Recipes and Food Swaps to Get More Vitamin A

Vitamin A is important for vision, skin, soft tissue, mucus membranes, teeth and bone strength, sexual health and breast-feeding. Beta-carotene, an anti-oxidant and vitamin A source is found in colorful vegetables. Here are food swaps and recipes to get more vitamin A.

Retinol (vitamin A) is found in liver, kidney, dairy, eggs and milk but these foods are also high in fats and cholesterol. Cod, halibut and fish oil are good sources, but it's difficult to get enough vitamin A, just eating these fish. Plants, fruits and vegetables are a the most efficient and healthiest sources of vitamin A.

Good sources of vitamin A include spinach, dark green leafy vegetables, beets, purple cabbage, broccoli, squash, carrots, yams, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, apricots, cantaloupe and pink grapefruit. Try to eat four servings of green vegetables and two servings of orange vegetables daily.

Here are food swaps and ways to serve vegetables.

*Apple and Eve Fruitables instead of regular 100% juice boxes. Very Berry, Fruit Punch, Orange-Tangerine and Strawberry Kiwi flavors have 10-percent of the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of vitamin A.

*V-8 Splash instead of regular fruit juice boxes. V-8 Splash has a blend of carrot, vegetable and fruit juices. Each serving contains 50 percent RDA of vitamin C.

*Vegetable cocktail juice instead of tomato juice. Regular tomato juice has less vitamin A than vegetable cocktail juice.

*Serve sweet potatoes and yams instead of pasta, rice or white potatoes.

*In a restaurant, order squash or carrots for mashed potatoes.

*Bake with pumpkin: add squash and canned pumpkin to pancakes and muffins. Make pumpkin custard, sweet potato pie, carrot cake and pumpkin pie.

*Serve cut up broccoli and carrot slices, baby carrots and spinach salad instead canned vegetables or corn.

*Pack children's lunches with raw vegetable blends instead of salty snacks. Serve with ranch dressing or salsa.

*Make salads from romaine, leaf lettuce, spinach and spring mix instead of plain white iceberg lettuce.

*Buy salad blends with red shredded cabbage and carrots.

*Make cole slaw with shredded red or purple cabbage, beets, carrots and broccoli slaw mix instead of light green cabbage.

*Serve tri-color pasta made with beet, spinach and tomato powder instead of white pasta.

*Swap vegetable chips instead of potato chips. Terra Chips and Terra Stix are made from dried veggies instead of potatoes.

*Drink Bolthouse and other raw juice blends, instead of plain fruit juice.

*Add spinach to lasagna, pizza, pasta, subs and sandwiches. Ask for grated carrots and spinach at Subway.

*Sprinkle matchstick carrots on vegetables, add to casseroles and breads. My family loves frozen corn with raw shredded carrots cooked in.

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