Five Ways to Add Vegetables to Your Diet

Stephanie Modkins
Most nutritionists recommend you get at least four servings of vegetables a day. By doing so, you will have more energy, less chance for disease and a lower weight. Yet, we all know that accomplishing this feat can be difficult. For this reason, you need to purposely add vegetables to your diet throughout the day. Here's how:

1. Drink vegetable juice.

You can two to four servings of vegetables by consuming them as a liquid in a sixteen-ounce glass. Either invest into a juicer or learn how to create your own concoction or buy a ready-made drink like V8. This method is usually the easiest way for people who hate to eat raw vegetables.

2. Use a vegetable paste.

Add vegetables to your diet by making your garden selections into a paste. You can purchase them in this form a local grocer or make them at home using a masher or blender. Incorporate vegetable paste into your burgers, sandwiches and soup. Expect to get one-quarter to one-half serving each time you do.

3. Eat veggie snack packs.

Safeway and other grocery stores now sell snack packs that include vegetables. Ready Pac is popular brand that has sealed carrot packs you can take anywhere. Eat six to eight sticks and get one serving. You can also prepare your own vegetable snack pack using Glad bags.

4. Create colorful salads.
Add color and vegetables to your diet by creating hardy salads. To a leafy bed of lettuce, add four other types of vegetables like red onion, cucumber, carrots and tomatoes. Alter this mixture to your taste and top off with a low-fat salad dressing. Get two to three servings of vegetables by eating a big bowl of this kind of salad as part of your lunch or dinner.

5. Apply vegetable relish.
You can apply vegetable relish, a mixture of finally chopped or cubed onions, peppers, garlic and tomatoes, to any meal. Layer this kind of topping over your omelets for breakfast, soup for lunch and meat for dinner. Vegetable relish adds a lot of flavor to a bland dish. Depending on how much you spoon out, you can get one-half to one serving.

These five ways to add vegetables to your diet can help you live a healthier life. Obviously, you can't just use one method. You have to use at least two or more to get your daily requirement of vegetables. However, as you can see, you can get them in a variety of ways that enhance your meals. Get more ideas by visiting the Center for Disease Control at CDC.org. At this Web site, you can get a more personal assessment of how many servings of vegetables you need in a day as well as free recipes.

Published by Stephanie Modkins

Stephanie M. is a freelance writer who lives in the northwest. Her main goal is to write in a way that entertains, educates or uplifts readers.  View profile

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