How to Incorporate more Veg into your Diet

How to Incorporate more Veg into your Diet : When it comes to dieting advice, it’s difficult to beat ‘eat more vegetables’. It’s largely impossible to eat too many of them, and most people eat far too few.

Unfortunately, dietary habits can be difficult to change over time. If you’ve gotten used to shunning greens, then it might be difficult to work them into your diet. Even with all the willpower in the world, you might find that you don’t actually know how to make satisfying dishes with plenty of vegetables in them.

Let’s take a look at a few winning strategies, that will allow you to easily work veg into your diet.

Soups and sauces

While you might lose some of the nutritional value of a vegetable if you blitz it down to a smooth paste, you’ll still get some of the benefits. A good tomato and basil soup, for example, is rich in potassium, along with several essential vitamins. Work your way through the classic combinations, like leek and potato, stilton and brocolli, and carrot and coriander. Cook them in big batches, and keep them in the freezer for an easy starter or main meal.

Try different methods

You might have convinced yourself that there are certain vegetables you don’t like. But this might stem from the way that you’re cooking them. For example, courgettes don’t tend to taste particularly pleasant when they’re boiled or steamed, but they can be incredible when they’re roasted.

By frying, baking, or roasting different sorts of veg, you’ll introduce a whole range of interesting new flavours and textures. As such, a quality frying pan or skillet makes an excellent addition to your kitchen.

Expand your cuisine

The world food aisle at your local supermarket is packed with interesting ingredients that might help you to get the best from your veg. Similarly, you might find a range of exotic ingredients in the vegetable section. Pak choi, choy sum, wombok – they’re all easy to dice and to stir fry, and they’ll bulk up noodle dishes. If you’d like a little bit of inspiration for your exotic adventures, you’ll find plenty of it on the internet. Ideally, get a glimpse into how people cook with them in the country of origin, even if you’re not going to port Chinese restaurant equipment and techniques directly into your kitchen.

Smoothies

If you’re having a smoothie every day, perhaps after a jog, then why not throw in a handful of leafy greens? You might get a slightly bitter note when you’re chugging it down – but in many cases that can actually enhance the overall experience, rather than detract from it. Freeze up some loose-leaf spinach before it goes bad, and throw it into the blender when you get in. It’ll be nice and cold, as well as delicious.