Add More Vegetables

When I was growing up, I wasn’t a very big fan of vegetables. But that’s just because I never knew how to prepare them in a way that was both healthy and delicious.

I’ve since learned that every vegetable has a great flavor when prepared the right way, which is good news, because adding vegetables to your diet is one of the best ways to help you lose weight.

Vegetables are low-calorie foods, with tons of fiber, a high nutritional content, and they’re also high in water content. They’re kind of like the superstars of the food world!

All vegetables have high fiber content, but pay special attention to the ones that have the most fiber, including avocado, broccoli, carrots and pumpkin. High fiber content slows nutrient uptake, which evens out blood sugar levels. That means fewer cravings for you, and less of a chance that you’ll be caught in a sudden snack attack.

Cooking With Vegetables

Adding vegetables to your home-cooked meals (re-read yesterday’s lesson if you need to) isn’t very difficult.

Almost any meal that you prepare could benefit from a handful or two or additional veggies, even if you don’t traditionally add them to the recipe.

Try this: the next time that you make tomato sauce, add a chopped up zucchini, and some sliced mushrooms to the mix. Not only will your sauce be more filling, but you’re also adding lots of nutrients to your meal.

I make it a point to drink a smoothie every morning using any fresh fruit that I happen to have in my kitchen. One trick that I have is to add a handful of fresh spinach to the mix, along with a few baby carrots. Blended together, you won’t notice a very big difference in taste, but your smoothie is now packing a nutritional punch that it wasn’t before.

If you don’t already have a grater, purchase an inexpensive one, and grate fresh vegetables into everything you cook. Even if you’re ordering out Chinese food or pizza, you can still add fresh veggies to your meal, and reap some additional benefits.

One of my favorite homemade dishes is my Quinoa Risotto. Think about how many delicious vegetables you can add to that dish — like diced peppers, spinach, broccoli and more. Each time you try it, you’ll find that you’ve made a completely different dish, with different flavor profiles.

Although I know that most people don’t crave vegetables, trust me — the more vegetables you eat, the more that you’ll begin to crave them. Pretty soon, adding vegetables to your meals won’t be a chore, it will be a choice.

Stay tuned for my next email, when I write about foods that repeatedly sabotage our diets. Don’t miss it!