Hooray for returning to our house in Ocala!
Call me crazy, but even after only three days away from home, it feels incredibly good to be back.
I’m ready to get back into a normal routine and back into my groove. Plus, it feels good to have our little threesome reunited again.
I worked through the morning at my parents’ house before eating lunch and hitting the road back for Ocala around 2:30 p.m.
My lunch was quite random and completely lacking in veggies.
Shredded wheat cereal + pecans + milk
Cinnamon raisin toast + butter
Kiwi + an unpictured apple with a spoonful of peanut butter 30 minutes later
Vegetables, where are you!?
Vegetable Pact
I’ve made myself a veggie pact to incorporate more vegetables into my diet this week. I naturally gravitate toward fruit when I open the fridge to grab fresh produce and I’d like to make more of an effort to reach for leafy greens and nutritious vegetables more often. I like them, so I don’t know why I’ve been opting for fruit or other snacky foods over veggies 90 percent of the time for what seems like the past month.
For me, once I get into the habit of eating something, it often becomes my go-to food. When I’m eating vegetables regularly, I eat them constantly and don’t think much about it. When they start to fall to the wayside, I just try to remind myself that I really do love vegetables (especially when they’re roasted) and eating them truly does make me feel better physically. That should be motivation enough, right?
I’ve been pretty good about eating vegetables at dinnertime, but feel like I could amp up my lunchtime vegetable portions. I guess this post is serving as a little gut-check with myself to bump up vegetable servings in my meals.
Question of the Afternoon
- Do you ever struggle with incorporating lots of vegetables into your diet?
- How do you make sure to eat lots of veggies every day?
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I like adding them to smoothies, but I don’t have them very often. If I don’t feel like prepping veggies, I will buy precut ones to dip in hummus or some other dip. But some days I will realize I never had a single one lol, so I guess they take some dedication. I do love snap peas, so I will always grab a couple to eat if they are in the fridge.
I always have trouble fitting in more veggies, even though I do like them! I just like fruit even more 🙂 The main obstacle for me is just to HAVE them around so I’ll make them. If I make sure to get plenty of veggies on my grocery trip, I make them during the week. If all I have is spinach in the fridge, then all I eat is one salad at lunch and that’s pretty much it for my veggie intake.
I definitely have room for more veggies in my diet! I definitely go for fruit first, too!
I definitely struggle to add veggies to my diet – I live alone so It’s really hard for me to eat stuff before it goes bad. Lately, I’ve been buying frozen veggies to try not to waste food.
I definitely struggle to include my veggies in my diet especially during snacks & breakfast. Not so much at lunch and dinner but definitely breakfast & snacks. I also eat fruits as well and love them. I’ve been trying to find a way to incorporate them in with recipes I make for things, which helps 😉 . I also have been trying to include them in snacks more. I like carrots and celery for that, oh and raw broccoli & cauliflower. Yum!! 🙂
We buy all kinds of fruit and veggies form the farmers market every Saturday, then bring them home to clean them, chop them up and then sit them on the top two shelves in open containers so they are there ready to eat.
Also we roast a bag of veggies almost three times a week…cover them with some non fat cooking spray, toss them with a packet of ranch dry mix dressing and roast for 45 mins!
Also I usually buy Zucchini and yellow squash on the weekends and cut them up Sunday so throughout the week it FORCES us to use them so they don’t go bad.
oh that ranch dressing idea sounds awesome!
It really is good. You pick up the dry mix packets right beside the rest of the liquid salad dressing. I use the Fiesta ranch packets more than anything…spray the veggies with cooking spray, put in a gallon bag, add the seasoning mix, shake in the bag , lay out on the baking sheet and roast away!
http://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Valley-Fiesta-1-1-Ounce-Packets/dp/B000EDG00C
I’m the exact same way–fruit is always my go-to (I enjoy it so much more) and veggies are always what I have to consciously choose to eat. I try to include 2 servings of veggies into my lunch every day so that I have a good “start” to my total day’s servings. Plus I know I’ll always include at least 1 serving of veggies into my dinner so this works out well for balancing it all out.
I am with you, I naturally reach for fruit when i open the fridge. I am good about snacking on fruit instead of unhealthy options but i have to remember that fruit has a lot of calories and sugar when eaten in mass amount (like the entire 1 lb carton of strawberries i’ll eat in one sitting)
I’ll add a handful of spinach into my smoothies, or shred some carrots into my oatmeal 🙂
Working veggies into my diet is one thing I really struggle with. I don’t care for the taste of most veggies. I try to be adventurous with them but end up throwing them all on my husband’s plate. I try to stick to the ones I like.
My fav way to work it in there is with purees in recipes and the spinach and romaine in my green monsters. I’m like a kid. I need it to be hiding.
I absolutely love Shredded Wheat with vanilla almond milk. It’s the perfect amount of sweetness!
Yes! I always have trouble incorporating more vegetables! One of my New Year’s resolutions is more veggies, especially green ones. I try SO hard to think about the vegetable before the entree, or the vegetable AS the entree, but somehow I end up failing. Good to see I’m not the only one!
I try to build my meal around what vegetables I have on hand (salads for lunch and stir-frys for dinner are easy meals to throw together to get more veggies in, plus they are both so versatile/easy to switch up…)
Another thing I like to do is try to always eat something green at both lunch and dinner (whether it be spinach, broccoli, romaine… whatever I have on hand) which also helps with eating more veggies
Hey Julie!
Totally unrelated, and i’m sorry if you have already answered this question, but can you recommend your top upper body strength exercises sans the gym the machines.
I’ve got a couple of weights but that’s it. Any tips would be greatly appreciated! 🙂
sure! i think that would make a great post! thanks, debbie!
I drink a small v8 everyday in the mid morning so that gives me a good early veggie boost. Don’t forget in the summer you get all that spinach goodness in your smoothies!
Roast up a massive veggie batch on Monday and use just for lunches…that’s what I try to do!
Yes, I’d pick fruit over veggies any day, so I really have to work at getting more veggies in my diet!
I always struggle to get enough veggies in, I just have to keep making an effort over and over! I could seriously add spinach to anything though… omlets, smoothies, pasta… I never really notice it and I’m just glad I’m getting the nutrition from it!
I discovered salad jars this week, and they are great for packing in veggies for lunch. Also, if I’m making a smoothie, there is definitely going to be spinach in there! Daniel and I have been adding in a lot of vegetables to soups and stir-fry lately. I have to make sure I get enough, too – fruit is such an easier choice for some reason!
All my lunches and dinners have some kind of veggie in it..ever since I started losing weight, I’ve been programmed that a meal is not complete without some kind of veggie…not a bad habit I suppose :)!
I frontload my veggies by making a breakfast burrito each morning with 2 eggs, hummus, broccoli, grape tomatoes, and red onions. Its delicious and I end up eating lots of veggies before my day has even really started!
thanks for the post Julie! perhaps the veggie missed you more than you missed them, though I doubt it…you’re so awesome and fun but there is something crazy spectacular about crisp red bell peppers, crunchy orange carrots and sweet celery, etc….mushrooms, may I add? nonetheless, I try to moderate my emotions/guilt more than moderating my diet when it comes to lack thereof or abundance there of veggies. . . that way there is not as much pressure to make sure all of my days are “so balanced” that maintaining that balance actually becomes something more like rigidity! if you know what I mean 🙂 happy tuesday!
I eat my veggies early in the day so I don’t forget to do so. At night, I like to eat PB and apples and more fruits.
I try to eat some form of veggie with every meal, which usually ends up happening. But snacks? How can you NOT have fruit for a snack?! Every season offers something amazing that I look forward too. As of late, clementines and gala apples. Can’t stop!
I tend to snack too much on goldfish, cheese itz or some cheesy cracker, so I’ve been packing a bag of raw cucumber, celery and carrots to keep it healthier and get my veggies in!
I usually do a pretty good job at actual meal times eating veggies- so I don’t worry about it at snack times. I am a vegetarian so I live for veggies 🙂
Baby carrots are my go-to lunchtime veggie. They’re so sweet that it’s almost like eating fruit!
I joined a CSA to ensure our fridge is always full of veggies!
i want to look into this!
I love vegetables! I always seem to eat them only for dinner though. I would love to incorporate more veggies into lunch. Maybe you could do a post about how to incorporate more vegetables into lunches? 🙂
LOVE this idea!
Incorporating veggies is my #1 diet issue. I like them roasted as well, but it’s the green ones I really struggle with. Other than in smoothies or juices, I just don’t enjoy them!
Yes, I am also such a creature of habit!! But I’ve also found that I get myself way too worked up about how many veggies I should eat or incorporate.
Plan that works for me: I try to include veg in at least the lunch OR dinner meal (a lot less pressure). Then I always try to look at the whole week and try to get a good overall weekly intake.
Little tricks to sneak in veg every day: Pinpoint the veggies that you enjoy eating and start with those + those that are simply easier to grab! So for example, I always keep baby tomatoes on hand! Easy to pop into a baggie and take with you as well. I also try to prep some stuff on Sunday like shredding a big container of carrots as I will be a lot more likely to throw them on a sandwich, in a salad or into any dish as opposed to having to cut them!
That’s a funny quiestion because I just love fruits and vegetabes, they are all different in color, taste, texture, and they are fresh! I can’t imagine a meal without a majority of them!
Sometimes I struggle with veggies too. Its mostly when J tells me something specific he wants for dinner, I do not figure out a good way to include veggies in that.
I have been trying to make an effort to really add veggies into my diet, all day, not just at dinner – but it is tough! I made a frittata with chopped broccoli and bell peppers for breakfast and have been trying to eat a small salad before lunch. I also added a whole bunch of veggies to a pot of turkey chili!
I had an entire bag of steamed vegetables with my lunch yesterday…I do not recommend that.
You can add spinach, onions, and peppers to pretty much anything savory and it will work! I usually add these three guys to anytihng I feel doesn’t have enough veggies.
I normally buy a bunch of fresh veggies on Sunday and prechop all of them. Then I either freeze them or bag them separately for easy handling during the week. I also never seem to keep fresh spinach handy so I just buy the canned, no salt added and add it to my scrambled eggs for a boost of greens.
I’m great about getting my veggies in with dinner, but not as good when it comes to breakfast or lunch. I’m just stuck in my ways! And I need to expand my diet.
I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 11 years old and I STILL have a hard time getting enough veggies into my meals sometimes. I find preparation is the easiest way to do it. I cut up carrots and broccoli and whatever else you might want to eat and keep them in baggies or plastic containers so all I have to do is grab them and they’ll be ready for me.
I love this idea, because I can relate – I definitely reach for fruit over veggies. It’s not that I don’t like veggies; I just don’t think about them. Plus fruit is a bit more accessible. I love all the great ideas in the comments about incorporating more throughout the day.
I definitely reach for fruit over veggies. I would love a way to incorporate them into my breakfast for when I DON’T make an omelet (I usually load those up).
I always choose sweet over savory for oatmeal but want to look for ways to sneak veggies in (like adding spinach to smoothies)