So, you know you want to eat more vegetables, but you’re struggling with the actual doing part of this goal. Maybe you got really excited and went all-out in the produce department just to sadly throw out a bunch of spoiled veggies by the end of the week. You want to eat more veg, but can’t quite figure out how to fit them into your already crazy schedule. Sound familiar? If it does, you’ll want to keep reading to get my best tips to up your veggie intake in a sustainable and simple way.
Assess where you’re at right now.
Before stepping foot in the grocery store, take stock of where your veg intake is at right now. Questions to ask yourself:
- How many times am I eating vegetables per day? If the answer is less than once, ask yourself how many times per week you’re eating veggies. Another way to think of this question is, how many of my meals/snacks contain vegetables?
- Which vegetables do I know how to prepare, and enjoy eating? This question is often overlooked when you’re just eager to get going on a goal, but is an important piece of making a sustainable change. There’s no sense in loading up your fridge with spinach if you can’t stand the taste of spinach. Just like if you don’t know how to prepare an eggplant, and don’t have a plan in place to learn, buying an eggplant today means it’s probably going to end up in the trash later in the week.
- How often am I able to grocery shop? Fresh vegetables all spoil at varying rates, but in general many last a week or less. If you’re not able to grocery shop frequently (or just don’t want to) think about your canned and frozen vegetable options. You don’t need to eat all fresh vegetables to get the nutritional benefits. Plus, canned and frozen options mean you’ll be able to eat more vegetables every day and not just in the few days after grocery shopping.
- Which meal or snack could I realistically incorporate a vegetable into that I’m not right now? If none of your meals or snacks contain a vegetable, which one would be the easiest for you to start adding one to? If you’re already eating vegetables with a couple of your meals/snacks, which other meal or snack could you work on next? While the temptation to try and add a vegetable to every meal and snack may be high, think about how realistic and sustainable this will be. It’s better to add a vegetable to one meal a day and maintain this forever, rather than adding a vegetable to every meal for a week or so before falling off the wagon and eating no vegetables again. Start small, you can always build from there if it’s too easy.
- What dishes do I enjoy/make regularly that I could possibly add a vegetable to? Maybe you make eggs on the weekends, and could start adding some spinach to them. If you make pasta regularly, you could try adding some fresh or frozen broccoli, green beans, carrots, etc. Think about adding some lettuce, shredded carrots, or another leafy green to your sandwich. Sometimes simply incorporating a vegetable into a meal that you already make on a regular basis is easier than trying to add a vegetable by itself.
Make a plan.
After answering the above questions, it’s time to make a game plan. Using your list of veggies that you like and know how to prepare, the meals that you’re planning on adding to, and the types of veg that you could incorporate into a dish you’re already making, make a list of what you’re going to buy. My suggestion is to try your best to choose at least a couple of different colored vegetables to buy. I would also highly recommend choosing a combination of fresh, frozen, and/or canned vegetables (at least two out of the three).
Take action.
Once you have your plan, and know what you’re going to buy, go do it! Take a week to try and stick to your plan, incorporating vegetables where you said you were going to. Make a note of what seems to work well, and what you’re struggling with. If you like having others support you, let your friends, family, or coworkers know about what you’re trying to do. Let them know what kind of support you’d like from them (checking in, participating with you, etc.). Use this week as a learning opportunity, and try not to beat yourself up if it doesn’t go quite as planned.
Reassess and move forward.
At the end of your week, take a moment to reflect. What parts of your plan worked well? Which parts didn’t work as well as you thought, or didn’t work at all? Plan on continuing to do the things that worked, and change the things that didn’t. Maybe you initially thought it would be easiest to add a vegetable to lunch, but kept forgetting to bring them to work with you. Maybe starting by adding a vegetable to supper instead would work better. Use what you learned to change any and all of your goals as needed. If the week was really easy, great! Try to find another area you could add a vegetable, a new one to try for the first time, or let your success carry you through the next couple of weeks.
An example of what this process might look like:
Right now, Joe isn’t consistently eating any vegetables in a given week. He likes and knows how to prepare lettuce, spinach, carrots, tomatoes, green beans, and potatoes. During the week, Joe typically eats breakfast on his drive to work, goes out for lunch with coworkers, and eats supper at home. On the weekends, he mostly eats at home, but sometimes will go out for supper. He doesn’t like grocery shopping, and typically only shops every other week. Based on his current eating habits, he thinks it will be easiest to add a vegetable to his suppers during the week and lunch on the weekends. His typical weeknight suppers are: pasta, hamburgers, frozen pizza, grilled cheese, and tacos. Typical weekend lunches are: meat and cheese sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, and chili.
Based on what he typically eats, Joe comes up with the following plan:
- Monday: make a side salad with lettuce to go with pasta.
- Tuesday: add lettuce to hamburger.
- Wednesday: put extra fresh tomatoes on frozen pizza before baking.
- Thursday: try putting tomatoes on grilled cheese.
- Friday: add some lettuce (and maybe tomato) to tacos.
- Saturday: steam some frozen green beans as a side to macaroni and cheese.
- Sunday: add lettuce (and maybe tomato) to meat and cheese sandwich.
At the end of the week, Joe reflects on what worked well and what didn’t. On Monday, he forgot to make a side salad with his pasta. He got too tired after work, and didn’t feel like going through the extra effort. Tuesday and Wednesday went exactly according to plan. He decided that he doesn’t really like tomatoes on his grilled cheese after trying it on Thursday. On Friday, he added lettuce to his tacos, but decided against the tomatoes. Saturday he ended up going out for lunch instead of sticking to his plan. Sunday’s plan worked perfectly and he added both lettuce and tomato to his sandwich.
Based on his week, Joe revises his plan to the following:
- Monday: throw some spinach into pasta.
- Tuesday and Wednesday: as originally planned. (Maybe add some spinach to the frozen pizza too?)
- Thursday: steam some frozen green beans to eat as a side to grilled cheese.
- Friday: as originally planned.
- Saturday: try original plan again. If going out for lunch again, try to order something that includes a vegetable.
- Sunday: as originally planned.
Rinse, and repeat!
Do you struggle with adding more vegetables to your diet? What strategies have worked well for you in the past?