Pablo Luna
Sometimes we feel 24 hours in a day is not enough. We wish we had more time to do the things we do. Like all working women out there, you know what it is like to wake up early in the morning, get dressed, and make it on time for your morning commute. We get to the office, have our regular cup of coffee while replying to emails, setting meetings, joining meetings, writing proposals, signing off requests. Just like that, it’s the end of the day, and then it’s a commute back home, and by then, you’re too tired to cook a full meal, let alone eat healthily. However, if one of your goals this year is to eat healthily and by that, we mean consume more veggies and wholesome meals, here are a few ways that can make sure you get the recommended dietary fibers your body needs.
1. On-The-Go Smoothies
On-the-go smoothies are one great way to gulp down essential vitamins and minerals, especially if you are always on-the-go yourself. There are no rules to smoothies- you can have them in the morning as breakfast, you can have them as a post-lunch snack, and even as a post-workout snack.
Veggie or Green smoothies, as they call it, are one of the easiest ways to continue eating your veggies, and guess what- it’s also great for picky eaters. It’s also an excellent way of consuming fruits and veggies that you don’t generally like to eat. Just blend them and add an organic sweetener of your choice, such as honey or maple syrup.
2. Cut your veggies
There is a little prep you need to do beforehand. Prep your veggies by washing them and then cutting them into bite-sized pieces: carrot sticks, celery sticks, zucchini, cucumber cubes. Cut them into different shapes if you need to. Divide them into Ziplock bags and take them when you leave home, whether you’re going to work or going off to the airport- you can munch them on your commute. If you love visually pleasing food, you could go the extra mile and get fruit & vegetable cutter shapes to make charming and adorable shapes for your lunch boxes.
3. Try a new cuisine
Did you know that there are plenty of different cuisines out there that feature vegetables as the main ingredients? Asian cuisine such as Thai, Korean and Indian feature plenty of vegetables. The next time you travel or eat out, go international and try a spicy Thai vegetable soup or a lentil falafel, or even Korean Vege buns or Bao can help you meet your recommended veggie intake.
Mexican food such as tamales authentic Mexican masa, salsa, and tacos are some of the delicious ways to pile on the veggies with loads of flavor. You can easily remove the meat element and add things such as jackfruit, beans, rice, or any other vegetarian alternative in these cuisines to substitute the meat.
4. Cold-press Juicing
Invest in a cold press juicer if you can because this will take your juice game to a different level. Juicing is one of the fastest and easiest ways to get your daily veggie fix, and cold pressing your juices allows you to press out every drop of essential goodness from your vegetables.
Cold-pressed juices are fantastic because you can combine different types of vegetables with fruits, pour in a little water into the juicer, and voila, you get a tasty and refreshing juice. The best part about getting a cold-press juicer- you don’t have to peel your fruits and veggies! You may need to remove stems or the seeds for some fruits and vegetables, but otherwise, it’s a quick, fast and easy way to get your daily intake of greens.
5. Frittata
If there’s anything that many people love to have, it’s eggs. Nothing can go wrong with a frittata. To make sure the vegetables get eaten together with the eggs, chop or cut the vegetables as small as possible and then put them together in a frittata. Make enough frittata and cut them into bite-sized pieces to last the entire week- either for quick breakfast or an addition to your lunch boxes.
6. Colorful waffles
Did you know that when you mix pureed vegetables or fruit juices with waffle batter, your waffle batter comes out with a tinge of color? Spinach waffles give you a beautiful green; beetroot gives you a deep burgundy-purple color, and blueberries result in blue waffles. It tastes delicious, and you can eat a lot of it, knowing that you are getting your daily dose of veggies in the morning!
Go ahead and try out pumpkin waffles, orange waffles, and kale waffles. To get the waffles colorful, you need to add the pureed vegetables or the juice into the batter. It’s also a good idea to swap white flour with wholewheat flour for that extra nutrition.
7. Hummus, dips, and chutneys
Mush it, chop it small, puree it and hide it to remove that visual of veggies on your plate. And if this is your way of sneaking in veggies into the dishes of your kids or even your partner, then hummus, dips, and chutneys are your best friend.
You can make cauliflower garlic hummus or cucumber hummus to spread on your wraps or dip your falafels in, you can make vegetable dill dips, chickpea dips to eat together with crackers, and everyone’s personal favorite- chutneys which you can spread on bread, as a side on your cheese platter and even eat it with slices of beef and chicken.
8. Get Saucy
Turn your veggie into sauces for your dishes. It not only adds to the nutritional factor for your meals, but it also looks exquisitely colorful. Imagine a creamy carrot and pumpkin sauce over roasted port? Did you know you can make a cheesy and creamy pasta sauce by adding butternut to it? Or even making a veggie pizza sauce? Or a creamy cauliflower alfredo sauce? The possibilities are endless.
A little bit of creativity goes a long way in incorporating fruits and vegetables into your diet. It not only varies your daily meals, but it adds that extra something special.
