The Vegetable Effect

I know. We are already taking a quick break from minerals. Why? 1. Minerals can be SUPER boring; and 2. I wrote a post about a mineral, but I accidentally didn’t save it. Out of frustration, I decided to swear off minerals for the week and talk about one of my favorite things: vegetables. I love them. LOVE LOVE LOVE them. With the exception of cucumbers…those things are weird (they are basically a cross between tomatoes and celery…two vegetables I will eat, but only in certain dishes).

Anyways, without vegetables, getting all of our nutrients every day would be so much harder. For example, let’s look at kale. You know, that green leafy stuff that many people are afraid of. It’s weird looking, tastes very bitter if not prepared right, and is basically spinach (a food that already a lot of people don’t like) on steroids. In one cup of kale, there is over 100% of your daily Vitamin A and Vitamin C needs, plus a good amount of potassium, calcium, iron, magnesium, and Vitamin B6. Just one cup of kale has all of this. Now, I’m not saying you need to go out and buy twelve bunches of kale and eat all of them in one week (though I am definitely not going to stop you if you do). But I am saying that kale’s story is a very similar story for all of the other vegetables—eat contain their own set of nutrients that they can boast about at dinner parties. With the exception of protein and a select few other nutrients mainly found in animal products, vegetables give you all of the nutrients you need if you eat a wide variety of them.

I understand that this is easier said than done. It is not always easy to get vegetables into your diet. But here are some tips that have helped me increase my vegetable intake in recent months:

1.       Adding vegetables to smoothies: This idea may sound crazy, but I promise that if you use the right vegetables, you will not taste them at all. After all, smoothies are supposed to be sweet, right? I typically add a handful of spinach to my smoothies, and not once have I tasted it, but I still get the nutritional benefits of it. I have also tried beets and carrots and found that these can’t be tasted much either. However, when I try greens that have a strong flavor such as kale or romaine, I tend to taste it in my smoothie. Which isn’t a bad thing if you like kale and romaine, such as I do. But if you don’t like these stronger flavors, I would stay away from them. And yes...your smoothie will change to the color of something ghastly.

2.       Eat a salad every day: I know. Salad. The typical health nut’s meal. I know a lot of people that think a salad is a salad is a salad and never vary from their few pieces of lettuce dipped in ranch dressing. But here is why I love salad so much: it is one of the few meals that can be different every time you have it. I always start with my greens—some weeks I have spinach, sometimes kale, sometimes romaine, sometimes lettuce. I once took a class where we sampled twelve different types of lettuce, and all of them tasted different. So if you are feeling bogged down by the same salad every day, try a different type of green, or a combination of a couple! You will be surprised how much it helps.

Once I get the greens I want, I move to toppings. Some of my favorites are cashews, peanuts, almonds, mandarin oranges, craisins, raisins, apples, croutons, crushed tortilla chips, French fried onions, and cheese (of all kinds). With just this list of toppings, your options are limitless in creating a unique salad.

Last of all, we have the dressings. Recently I’ve been on a Caesar salad kick, so I have a TON of Caesar dressing in my fridge. But there are tons of other dressings like ranch, vinegar based dressings, oil based dressings, and dairy based dressings. There are also dressings with influences from places all over the world like the Mediterranean, Asia, and the southern United States. So please don’t feel that salad is boring because every single one can be different if you are willing to try some new things.

3.       Roasted vegetables: This is one of my all-time favorite ways to eat vegetables. I roast some kind of vegetable almost every week, and the vegetables I use change depending on the season. I always start with a potato and yellow onion base. Sometimes I use sweet potatoes, sometimes Yukon Gold potatoes, or red skinned potatoes. Honestly, whatever is cheapest at the store that day is what I usually go for. After I have my potatoes, I see what the store has in season during that time. In the spring/summer, I love to add asparagus, corn, tomatoes (one of the few instances where I will eat them), zucchini, squash, or broccoli. During the fall/winter, I typically add carrots, parsnips (a more peppery and creamy carrot-like vegetable), beets, or Brussel sprouts. I add about ¼ cup of olive oil to a full 13 X 9 baking pan, then roast for 45 minutes, stirring halfway through, at 425 degrees Fahrenheit. I typically add some salt and pepper for a bit of seasoning, but I have also found that seasoning packets (such as Ranch of Italian dressing packets) are also yummy sprinkled on top with the oil. These vegetables are good as a side dish alongside any dinner, but I also love them as a snack with a couple of cashews thrown in. Or topped with a bit of parmesan cheese.

4.       Vegetables on sandwiches and in pasta: One thing I always try to do is make sandwiches and pastas about the vegetables and not about the meat. Which I guess is very easy for me to do since I don’t eat meat. Anyways, the principle remains the same even if you do eat meat. Instead of just lettuce on top of my sandwich, I like to add peppers, avocados, sprouts, and tomatoes (another instance where I will eat them). I also try to use hummus instead of other spreads such as butter, mayo, mustard, or ketchup. Hummus (made from beans and typically some herb or vegetables) has a lot of protein and mono/polyunsaturated fat. These simple additions and substitutions make your sandwiches a lot more gourmet and a lot more unique. And I do the same thing with pasta. A couple of weeks ago I added mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, beans, and corn to my pasta. There were more vegetables than pasta in my dish, and it became a very easy way to get more vegetables into my diet.

5.       Baked potatoes: This dish is as classic as it gets. Some people may call it a poor man’s dish, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t good for you. As a college student, I live off of potatoes. They are a cheap and easy way to get your vegetables in! Some of the toppings I use on baked potatoes include: salt, pepper, butter, sour cream, ranch, barbecue sauce, cheese, chili (I eat vegetarian chili, but beef chili is good too), or green onions.

I hope these ideas inspire you to eat more vegetables because they truly are some of the most delicious things on the planet! I will continue to post pictures of my meals (and will focus on vegetables this week) on the Nutrition Effect’s Instagram account, @the.nutrition.effect. That way these five simple ideas can be explained through pictures. Like I mentioned earlier...vegetables may be weird colors, and they may look unappetizing, but if you know how to prepare them correctly, you begin to look forward to eating them every day.