Healthy Eating Tips

Eat More Fruits and Vegetables

Add 3 more servings of fruits and vegetables to your diet everyday.

Boost Breakfasts:

  • Smoothies
  • Oatmeal with Banana, shredded coconut, berries
  • Grab a whole piece of fruit
  • Eggs with veggies—my fav is sautéed kale and onion and eggs. YUM

Double the Veggies:

Double the amount called for in the original recipe. You are
already doing the prep work; so a little extra chopping can go a long way .

  • Stir extra veggies into soups. It will enhance the flavor, nutritional value, and your daily vegetable tally.
  • Pile them on the pizza.
  • Cram them into casseroles. Stuff them into sandwiches. A sandwich is another
  • blank canvas just waiting to get stuffed with color. Take your routine turkey sandwich and jazz it up with sliced apples, cucumber, zucchini, sprouts, and spinach.

Be a Sneaky Chef:

Try these tips to sneak in extra servings into your day.

  • Puree cooked cauliflower, winter squash, or red peppers and stir them into sauces, mashed potatoes, pot pies, or mac and cheese. DONʼT FORGET THE KALE DUST.
  • Make a mean marinara thatʼs loaded with vegetables. In addition to your traditional tomato sauce base, use any combination of chopped mushrooms, eggplant, onions, peppers, squash, and carrots.
  • Add to baking: Banana, zucchinis, coconut, apples, dates, carrots, et al.

Experiment with a new vegetable or fruit each week:

  • Get kids involved and let them pick the new produce to add it to the meal. Let them decide how to cook it. Let them hold it, handles it, peel it, etc.
  • When itʼs the season, take kids to the U-pick farms and let them get dirty.
  • Try new seasonal veggies

Choose 1 even 2 days to leave meat out of your diet: (eg) Meatless Mondays

Use this as a “day of preparation” for the entire week to assist your goal to increase your
fruits and vegetables by three servings a day.

  • Sauté or grill extra vegetables on your meatless Monday, and continue to use the leftovers later in the week in pasta dishes, soups, sandwiches, and salads.
  • Make a large batch of fruit salad to have on hand for meals and snacks.
  • Become a food processing pro – Use the shredding blade to grate squash, carrots, zucchini, turnips, onions, sweet potatoes, etc. Bag them up and keep them easily accessible in the refrigerator. Add them to sauces, soups, stir-fry, casseroles, pizzas. EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING.

Make all of your snacks revolve around fruits and vegetables:

If these are the only options, you will eat them.

  • Stock countertops, pantries, refrigerators, desk, car, and purse with some form of fruit or veggie.
  • Keep a bowl of fresh fruit on the counter at home or on your desk for a healthy (and eye-appealing) quick fix.
  • Keep dried fruit in your car or purse for busy days when a breather is just not an option.
  • Pack pre-cut fruit and veggies into snack-size bags to munch. Keep them eye level in the fridge for kidʼs easy access.

Have a Salad with Every Meal:

Try to make them with Dark Leafy Greens

  • Supersize your salad. Endless possibilities. One cup of leafy greens is a serving; pile on healthy toppings, and every 1/2 cup of chopped fruits and vegetables is another serving. You can get half daily fruits and vegetables packed into one glorious salad.
  • Donʼt cheat yourself on the dressing. Skip the fat-free and low-fat dressings full of sugar and sodium and are completely deprived on flavor. A few splashes of a good, heart-healthy canola- or olive-oil based dressings can do wonders to that bed of greens. Make your own and add flax seed oil.

Dig the Dip:

Whip up a delicious dip and turn those healthy crudités into party food.

  • Replace chips with cut up veggies and dip.
  • Go sweet. Dip apple wedges, pears, sliced bananas, mango, and pineapple spears in a sweet sauce.
  • Go savory. A plate of raw vegetables pairs great with a nutty hummus zesty ranch, creamy avocado, and fiery salsa. Crunchy crudités take on a whole new life with just a smidge of extra punch from a flavor-packed dip.

Bag the Bread:

Instead of bread or tortillas, make your next sandwich or wrap inside
a leafy green. Make lettuce Wraps: The fix it yourself thing slows you down too.

  • Try replacing one bread serving a day with a fruit or vegetable. Stack 2 or 3 large, leafy greens such as Bibb lettuce, romaine, red

For more info on Certified Holistic Nutritionist, Alyssa Bauman, click here.
Email Alyssa: info@nourished.ca