Eating More Fruits and Vegetables

I checked out Eat This, Not That! from the library a few weeks ago, and WOWEE I learned some interesting things about the food I’ve been eating. (I think we’ll be having a giveaway of the book soon too!)

I considered myself to be a pretty “healthy” eater – I make from scratch almost everything and so we don’t eat much processed foods. Except when I read the book and really considered exactly what we were eating, there was more processed foods than I realized, especially kids snacks like crackers and cereals, etc.

One of the most brilliant things in the book is that to start eating healthier, don’t focus on what to cut out, focus on the foods you need to eat more of like fruits and vegetables. This one thing has made a huge difference! I haven’t eliminated anything “bad” from our  diet on purpose, but eating more fruits and vegetables has meant we are eating less of those things by default.

Now we start every day with a fruit smoothie. Gus and I love this new habit, Boyd and Elliot are on the fence. But like I tell them every day, it’s not about liking it, it’s about eating it because your body needs it.

So every morning I throw the same stuff in my Bosch blender. (Amounts are approximate…)

• a handful of spinach
• 2 T. ground flax seed
• 6-8 strawberries
• 1/2 – 1 c. blueberries
• 1/2 a banana
• 4 giant spoonfuls of vanilla yogurt
• 1/2 c. milk

After my morning smoothie with no sugar added except  for what’s in the yogurt, I feel ready to start the day. And I know I’ve gotten several servings of fruit and at least one vegetable in already.

For lunch I have a yummy salad with all the fruits and veggies I have.  Here are my favorite things to throw in my salad:

• Spring Mix greens
• bell pepper (orange, yellow, and red)
• tomatoes
• strawberries
• mandarin oranges
• dried cran strawberries (from Winco)
• unsalted cashews
• sunflower seeds

Grapes and apples would be good too…I use raspberry viniagrette dressing and it is so delicious! And again, I’ve gotten several more servings of fruit and veggies for the day.

The book talks a lot about how bad processed food is for our bodies – chemicals that aren’t really meant to be ingested. Bad, bad, bad. And I also thought that my family would not be at risk for obesity because it’s not really in our genes, but the same foods that I ate when I was a kid have tons more fat and calories now. So our kids are getting more fat eating the same stuff. It’s terrible!

The solution is to eat as naturally as possible. How do you get your fruits and veggies in each day???

Tagged as: Food, fruits and vegetables, green salad, healthy food fruit, Making Eats, mixing fruits and vegetables, smoothie