Seeking Vegetables: Five Quick Ways to Bump up the Value at Meals

I often tell my family that every meal is an opportunity to eat a vegetable!  😊  Vegetables are such powerful weapons against illness and aging. I find when speaking to patients, veggies are often missed at most meals outside of dinner due to effort and time, but below I share with you veggies you can add to meals within 5 minutes. If you find you cannot tolerate certain vegetables well, further exploration of digestion and working to heal your gut is imperative and can be done to allow you to enjoy all veggie intake.

1.  Greens:  Chop up kale, swiss chard, or baby spinach and cook for 1-2 minutes over medium heat in a little avocado oil until lightly wilted/softened.  Mix into your scrambled eggs, omelet, or mac and cheese.   

2.  Add any of the above raw, uncooked greens to your morning smoothie.  You can also blend in carrots for added sweetness.  Not a fan of carrots in smoothies?  Add carrots on the side of any meal with a tablespoon of salad dressing or hummus.

3.  Not a greens fan?  Add salsa to your meats or eggs. Choose a salsa with a lot of veggies like onion, peppers, and garlic. 

4.  Buy a small clamshell container of mixed salad greens and toss them in your favorite vinaigrette and serve alongside over easy eggs, or with any lunch and dinner meal.  Tossed salad greens also go great inside a lunch wrap with cheese and/or meat. 

5.  Before you sauté your preferred meat or cook lentils for meals like spaghetti or tacos, sauté veggies first that can be mixed in.  For spaghetti I like to add diced onion, celery, kale, and carrots and for tacos, diced onion, green peppers and garlic. Simply sauté the diced veggies over medium heat with a tablespoon of butter or avocado oil for five minutes.