It’s estimated as few as 4% of Australians have enough fruit and vegetables in their diet. If you do eat enough fruit and veggies you probably know you’re hitting your recommended daily intake and likewise if you don’t get enough fruit and vegetables, you’re probably equally aware and feel somewhat guilty about it. Why not make your resolution for 2019 to eat more of these wonderfully nourishing foods? While it can be easier said than done, we’ve compiled the below tips to help you consume your 5-a-day every day next year:
Add Vegetables to Your Favourite Dishes Without Changing the Taste
It may sound obvious but trust us, it’s easier than you’d think to add vegetables to your favourite meals without dramatically altering the taste. The real key to this is how finely they are grated, chopped or blended. This works especially well with sauce-based dishes as they can be pureed prior to adding them to the pot. There aren’t many people that don’t love dishes like Spaghetti Bolognese and this is such an easy dish to fill full of vegetables like carrots, celery, mushrooms and capsicums. A step further is to substitute the spaghetti itself for zucchini noodles or to swap out rice for cauliflower rice in other dishes like curries.
Make Breakfast More Interesting
Many of us are guilty of sticking with the same couple of choices for breakfast year in, year out especially during the week when time is tighter than at the weekends. However, adding fruit like bananas or mashed berries to toast instead of spreads or adding tomato in the mix with scrambled eggs is a great way to start the day by ticking the first portion of fruit or vegetables off the to-do list for the day.
Get into The Habit of Eating Vegetables as Snacks
Another one which may sound obvious but if you have healthy snacks which are easily accessible, you’re more likely to grab them when the cravings kick in. Carrot or celery sticks dipped in hummus are both nutritious and pretty damn tasty. They say a habit takes 21 days to form so start 2019 by consciously choosing fruit and vegetables as the go-to snack rather than chips or chocolate and by the time February rolls around you just may well be reaching for the healthy option without even thinking about it!
A Break from The Norm
Pretty much all of us are guilty for walking to the same stands every time when we’re in the fruit and vegetable section of our local supermarket. For 2019, why not try some produce you wouldn’t usually buy? Add to you reusable produce bags some golden kiwis, pears or raspberries instead of apples, bananas or strawberries or swap out potatoes for purple sweet potato to make fruit and vegetables a bit more of a novelty.
