Nine Ways To Get Your Vegetables

When my son became a vegetarian a number of years ago, I was a bit concerned because he was never a big vegetable eater. He still doesn't like common vegetables like cauliflower, broccoli or eggplant, but now he'll eat things like celeriac, Jerusalem artichokes and lots of asian greens. Now that he can no longer rely on eating meat, he has become a much more adventurous eater.

If you have trouble getting vegetables into your diet, here are a few ways to help you change your habits.

1. Be open to new flavours and textures. Don't make the assumption that you won't like something you haven't tried before.

2. Retry a vegetable that you haven't eaten since you were a kid. Taste buds change over time and you might find that those Brussels sprouts are pretty good.

3. Try cooking vegetables using different cuisines. A Chinese stir fry is a great way to get a number of vegetables onto your plate at once. There are lots of fabulous Indian recipes using cauliflower.

4. Give yourself some variety. Facing a plate of boiled potatoes and steamed carrots every day is pretty boring. Try colourful vegetables like sweet potatoes, beets or spinach..

5. Plan your meal around a vegetable and add the protein later. This gets you thinking about the vegetable as the main item. Your protein should represent only a third of your plate.

6. Be creative. If you have a sweet tooth and always eat dessert, try making carrot cake.

7. Add green leafy vegetables to soups or stews. Vegetables such as kale, swiss chard and spinach are loaded with calcium and iron. This is a really simple way to incorporate them into your meals.

8. Try making a salad that is more than lettuce. You can try salads made of grilled vegetables or crunchy cabbage salads. Make your own salad dressing rather than using bottled, it makes a huge difference in taste.

9. Make a soup. The possibilities of vegetable soups are endless. You can make soups with many vegetables in it, or with just one vegetable ingredient. It's a great way to get your vegetables at lunch time.

This week's challenge: Try a vegetable that is completely new to you.

Note: My last post on Flexitarians got a lot of people hot under the collar. When doing my reading for the post I was astonished at the number of people who wrote about wanting to be called flexitarian because it indicated that they were still largely eating a vegetarian diet, but occasionally had some meat. Quite of few of them were worried about the response they would receive from their vegetarian moms and dads. They were relieved to have the moniker, so that their limited meat eating would no longer be secret from their families. I didn't make that clear in the post, and people thought I was accusing vegetarians generally of chowing down on cheeseburgers in the privacy of their home. A lot of you used the word "offended" I assure you it is never my intention to offend my readers. I apologize to those of you who were offended and will strive for more clarity in the future.

Related Posts:

On Moving Toward Vegetarianism
On Moving Toward Vegetarianism: Finding Some Support
On Moving Toward Vegetarianism: Getting the Protein You Need

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