Let’s talk about veggies today!  There are two things I hear ALL the time that are quite possibly the dietetic version of Kryptonite:

1. “I don’t eat anything green.”

Or the slightly less popular, but still cringe-worthy,

2. “I don’t eat anything with the word ‘salad’ in it.”

Which really doesn’t even make sense if you’re boycotting the vegetation of the world.  Have you guys ever seen the amount of mayo that goes into a macaroni or tuna salad??!  Regardless… that is indeed a phrase I hear in response to my constant chatter about vegetables.  And it makes me sad!  SO… there are 3 things I want to accomplish in my ranting today.  First & foremost…. I’m going to answer a wonderful question!

“Erin… WHY on Earth do you want me to eat VEGETABLES???!”

🙂

Veggies lower your risk of disease.  That’s a pretty blanket statement I think we hear a lot.  But more specifically, I’ll give you three huge scary diseases where vegetables can play a big part in lowered risk: cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes.

If you guys have ever seen anyone in late stages of any of those diseases, it’s scary!  And well worth the risk of trying a few new foods!!  Fear of unknown taste seems to be a giant deterrent for most people who have gone for years without vegetables in their lives.  But think about it…. we don’t live in a Fear Factor episode (remember those??!)  You can absolutely change and experiment with different flavors & combinations & recipes!  Have you ever heard the phrase, “Eat the rainbow?”   Of COURSE you have!  It’s the title of this blog!  But what does that even mean?  Well, while half of you stopped reading this to go indulge in a sudden craving for skittles… the other half now know it’s referring to all the different colors of vegetables & fruits. You want your plate to be bright and colorful.  The more colorful your diet is, the more phytochemicals you have.

Fight-a-WHAT?

Phytochemicals.

These are plant compounds that are beneficial to us and help to lower our disease risk.  I won’t get into too much detail on them because there are more than a thousand of these compounds floating around out there!!  But the simple version is to eat the rainbow!  You can be sure you’re getting a wonderful variety of all the benefits veggies can offer when you have lots of different colors all the time.

So veggies help lower disease risk… what else? They definitely help to maintain a healthy weight!  They are a very low calorie food packed full of lots of nutrients that help you feel full during a balanced meal.  I’m going to have to give a big thumbs up to fiber for a moment for that full feeling.  It’s not a phytochemical, but it IS one of my favorite carbohydrates that is seriously under appreciated!  (And one that is definitely going to be a future blog subject… just throwing that out there.) 🙂  And don’t let the healthy weight benefit throw you off if you ARE a healthy weight!  Eating more veggies isn’t going to cause anyone to become sickly and underweight;  there are plenty of foods out there with an abundance of calories!

I think another benefit of feeling full & lowering disease risk, that isn’t directly related to our body, is the damage control on our wallets!   I heard someone the other day comment that she had a very big family. She said it often works out to be cheaper to grab fast food for everyone than it is to buy everything from scratch plus the time & resources it takes to make a meal.  I’m going to offer my side of the debate on that.  I will agree, yes, in that moment she may have found a great deal and it worked out to be a cheaper meal.  However, if that becomes consistent, what she’s gaining in the short term will catch up in the end.  If the meal isn’t well balanced, a person is going to feel hungry in a shorter period of time.  That leads to more food and more money spent on food as the end result.  And what if you do that for years? There’s a very high disease risk associated with that choice…  How much money can you save when you’re sick and in need of medical assistance?  I’m not saying you should never take a good deal and treat the family… but I am advocating for it to truly be JUST a treat, and not an every day meal plan.

I said earlier I had 3 things I wanted to accomplish today.  I’ve given you guys some good reasons why I want you to eat vegetables…. now the second thing I want to do is talk about how much you need to eat!

Portions & serving recommendations are personal for us.  We all need a little something different depending on age, gender, activity level, ht & wt.  There are tons of charts you could flip through and match things up a little more precisely.  But what I’m going to do is just talk about an average.  For most people, an average of 2 1/2 to 3 cups of vegetables a day is the recommendation.   Now I KNOW some of you are probably thinking there’s no way you can do that!  Take a second and go look at a measuring cup if you can.  Or if you can’t, ball up your fist and look at that.  One cup is roughly the size of a fist.  Not too bad, right?  Right?  …. Guys?  ….

Well, if you’ve never had a vegetable in your life…. maybe 3 cups does sound like a Fear Factor episode!  Maybe start with one!  🙂  Eat ONE cup of vegetables a day and we’ll go from there.

AND… last, but not least!  My 3rd and final accomplishment of today’s blog:

A vegetable is a vegetable is a vegetable.

There’s a lot of interesting thoughts I’ve come across on what form a person’s veggies need to take.  Let me help you out:

Fresh vs frozen vs canned: JUST EAT THEM.

There are ideas that nutrition is lost during the canning or freezing process.  It’s pretty minimal, and in some cases, nutrition may even be higher than some fresh veggies since canning & freezing takes place immediately after harvest.  The only tip I’ll give you on this controversy is related to sodium content.  Canned vegetables may be higher in sodium… and there’s a super easy answer here without swearing off all canned vegetables ever in life.  Rinse them.  Open the can, empty it into a colander, and rinse them off.  Voila! 🙂  Instant veggies.  Heat ’em & eat ’em!