5 a day - fruit and veg

buttercupcakegina

How do you incorporate your '5 a day' into your diet? I recently realised that I don't eat enough fruit and veg. To try an increase my intake I intend to buy a smoothie maker and blend daily smoothies. Any advice/ tips/ tricks??

By the way, I'm also a new MFP member and looking for friends so feel free to add me

mamahannick

Fruit: in oatmeal (apple, banana, or raisins), smoothies, berries on top of Greek yogurt with a drizzle of honey, apple or banana & peanut butter for a snack, just a plain piece of fruit for a snack.

Veggies: chopped veggies of your choice scrambled with eggs, in a huge salad with various other toppings, carrots & hummus, cucumber slices & salsa, just plain steamed veggies with dinner (usually about half my plate).

crystalewhite

I love making smoothies! I've been making them with spinach, cucumber, lemon juice, apples and frozen fruit. There's 4 right there!

My mid morning snack usually consists of a diced apple with a little lemon juice or a mix of blackberries, raspberries and blueberries.

What really helped me was counting calories. The first two weeks wer horrible, but I adjusted my eating habits to include more produce. You can eat so much more that way and I stay full longer.

fbmandy55

I have a desk job so snacks at work are always apples with PB, bananas are my go-to pre-workout snack and we always have veggies with dinner. Frozen steamer bags are only $1 a piece and just as good as fresh.

I try to eat salads 2 times a week for lunch, and will put fruit, veggies and seeds on them.

JodieSmith15

I add blueberries to my oatmeal, have a salad with romaine, spinach, cherry tomatoes, cucumber and blueberries too. I've been told half your plate should be fruits & veggies, 1/4 protein & 1/4 healthy grains, so keep that in mind at meal time and try to incorporate fruits & veggies in your meals would be my advice spaghetti is good with green pepper or zucchini. just gotta be creative!

mamahannick

Oh and I also like sneaking shredded carrots or zucchini into a ground beef mixture for meatloaf. Just be sure to squeeze as much water out as you can so it isn't watery.

Josalinn

I have a salad and its on my diary. I just started eating this particular salad combo yesterday.

5 cup (loose cups) spinach
50g carrot
100g grapes
140g apple (because I don't like saving half an apple)
25g walnuts
topped with 3 tbs pineapple balsamic vinegar and 1tbs oil.

I also drink a glass of OJ to help get the most out of the spinach. Don't leave the oil out either. Oil helps absorb the fat soluble vitamins in Spinach.

I also have a banana. The banana does not work on the salad.

It took me about an hour to eat the salad, as an FYI.

Oh and I put veggies in my omelet and you'll see for dinner I am having 2 cups of cauliflower. I pulse the cauliflower in a blender so that it is rice consistency and then sauté it in a bit of EVOO. I am using it as a rice substitute for my curry. It is a pretty good sub for texture but I can still taste that it is cauliflower. I like cauliflower though so I don't mind. :flowerforyou:

leggup

Although I love smoothies, there's something psychologically pleasing to me to eat a big plate of food. To do that without gaining a billion lbs, I plump up most of my dinners and lunches with raw vegetables (usually spinach and carrots). Low calorie and very filling, handfuls of vegetables mixed in with other foods make the other foods take longer to eat and help me trick myself into thinking I'm eating way more.

Francl27

I honestly typically don't eat as much. Fruit doesn't fill me up unless it's in yogurt, cakes, muffins or pancakes pretty much, and I tolerate veggies but don't LOVE them, so I try to have one or two servings of those but I don't always get them. I guess I average 4 servings a day or something (depending what a serving really is).

jim180155

It took me about an hour to eat the salad, as an FYI.

I like salads. I had been making huge salads and eating them for lunch. But I only get a half hour for lunch and I could only get through about half the salad in the allotted time, so I'd either eat more of it mid-afternoon or if I wasn't particularly hungry I'd bring the remainder back home with me, add some chicken, and finish it off for dinner.

This week I switched to smoothies for lunch so I can use my half hour to walk. Then I when I get back I drink my lunch throughout the rest of the afternoon. I just add all the same stuff I was putting in my salad, plus a cup of coconut milk. And oatmeal. It makes about 48 oz of smoothie.

Josalinn

It took me about an hour to eat the salad, as an FYI.

I like salads. I had been making huge salads and eating them for lunch. But I only get a half hour for lunch and I could only get through about half the salad in the allotted time, so I'd either eat more of it mid-afternoon or if I wasn't particularly hungry I'd bring the remainder back home with me, add some chicken, and finish it off for dinner.

This week I switched to smoothies for lunch so I can use my half hour to walk. Then I when I get back I drink my lunch throughout the rest of the afternoon. I just add all the same stuff I was putting in my salad, plus a cup of coconut milk. And oatmeal. It makes about 48 oz of smoothie.

Good lord that's a big smoothie!

I don't like smoothies really. I've tried and can't do it. But my boss lets me eat at the desk. If someone comes in I hide it on the other side of the printer.

jim180155

It took me about an hour to eat the salad, as an FYI.

I like salads. I had been making huge salads and eating them for lunch. But I only get a half hour for lunch and I could only get through about half the salad in the allotted time, so I'd either eat more of it mid-afternoon or if I wasn't particularly hungry I'd bring the remainder back home with me, add some chicken, and finish it off for dinner.

This week I switched to smoothies for lunch so I can use my half hour to walk. Then I when I get back I drink my lunch throughout the rest of the afternoon. I just add all the same stuff I was putting in my salad, plus a cup of coconut milk. And oatmeal. It makes about 48 oz of smoothie.

Good lord that's a big smoothie!

I don't like smoothies really. I've tried and can't do it. But my boss lets me eat at the desk. If someone comes in I hide it on the other side of the printer.

Yes it is a big smoothie. (If you're interested in the details, my diary is open.) Today's was 801 calories. Along with the 725 calorie breakfast smoothie, I've used up all my calories for the day. It gave me time to walk during lunch though, so I've earned back a couple hundred calories, and I'll ride my stationary bike tonight for a couple hundred more. But I'm guessing that I'll still be sipping on the last of my smoothie tonight.

Rocbola

I agree with those who said to make a green smoothie!

jim180155

I lied. I drank the first 24 oz of my green smoothie. I don't want the other half for dinner. I'm saving the other half for tomorrow. (Should save me a little prep time tomorrow morning.) The smoothie is good, but I want something different for dinner.