dump two tbsp of dehydrated red pepper which is a little more than a quarter cup raw, a tbsp dehydrated celery, a half cup finely chopped spinach, half cup diced mushrooms, and a half cup cubed potatoes in a pan with coconut or olive oil and saute until tender then add two eggs scrambled, and top with some parmesan. Since blood sugar control is a big deal to me because I have so many maternal relatives with type 2, this makes a perfect start to the day. I also alternate with eating homemade chilli - made from home canned tomatoes and containing kidney and pinto beans - and leftover veggie stew. Thinking outside the box of standard American breakfast made it much easier to get veggies in.

 

Also, a salad for me is only a limited amount of leaves but includes not only shredded carrot but celery, red pepper, and broccoli plus a cup of black turtle beans and some olives on the side.

 

Check nutrition websites. There isn't a one size fits all serving as veggies vary in nutritional density and fiber count. For some veggies, the serving size is smaller than others so you can include one of them with a salad or whatever so you do not have a meal where you have to absolutely stuff yourself in order to get two servings.

 

I eat eight servings of veggies per day, and almost no fruit due to my determination to avoid type 2. But that did not happen overnight. It took increnental steps in order to adjust. Americans tend to eat a tremendous amount of flour based items and other grains so if you reduce the amount of those items it leaves more room for veggies and fruits.

[umsami]

Re: frozen veggies.  We make an Egyptian dish called torli  which is basically veggies in a tomato sauce.  You can add chicken or beef or keep it without.  We serve this either plain, with rice, or with some bread as a meal..   You can make it with frozen mixed veggies (we buy a gigantic bag at Costco or Sam's), peas and carrots, a mixture of fresh and frozen, etc.   It will cook faster if the frozen veggies are thawed...so sometimes I'll nuke them for 3-4 minutes if I'm in a hurry.  I can't always get all of my kids to eat veggies, but even the veggie haters like this.   Sometimes I'l use leftovers of this in spaghetti or lasagna (add in a layer of veggies).  

 

If you're cooking this with chicken, boil your chicken to cook. (Legs, quarters, cut up whole chicken, breasts, etc.)  Then use the broth to cook the veggies.

 

Salute one chopped onion in about 2-3 T of olive oil, coconut oil, butter, etc. with some salt and pepper. (Fat of your choice.)  Traditionally, most Egyptians would use ghee (clarified butter). I usually use olive oil.  Sometimes I'll do a butter/olive oil mixture.   You can add 2-3 cloves of chopped garlic at this point...cook until you can smell them, but it's optional.  Some Egyptians use garlic, others use just onions.  

 

Add in one 15 or so oz can of tomato sauce.  

 

Add in a large family size bag of mixed veggies...or two small bags.  Sometimes I'll use frozen peas but add fresh carrots.

 

Add water/stock to cover the veggies just barely.  Remember, if they're frozen or partially frozen, they'll release water...so less is more in that case.  If using plain water, you can add a bouillon cube or two for flavor.

 

Cook until the veggies are cooked...about 20 minutes or so.  Add salt/pepper to taste.  If using meat, add the meat back in at the end.  You can also add in cooked ground beef (I would cook it with salt, pepper, and chopped onion.) 

[OnTheBrink]

This is something I struggle with, too. Part of my problem is that with work and school, I'm just flat out too busy to think about food and enough servings, etc. I have started making a week's worth of salads for lunches. I use baby lettuces and spinach leaves, shredded carrots, grape tomatoes, diced peppers. None of those are particularly wet veggies, so the salads stay dry and crisp all the way till Friday. I add a dollop of dressing and shredded cheese the morning I plan to have the salad. I also get those Dole fruit cups to take to work. I get the ones with no added sugar, as well as sugar-free applesauce cups. Helps a little to get the fruits and veggies in. 

[Btervet]

I try to make sure half my plate is veggies. Most the time it is from a dish made with 50% veggies or more (chili, salad, scrambled eggs, veg. muffins/bread, etc). If I'm putting something on my plate that isn't veggies (the rare times we have a breast of chicken or steak) I just fill the other half with veggies. Our freezer always has broccoli, corn, and green beans.

 

It became really easy to eat more veggies when we signed up for a CSA. When you have a giant box of veggies you have to eat or waste, and you've already paid for them, you figure something out. We've done eggplant mashed potatoes, lots of spiced corn, and veggie breads.

[waa510]

I've recently gone vegan (it was Dh's idea) and one way we've increased our greens is to eat a green smoothie at least once a day. We buy the chopped frozen spinach which is dirt cheap here ( 98 cents for a massive bag), flax seeds, and frozen fruit like strawberries or even mixed fruit. Add in some water and you've got a cup of greens right there. :) We get huge amounts of mixed greens at Costco and eat them for lunches and dinner. I add zucchini into pasta sauce for dinner, or make a sandwich for lunch with grilled eggplant, peppers and spinach. It's really just rethinking what you used to do and plopping a veggie on top instead of meat. Keeping it simple like this has made it easier. I've also heard juicing can be helpful for getting extra greens in but we don't have one.

 

We also took a cue from our British friend and make a salad and tons of veggie sides with a small main dish for dinner. This way it kind of forces everyone to have to eat at least a couple servings of veggies. My kids have been eating salad more often too :) I'd check out pinterest for vegan or vegetarian recipes for ideas on how to tweak recipes you already make habitually. That helps it become more of a habit because you aren't completely reinventing everything. 

[Jenny in Florida]

I think last time I looked it was 3-4 cups of salad = 1 serving and that freaked me out and made me pretty pessimistic.  I simply can't afford 5-9 servings of vegetables a day.  We use a lot of canned and frozen veggies and they're just not very good. It's definitely not my strong suit.

 

Canned veggies tend to be pretty gross, I think. I much prefer frozen, second only to fresh.

 

Remember, too, that some things people think of as "seasonings" are actually vegetables. For example, we eat a lot of onions and bell peppers around here. It's not like I sit down and eat a half a cup of onions raw as a snack, but that wouldn't be an unusual amount to have as one ingredient in home-made pasta sauce or a serving of seasoned black beans, for example.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Serving sizes are quite a bit smaller than we imagine.

 

I'm not sure I buy into the advice.  It's a guideline of sorts, but I don't know if you have to be exact about it either.

 

 

[momto10blessings]

I thought it was 5 servings of fruits and veggies combined/day?

[Tanaqui]

1. It's 5 servings of fruit AND vegetables, preferably 2 fruit and 3 veggies.

 

2. A serving of cooked vegetables and fruits and most raw vegetables and fruits is half a cup.

 

3. A serving of leafy salad greens is one whole cup.

 

So it's easy-peasy! Just one serving of either fruit or veggies with each meal, an additonal salad with dinner, and a fruit for snack.

 

Vegetables should not be going bad in your fridge within a single week, though. That's troubling to read, because if this is a chronic problem it may mean that your fridge is broken.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I am opposite.  I don't eat fruits.  I do eat plenty of veggies though.  I just don't like most fruits. 

 

 

[Joyofsixreboot]

I thought it was 5 servings of fruits and veggies combined/day?

Five to nine servings with more being the better end of the spectrum is my understanding. As others have said, the general goal is just to increase them. I don't spend time counting them up.

[kiana]

I am opposite.  I don't eat fruits.  I do eat plenty of veggies though.  I just don't like most fruits. 

 

Yeah I don't eat much in the way of fruits either. They're generally more expensive and lower nutrition than vegetables, and unlike vegetables the frozen ones don't tend to save much money so it's an issue if you shop seldom :P

 

As far as getting in vegetables, I do pretty well on raw numbers (you don't want to know how many pounds of broccoli I go through in a week) but rather less well on variety simply due to income constraints. I figure getting the quantity in is better than doing nothing because the variety is expensive. I do almost solely frozen.

 

I do baked vegetables most days -- I just toss a bag of frozen on a baking sheet and put it in the oven until it's at the desired level of cooked. This feeds my laziness and also is nutritious. I also do a lot of soup/stew and I just throw chopped greens, onions, and tomatoes into everything I make. When I was using the usda food tracker they tracked lentils as part meats and part vegetables so I believe they should count as well.

 

I don't care for salad or any raw vegetables outside of carrots and tomatoes so I just don't eat them. Maybe it would be healthier to do that but again, I'm not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.

[Jane in NC]

Now that fall is here, why not roast a variety of root veg (sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips, turnips, white potatoes, golden beets) on a baking sheet.  Toss with olive oil and sprinkle some kosher salt.  I love reheating leftover roots in a cast iron skillet and then frying an egg to serve on top. This is one of my favorite breakfasts.

 

Last night we ate a meal that was primarily veg:  chunks of butternut squash, potato, kale, onion, chick peas in a curry sauce, served with naan.

 

I think the key in the bigger picture is to think of meat as a condiment in your soup or stew.  Let the focus be veg.

[VaKim]

Re: frozen veggies.  We make an Egyptian dish called torli  which is basically veggies in a tomato sauce.  You can add chicken or beef or keep it without.  We serve this either plain, with rice, or with some bread as a meal..   You can make it with frozen mixed veggies (we buy a gigantic bag at Costco or Sam's), peas and carrots, a mixture of fresh and frozen, etc.   It will cook faster if the frozen veggies are thawed...so sometimes I'll nuke them for 3-4 minutes if I'm in a hurry.  I can't always get all of my kids to eat veggies, but even the veggie haters like this.   Sometimes I'l use leftovers of this in spaghetti or lasagna (add in a layer of veggies).  

 

If you're cooking this with chicken, boil your chicken to cook. (Legs, quarters, cut up whole chicken, breasts, etc.)  Then use the broth to cook the veggies.

 

Salute one chopped onion in about 2-3 T of olive oil, coconut oil, butter, etc. with some salt and pepper. (Fat of your choice.)  Traditionally, most Egyptians would use ghee (clarified butter). I usually use olive oil.  Sometimes I'll do a butter/olive oil mixture.   You can add 2-3 cloves of chopped garlic at this point...cook until you can smell them, but it's optional.  Some Egyptians use garlic, others use just onions.  

 

Add in one 15 or so oz can of tomato sauce.  

 

Add in a large family size bag of mixed veggies...or two small bags.  Sometimes I'll use frozen peas but add fresh carrots.

 

Add water/stock to cover the veggies just barely.  Remember, if they're frozen or partially frozen, they'll release water...so less is more in that case.  If using plain water, you can add a bouillon cube or two for flavor.

 

Cook until the veggies are cooked...about 20 minutes or so.  Add salt/pepper to taste.  If using meat, add the meat back in at the end.  You can also add in cooked ground beef (I would cook it with salt, pepper, and chopped onion.) 

This is pretty much how I make beef vegetable soup, obviously using beef (usually ground because it has more flavor). I also put in canned tomatoes and use tomato juice instead of sauce.  :)

[VaKim]

Serving sizes are quite a bit smaller than we imagine.

 

I'm not sure I buy into the advice.  It's a guideline of sorts, but I don't know if you have to be exact about it either.

:iagree: This! I am thinking I probably already eat as many veggies as everybody else here, and even many of the same things you all posted about. But when you see websites and articles about how many servings and how much is in a serving, it always makes me think I need to somehow eat more. Way more. Even reading some of the things you all have posted, I can see that a serving for me is about half of what everybody else eats. No way on earth I could eat 2 eggs plus a bunch of veggies at one sitting! And I generally only eat 2 ounces of meat at a time. 

 

I am sort of perfectionist and OCD, so when I see guidelines, I always feel like I need to meet them perfectly. 

[VaKim]

1. It's 5 servings of fruit AND vegetables, preferably 2 fruit and 3 veggies.

 

2. A serving of cooked vegetables and fruits and most raw vegetables and fruits is half a cup.

 

3. A serving of leafy salad greens is one whole cup.

 

So it's easy-peasy! Just one serving of either fruit or veggies with each meal, an additonal salad with dinner, and a fruit for snack.

 

Vegetables should not be going bad in your fridge within a single week, though. That's troubling to read, because if this is a chronic problem it may mean that your fridge is broken.

Everywhere I look lately has been saying we should up it to 9 servings per day, which makes it sound impossible to me. 

 

Nothing wrong with my fridge. Things don't go bad in a week. It is just that nobody else here will eat them, and if I try (as is recommended) to get enough veggies to have a variety every day, some of them are going to go bad before I get to them. I am going to do what I see many posters say they do and sort of rotate. 

[ScoutTN]

Half tomato cocktail (like V8) and half chx stock makes a great soup base for lots of different soups and there you have a serving or more of veggies right in the soup base. I made chx tortilla soup this way last night. We get the cocktail from our CSA in qt. jars and it has all sorts of veggies in it in addition to the tomatoes.

[VaKim]

So many yummy ideas in this thread. It should be titled, "Vegetable Motivation Thread."  :drool5:

[FaithManor]

Now that fall is here, why not roast a variety of root veg (sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips, turnips, white potatoes, golden beets) on a baking sheet. Toss with olive oil and sprinkle some kosher salt. I love reheating leftover roots in a cast iron skillet and then frying an egg to serve on top. This is one of my favorite breakfasts.

 

Last night we ate a meal that was primarily veg: chunks of butternut squash, potato, kale, onion, chick peas in a curry sauce, served with naan.

 

I think the key in the bigger picture is to think of meat as a condiment in your soup or stew. Let the focus be veg.

That is how we adjusted...meat was not the focus of the dish. So beef veggie stew is light on beef compared to what most Americans are used to and deep on veggies. Chili here is meatless, two quarts of tomatoes blended, two cans pinto beans, one can kidney beans, lots of cumin and garlic ( dh and I prefer no chilli powder so that we can avoid indigestion), and topped with a dollop of sour cream. Eaten with a salad or a baked potato it ends up being very filling, very satisfying, and lots of servings of veggies. Because the whole meal (especially with the baked potato) is high in vitamin c, I serve it a lot in the winter to help boost immune systems.

 

Another good one is again to start with the two quarts of blended tomatoes, and add a saute of one or two large red bell peppers finely diced with little celery and chopped leeks, and fresh pressed garlic to taste (just enough olive oil to make everything saute nicely, but not very much), add to the tomatoes, and toss in the crockpot to simmer three or four hours. Serve with a side of salad and a side of rice, and use parmesan and mozzarella on the salad and soup as a source of protein. Very tasty red pepper soup that provides three servings of veggies in two cups of soup. It is wonderful on a stormy day.

 

My other favorite is stuffed peppers. When I can find them, I get mini bell peppers because they roast so nicely and do not take as long. Saute diced celery, portabella mushrooms, leeks or shallots, garlic and sweet peas in coconut oil, and when tender add a package of neufchatal cream cheese to the pan and melt it on low getting the veggie mixture stirred in well. Fill the hollowed out mini peppers, place on parchment paper on a cookie sheet, and roast in the oven at around 400 degrees (my convection oven does not have to be that hot, but my old oven had to be hotter so just keep an eye on them and adjust accordingly), and roast until the edges are browning, and the pepper is wrinkling. I serve these with eggplant parmesan for a meatless, high veggie meal...the cream cheese helps everyone feel full, and I am generous with the parmesan on the eggplant.

 

My family does not like brussel sprouts, but they will eat them on way...placed on a cookie sheet (line it with parchment paper), drizzled with a little bit of real maple syrup, and basted with a little butter (I use a pastry brush for this), and roasted golden. They will eat quite a few a piece done this way.

[Carrie12345]

"Serving" is a ridiculously meaningless term, usually based on a 2,000 calorie intake.  A man who weighs a muscular 210 and an inactive woman who wants to lose 10lbs to get to 130 are not going to do well on the same "servings".

 

I should be eating more fruits and vegetables.

My kids graze on raw fruits and vegetables all day, make smoothies here and there, and some of them like roasted brussel sprouts and steamed broccoli for dinner.  They're weird, but I'm proud.

[Seasider]

Half tomato cocktail (like V8) and half chx stock makes a great soup base for lots of different soups and there you have a serving or more of veggies right in the soup base. I made chx tortilla soup this way last night. We get the cocktail from our CSA in qt. jars and it has all sorts of veggies in it in addition to the tomatoes.

Oh, I forgot about adding V8 to stuff - I used to do that!

 

Something else about veggies "expiring" - get yourself a juice extractor. Sometimes I do juice fasts, but otherwise, on grocery day, I'll take much of the produce I haven't use during the week and run it through the juicer. I always have carrots and apples to flavor it up. That way the produce doesn't go to waste if I don't actually use it in meal prep.

 

Don't rely on juice for all your fruit and vegetable intake, though; you need the fiber from the whole food.