Including more vegetables in your diet

[LissaC]

When my husband is out of town working, I do a lot of one dish bowls with raw vegetable salad ingredients, quinoa or another grain, roasted vegetables (sometimes), and a protein with a variety of different dressings. I like the way the warm ingredients play off the cool ones and the salad dressing really enhances the flavor of the other vegetables (like the kale LOL). For dressings I have made pomegranate balsamic, lemon poppyseed, Asian sesame vinaigrette (my favorite) and more. Here's one bowl I absolutely love and have made a few times that is totally customizable (obviously you will cut out the fat from bacon and butter in any cooked vegetables):

Recipe - Kale quinoa power bowl

View attachment 88900

Thank you for the tips, and that bowl looks awesome

 

[JAS_OH1]

Thank you for the tips, and that bowl looks awesome

You are welcome! It's a really delicious and healthy meal.

One thing I really like about this is that I can cut up the salad vegetables over the weekend and store them separately so that I only have to cook my grains and protein, then I can quickly make the salad and add the other stuff on top at the end--except for the avocado obviously since it will turn brown. I will sometimes cook the quinoa or other grain (brown rice, etc.) in advance because it can keep for a few days and I can just warm it up, but if I use skinless boneless chicken breasts they tend to dry out if cooked in advance and stored.

 

[Morning Glory]

, the biggest disappointment of my life has been that two of my 3 sons believe that the category "vegetables" only includes potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and mushrooms. I feel that I have progressed (I now eat loads of fish, seafood, bacon, and the occasional bit of pork, minced beef, veal, etc.) and they have gone back in time. Anything "green" is rejected immediately, without even trying. There is no vegetable on earth that I will not eat.

It is really sad that those sons are so narrow in their views about vegetables. I'm sure it can't be the way you brought them up. My kids are almost the opposite and tend not to eat huge amounts of meat but loads of vegetables. I think I'd agree with you that there is no vegetable on earth I will not eat.

 

[JAS_OH1]

It is really sad that those sons are so narrow in their views about vegetables. I'm sure it can't be the way you brought them up. My kids are almost the opposite and tend not to eat huge amounts of meat but loads of vegetables. I think I'd agree with you that there is no vegetable on earth I will not eat.

Oh, I am picky enough that there are many I do not like, but some that I could eat nearly every day (like asparagus). You have probably heard me talk about it before so I won't bore you (or anyone else) with the details of my finickiness, LOL!

 

[JAS_OH1]

Thank you for the tips, and that bowl looks awesome

I made a small side salad tonight using lettuce, tomatoes, and carrots, then topped with cooked asparagus, feta cheese, pistachios and dried cranberries. I drizzled vinaigrette over top. Great!

 

[JAS_OH1]

Another thing I started doing with salad over the past few months is chopping my lettuce and other raw ingredients into smaller pieces. It's just easier to eat, and I have found I eat more of it that way and each fork full is more nutrient dense. You can fit more vegetables in the bowl that way, too.

 

[Windigo]

Not sure if on topic, but due to my restrictions eating veg I eat more fruit. Certainly a lot more than is visible on my pics here. My tips to add fruit to meals are:

• Add fruit to yoghurt, cereal, or just eat a piece with your breakfast
• Eat fruit as a snack
• Try to think of fruit as a topping for bread or pancakes, chocolate or caramel spread and banana slices make a feast!
• Add fruit to baked goods and desserts

Personally I eat fruit at two meals a day, one or two pieces for my morning meal and at least one later in the day.

As for eating more veggies I do have some tips I used in the past:

• Add sliced veggies like peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers , lettuce etc to sandwiches. So easy and a good way to up your veg intake.
• Eat more soups, a very easy way to get lots of veggie goodness in
• Vietnamese rice rolls filled with veggies are a lovely light summer meal
• Do as the French do, eat a starter of salad before you eat your main meal.

 

[LissaC]

I'd be dammed if I couldn't eat veggies as I hate fruit. The only fruits I can tolerate eating are apples and pears, and I don't like pears or apples and would never eat them if they weren't healthy. I've been like this since I was a kid. My dad (who loves fruit, and who is the kind of person who can't understand why everyone in the world doesn't like the same things he does), forced me to eat fruit, by literally putting pieces of fruit into my mouth and forcing everyone to sit at the table until I swallowed said fruit. My mom says we used to stay at the table for an entire hour with me crying while I swallowed a piece of fruit

 

[caseydog]

I'd be dammed if I couldn't eat veggies as I hate fruit. The only fruits I can tolerate eating are apples and pears, and I don't like pears or apples and would never eat them if they weren't healthy. I've been like this since I was a kid. My dad (who loves fruit, and who is the kind of person who can't understand why everyone in the world doesn't like the same things he does), forced me to eat fruit, by literally putting pieces of fruit into my mouth and forcing everyone to sit at the table until I swallowed said fruit. My mom says we used to stay at the table for an entire hour with me crying while I swallowed a piece of fruit

Now that is something I have not heard before. Veggies, yes, but not fruit.

I love fresh fruit. I eat a lot of it as snacks.

CD

 

[Windigo]

I'd be dammed if I couldn't eat veggies as I hate fruit. The only fruits I can tolerate eating are apples and pears, and I don't like pears or apples and would never eat them if they weren't healthy. I've been like this since I was a kid. My dad (who loves fruit, and who is the kind of person who can't understand why everyone in the world doesn't like the same things he does), forced me to eat fruit, by literally putting pieces of fruit into my mouth and forcing everyone to sit at the table until I swallowed said fruit. My mom says we used to stay at the table for an entire hour with me crying while I swallowed a piece of fruit

Well that's awful and I totally understand your aversion!

 

[JAS_OH1]

I'd be dammed if I couldn't eat veggies as I hate fruit. The only fruits I can tolerate eating are apples and pears, and I don't like pears or apples and would never eat them if they weren't healthy. I've been like this since I was a kid. My dad (who loves fruit, and who is the kind of person who can't understand why everyone in the world doesn't like the same things he does), forced me to eat fruit, by literally putting pieces of fruit into my mouth and forcing everyone to sit at the table until I swallowed said fruit. My mom says we used to stay at the table for an entire hour with me crying while I swallowed a piece of fruit

I enjoyed fruit always, except apples and pears, LOL! I love oranges and berries particularly.

My mother used to make us sit in front of a plate of liver when we were kids. That and cottage cheese I have a major aversion to eating still to this day. When I came into my stepkids lives, I never made them sit and eat all their food. If they were not sure if they liked something, I put just a bite on their plate and I insisted that they try it, and most of the time they liked it and if they did, I would give them a full serving of it if they wanted it. I also encouraged them to give something a second try after a few years to see if their tastes had changed. My youngest hated mashed potatoes until she was a teenager, LOL.

 

[PabloLerntKochen]

Force feeding can start all kinds of freaking eating disorders. My momma always forced me to eat the last bites in the pan, while I was already stuffed. Now I'm calculating my food and turn into the devil, when somebody wants to give me food against my will, it's a right to not eat something.

 

[Timenspace]

I love both fruit and vegetables. I do include a good amount daily. I explain to my daughter why those are healthy, and why she needs them at any age. A fruit a day, or in her case, at least half a fruit a day, and I am happy. Once she is reminded and is offered, she will in most cases eat it and be happy about it and comment how good it tastes. Some day go by without fruit, for her, just so happens, but it is not freaking me out, as we tend to always or 98% of the time have soem salad or some veggies included in the main dish. She looooves fresh cucumber. We were lucky this summer, only 1 out of 15,I'd say, were bitter, the rest were wonderful.

I can eat and ejoy mushrooms, but I probably only eat them 2-3 times per year, other than that, and very hot chillis, almost all goes well.

 

[TastyReuben]

Force feeding can start all kinds of freaking eating disorders. My momma always forced me to eat the last bites in the pan, while I was already stuffed. Now I'm calculating my food and turn into the devil, when somebody wants to give me food against my will, it's a right to not eat something.

My mom was the same way, something about being born right on the edge of the Depression made her obsessive about wasting food. She’s still like that, and I guarantee, if I look in her fridge right now, I’ll find a load of half-rotted food that she just can’t make herself throw away.

Mom also has always had an unhealthy relationship with food - it sort of represents all that’s good and right, full of security and comfort, and she never could (and can’t) see that others don’t feel that way or how that isn’t a good thing all the time, and those two factors led to her gaining pound after pound after pound once she hit about 30yo.

We always had to clean our plates when I was a kid, and Mom always filled our plates for us, so we’d start out with a plate spilling over with food, and she’d come around, circling the table, ladling on more, whether we asked for it or not.

As an adult, especially after I’d lost a lot of weight in 2001-2002, I got to where I didn’t want to visit them at all, because a visit was just an exercise in fighting off unwanted food. We’d be visiting in the living room, Mom would disappear, and come back with a bowl filled with three or four scoops of ice cream, “Here, I made you a little snack, now eat that,” and if you ate that, she’d take the bowl back for you and come back with a plate full of potato chips/crisps, or three or four cookies, or a piece of cake, or two pieces of cold fried chicken, just a never-ending conveyor of food, and none of it healthy.

Everyone else in my family just goes along with it, but I’d always fight with her about it, and it would hurt her feelings terribly, because I wasn’t letting her do what a mom is supposed to do, baby her kid, but there was no way I was going to eat all that.

 

[medtran49]

One of our local TV news stations has a little segment called Bites with Belkys. She baked halved brussel sprouts tossed with some melted butter salt, pepper and grated Parm R in a 375 F oven for 30-35 minutes, then put some more grated Parm R on and tossed before serving.

While it looked and sounded pretty good, other than the areas on the parchment where the cheese and butter sort of burned, I would parboil the Brussels and cut down on the baking time so the cheese and butter wouldn't get so dark in some areas. OR , I would quarter instead of halve them so they wouldn't have to bake so long.