Are you a foodie or a junk-food foodie? Maybe you got used to ordering pizza, buying Kraft Dinner, and eating ramen noodles for dinner. It could be as simple as it being a late night, and you decide to eat chicken fingers because you’re in the mood for a snack. Veggies? Not quite the answer to your cravings.
Really, we should be having 7-8 servings of fruits and vegetables each day. This can be really hard to incorporate into our diet though. Fruits, for the most part, are easy to eat. They’re sweet, tasty, and easy to pack. Eating vegetables on their own, however, can be hard if you aren’t used to it. They taste bland, take a long time to prepare, and it can be confusing to figure out how you’re supposed to eat them.
Yet there are a lot of benefits to eating them.
Here are a few:
1. You’ll be getting a ton of fibre, which lines your digestive tract. This makes it easier for when you go to the bathroom (news flash: girls poo too). You may not be feeling the effects of avoiding veggies now, but down the road you’ll see the benefits.
2. Vitamin A is another advantage of eating more vegetables. Your body requires it for good skin and vision. You don’t want to be struggling to read all your notes.
3. Vegetables also often provide potassium. It’s classified as an electrolyte in your body, and is essential in pretty much everything that goes on. For example, all your muscles need potassium to function. Please don’t forget that your heart is a muscle.
My advice? Make a smoothie!
It’s the simplest way to incorporate veggies into your routine when you’re still trying to adjust to a healthier diet. Add in your favourite fruits, and throw in some vegetables.
So how do you make a healthy smoothie?
1. Choose the liquid you want to use. We all need to have calcium everyday, so either milk or a nondairy version. Vegans have the options between soy, rice, almond milk, etc.
2. There are a variety of vegetables that are rich in nutrients. Kale is a good choice, as it is high in vitamin C and A. Note: add double the amount of veggies than fruit because vegetables have a lot more nutrients in comparison.
3. Finally, add in your favourite fruits. Frozen fruits are the best when making smoothies because they’re already cut up, helping you cut down on preparation time.
4. Use bananas. A lot of fruits aren’t that sweet naturally, so when you’re used to drinking juice and pop, it can seem like your smoothie is really sour. You could be tempted to add in some sugar for a stronger taste – add a banana instead! As a bonus, they’re also a great source of potassium.
When you first start out, mix and match with the different fruits and vegetables to figure out which you like best. Hopefully this will help you eat healthier!
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