Low Sodium V8 juice instead of veggies?

It is not as healthy as fresh veggies, of course, but it is better for you than no veggies at all. V8 is loaded with vitamins and minerals

Check the fiber. If there is little or none, then it's just the juice with salt added and you won't be getting the fiber from vegs.

Try making a green smoothie. It's SO much better tasting than you think and you can adjust the taste as you like.

Start simple: 1c fresh spinach, 1/2c berries, 1/2c water. Blend for 30 seconds and drink it.

You will be surprised how much it does NOT taste like vegetables.

Totally agree with this. I add banana and milk and a sweetener to above recipe. Or try to roast vegetables and blend them into a soup. V8 is okay I guess but you can't beat all natural veggies!

Well it would be better than nothing at all. Even the low sodium has 140mg of sodium per 4 oz serving and lots of other additives. One drawback is that it is cooked, reconstituted veggies so who knows how much of the original value is still available. Have you consider a juicer, they aren't terribly expensive these days? That way you get everything but the fiber. Hmm, not sure what to say, also V8 is 87% tomato juice and 13% other juices, lol.

Make a vegetable soup and puree it after it cooks. The "mush" that would have been left in the blender will turn into smoothness. Then you can vary the seasonings and vegetables so not every soup tastes the same.

8oz of V8 has 2g of fiber, by the way. A cup of cabbage or broccoli has 2g of fiber, so V8's fiber content is significant. For those of us constantly on the run, a can of V8 isn't a bad compromise ... I'll toss one in my backpack for a morning snack. I like it with a teaspoon of grated horseradish and a little lemon. Yeah, I would love to make my own but I can barely find time to work out, do my laundry, and toss dishes in the dishwasher.

Evelyn Tribole, by the way, has a book called "Stealth Health" which is about sneaking healthy things like veggies into foods for those who don't like them.

I slam 11.5 ounces low sodium v8 just about every day, seems to work for me. it is healthy and it could be worse like slamming a coke.

I like low sodium v8 but if you look at what's in it's just not enough. As someone mentioned, you miss out on fiber, but more importantly you miss out on a lot of green veggies and other nutrients that are not in v8. Here is what I have been trying to get more veggies in my diet:

1. Try adding a scoop of Amazing Grass green superfood powder to a fruit smoothie (adding a frozen banana and water makes it quite tasty, but frozen mixed berries are great as well). I got mine at whole foods.

2. Buy chopped frozen veggies and mix them in an omlet as well as pasta sauce (not together)

3. Juicing. Whole Foods and Pressed Juicery make mixes of cucumber, celery, kale, spinach, with pears and apples that sound gross but taste good. Or you can make your own.

4. Find a salad dressing you like that is not too unhealthy (lite ranch, extra virgin olive oil and balsalmic vinegar) and eat with a salad you can grow to enjoy at least a few times a week. Mine is romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, and sometimes feta cheese, walnuts, avocado.

5. Make a dip with low-fat greek yogurt, garlic powder, dill, pepper and eat with raw broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower.

I know you said you hate them but they will give you more energy, a healthier heart, better skin, better focus, and a slimmer body so part of the battle is just getting used to them. Eat less unhealthy stuff and then the healthy stuff starts to taste better, I promise.

Good luck!

On South Beach we can replace 1/2 Cup of veggies with V8 but still need to eat the other 4 cups per day, if that helps.

I totally agree with those suggestions.I havent made the dip of Greek Yoghurt and garlic but I am going to try.I usually dip in lite Ranch ..thanks for the yoghurt dip idea!

I am currently doing P90X. I actually do like a lot of vegetables but I am trying to watch my carbs, especially last month. I do a lot of spinach salads with fat free feta and red onion. Some fat free balsamic vinaigrette to taste. With the feta I come out on top with protein. Here is the quick and dirty on the P90X nutrition plan.

Month 1: 50% Protein, 30% Carbohydrates, 20% Fat
Month 2: 40% Protein, 40% Carbohydrates, 20% Fat
Month 3: 60 Carbohydrates, 20 % Protein, 20% Fat

While I like my spinach salad along with other veggies, I can't eat it every day. It would get too old. If I haven't had any vegetables that day I do a low sodium V8 to make sure I get something. To echo other posters, raw veggies are best but a V8 is better than NOT having any vegetables in you diet. I actually don't like tomatoes in huge slices or pieces but I can eat them in salad and V8 just tastes like a cold tomato soup to me. Having a low sodium V8 means I only gain 8 carbs (10 carbs to 2 protein).

Anyone else have any low carb/calorie veggies that they like?

This may sound lame, but try to teach yourself to like some vegetables. I always hated celery. For a month I made myself have celery as a snack (with 1 TBSP peanut butter) after my workout. Even if you can only take one bite. Then the next time 2. then maybe 3. Eventually you can train your taste-buds to many new things (I'll admit not all). It's like anything else you do, you practice until it's no big deal.

Keep trying things until you find one tolerable (luckily, most veggies aren't pricey so it's not likely you are going to blow a bundle experimenting) and also prepare it different ways. A good way to start, too, is when you eat out always eat 1/2 of the vegetables that come with your dinner or see how much of your appetizer salad you can eat before adding dressing.

In the past couple years I've grown to love carrots, celery, and asparagus. Still have a V8 sometimes, but that's just because I like it, not because I need it.

I can't STAND eating vegetables. I literally choke and gag them down, even chase them with something to drink. Is it ok that I replace all of my vegetable intake with the low sodium version V8 every day?

What do you mean by "is it ok"? The 11.8 oz can of V8 provides 2 servings of vegetables and is a healthy drink. But I'm not sure it's good to make that your only vegetable source. It's certainly better than no vegetables at all, though.

If you don't mind drinking your vegetables, then I'd suggest getting a nutribullet or vitamix or something of that sort and creating your own juices that include the whole vegetable. Don't get a regular juicer as they elimintate the fiber.

You might also try adding vegetables to soups, stews, sauces, etc. and using a blender to puree them.

These vegetables that you say you HATE, how are you preparing them?