Recently I participated in a healthy living workshop for The Daniel Plan, manning the smoothie table and answering questions about smoothies and healthy eating. One common thing people said was “I want to eat healthy and eat more vegetables, but I just don’t like them.”
We all know that eating more vegetables is not just good for us, but seriously necessary to be healthy long term. Whenever someone tells me they don’t like something, I start by asking how they have had it prepared. I often find that it is not the food in particular they don’t like, but the way it was cooked…and so often vegetables are over-cooked.
Even then, not all vegetables work for all people. Case in point: I love bell peppers; my husband hates them. And there is no changing that fact, as much as I have tried.
For those of you who do not share my love of all of the colorful vegetables in the produce department, here are 10 tips for how to learn to love vegetables. I hope these tips will help you and your family become vegetable lovers.
10 TIPS FOR HOW TO LEARN TO LOVE VEGETABLES
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- – Get exposed – Try new vegetables and don’t give up on the first try. It’s been reported that it takes kids anywhere from 7-15 exposures to like a new food, so why would it be anywhere different wtih adults? Keep trying new thing and be open.
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- – Don’t eat naked vegetables – Plain, undressed, naked vegetables? Unless you are hard core, you are just inviting disappointment. Drizzle them with good olive oil, coconut oil, sesame oil, some sea salt and fresh pepper. Try fresh chopped herbs like parsley, scallions, chives, oregano, or cilantro. Splash on a little vinaigrette (homemade please) as dressing. One of my go-to’s is Balsamic syrup. It makes everything taste great.
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- – Toss with sauce – Sauces are great multi-taskers in the kitchen. Just a dollop of sauce can transform even plain, steamed vegetables into something wonderful you can’t get enough of. Plus some add a hit of healthy fat, and fat transports flavor. If the sauce is thick, thin it down a bit if desired. Thicker sauce go with sturdier vegetables. Here are a few sauces to try over green beans, steamed cauliflower or broccoli, carrots, mixed veggies, snap or snow peas, asparagus or zucchini. Experiment and have fun.
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- – Homemade Hoisin (Chinese barbecue sauce)
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- – Dip it – Instead of a sauce, try dipping your vegetables into fresh salsa, creamy avocado basil dip or creamy guacamole. Those emerald spears of broccoli, asparagus or bell peppers will disappear.
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- – Eat with the season – While many vegetables are available almost year round, they taste the best in season. Think spring asparagus and summer zucchini.
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- – Prepare them differently – Vegetables can be steamed, roasted, grilled, sautéed, spiraled, pureed, stir-fried and eaten raw or barely cooked dropped for a minute into boiling water. Try a different way of cooking them.
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- – Mix it up – Think stir-fry where you can mix all kinds of vegetables together, or cook even just two vegetables and serve together, like broccoli florets with cauliflower florets, or green and yellow squash. Remember those old peas and carrots as a kid? Yeah, it’s ok, not even my favorite. Try red, yellow, and orange bell peppers all together, or multi-colored carrots. Brussels sprouts and broccoli florets are great steamed together. The more color, the more visual interest. We do eat with our eyes first.
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- – Get them Into smoothies – Yes, you heard me right. I add fresh baby spinach leaves to my smoothies every morning. While it’s a green smoothie, you don’t taste the spinach! Great way to get your veggies in, especially the most important green ones. Fresh vegetable juices are good too, but not a replacement for eating your veggies.
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- – Don’t overcook them – Don’t cook vegetables until they are soggy and limp. Cook them just until they are “al dente” like pasta, tender to the bite, even still a bit crisp. The texture and flavor will be more appealing.
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- – Try vegetable salads – Add chopped vegetables, whether raw like carrots or roasted beets, to salads. You can even use vegetables into the salad, like this green bean, tomato and tomato summer salad. Other options include this crunchy Asian Coleslaw, Cucumber Mint salad or Zucchini Ribbon Salad with Pesto
For more healthy and delicious recipes and informative articles, check out Sally’s blog A Food Centric Life
