Vegetables are essential nutrients for a healthy body not only because of their numerous functions but also for their sumptuous tastes and colour they add to our meals. Vegetables are mostly green. Sometimes we may feel that these vegetables taste so bad. Well, that might not be the case if we learn to cook them s certain way. Here are some tips on how to add more veggies to our diet. However, before we delve into the easy ways to eat more vegetables, let’s find out the benefits of eating more vegetables.
Benefits of eating more vegetables
Vegetables are important to your diet, because they are low in calories and carbohydrates and rich in fiber, vitamins, minerals and are also an antioxidants. Veggies are known to contain an excellent source of antioxidants which help neutralize harmful free radicals. Below are some of the benefits of eating more vegetables. [1] [2]
- Fights cancer cells
- Improves digestive health
- Helps in weight management
- Decreases risk of heart disease and stroke
- Reduces risk of type 2 diabetes
- Improves brain health
- Lowers blood pressure
- Supports eye health. [3]
Easy ways to eat more vegetables
One interesting thing about vegetables is that they are available in manifold variety. From tomatoes, spinach, okra, broccoli, to carrots, cauliflower, common Nigerian leafy vegetables like fluted pumpkin leaves, there are so much variety. Here are some simple ways to add more veggies to your diet.
1. Drink your vegetables
This is a super-easy way to take them. You just to grind up your favourite veggies or make a smoothie. This could be taken alongside our breakfast or last thing before bedtime. A great way to drink your vegetables is to start taking vegetable smoothies. Vegetable smoothies are packed with many vitamins and minerals that support the human body’s overall health, but they can also be an excellent addition to a weight loss diet. You can easily have a vegetable smoothie for breakfast daily.
You can also soak some vegetables in water and drink the extract. A good example is okra water. You can find out all the benefits of okra water.
2. Eat more variety of vegetables
We could also add different vegetables to our daily diet, which would make them look more attractive and help our body get the sufficient nutrients needed to perform effectively. There are so many types of vegetables you can eat.
- Leafy greens – lettuce, spinach
- Cruciferous –cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli
- Marrow – pumpkin, cucumber
- Root – potato, sweet potato, yam
- Edible plant stem – celery, asparagus
- Allium – onion, garlic.
3. Make vegetable salad
This is another plushy way of consuming vegetables. Simply add up your vegetables together in a bowl to make a salad. It could consist of cabbages, spinach, cauliflower, depending on what you like. Most vegetable salads contain Vitamin A, Vitamin C, beta-carotene, calcium, folate, fiber, and phytonutrients. They are also a good choice for a healthy diet because they do not contain bad cholesterol and are naturally low in calories and sodium.
You can try one of the many vegetable salad recipes in nigeria.
4. Snack on vegetables
Rather than eating most snacks, which end up making us get more calories, why not snack on veggies like carrots, cucumbers, etc., which vitamin contents help bodily functions. Snacking on vegetables is a good way to engage in low-calorie foods.
You can eat fresh tomatoes or carrots as snacks and get more vegetables in your system.
5. Keep your vegetables within easy reach
Just to serve as a reminder when making our daily meals, we could keep our veggies at the centre of the fridge or on the top shelf so that we can easily remember to add them to our meals as side dishes.
6. Veggies for desserts
Vegetables can also serve as a good form of dessert. Imagine having zucchini bread, Sweet potato brownies, protein balls from either coconut, cinnamon, or oats. Even your children won’t be able to resist such yummy desserts. You can add vegetables as a side dish when eat your main meal. For example, you can cut and boil small leafy vegetables and onions. Then place a little will eating your ‘Sunday rice and stew’.
Conclusion:
Vegetables are good sources of vitamins that help our body develop, protect us from diseases and benefit our bowel movement. There are so many delicious and nutritious variety of vegetables around. Some easy ways to eat more vegetables is to drink it, eat it as a snack, eat as a dessert or make vegetable salad.
Collins Nwokolo is a human physiologist, writer and health enthusiast. He loves writing helpful articles on health and fitness, which he enjoys sharing with everyone.
