Note how the carrots take up half of the plate?Last week a study was released telling us that Americans are still not eating enough vegetables. Shocking. I talk to people all the time who tell me how "healthy" they eat, yet when I look at their food journals or listen to their diets, vegetables are not high on the list. Somehow, many of them think that eating low fat will make them healthy. I am here to tell you that unless you are eating loads of vegetables, you are not going to be healthy-you may be thin, feel ok, look good, but eating your veg should be your number one priority.
It's raining here in LA, which happens so rarely, so I decided to roast a chicken for lunch. The smell of roasted chicken is so comforting when the weather is dreary. Keeping in mind the study about how Americans aren't eating enough veg, I am recommitted to making this a priority. We tend to eat a lot of vegetables already but now I am committed to telling you how we do it. So, in addition to our roasted chicken we had a salad to start our meal. It wasn't anything fancy just approximately two cups of baby lettuce leaves with some homemade vinaigrette. That right there is 2 servings of our 5-9 recommended daily servings. Then I roasted a whole bag (about 1 pound) of carrots along with the chicken and some fresh thyme leaves-another 2 servings. By the end of lunch, I have now had 4 servings of vegetables and I know that I am going to have at least 2 more with dinner.
The key to eating lots of vegetables is to plan ahead. I always cook extra veg so that they are ready to go. If I am making carrots, I will make a double portion so that I can ad them to a salad or soup or have them as a snack the next day. Another trick up my sleeve is to roast or grill a bunch of different seasonal vegetables and then I have them at my disposal for a couple of days worth of salads or sandwiches. If you don't have time, you can buy pre-cooked or pre-chopped vegetables at most grocery stores, you can even use the frozen vegetables if that will make you eat more. Regardless of how you get them, make eating vegetables daily a priority.
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