Keep Healthy, Love Your Veggies
April 30th 2023 By Carin Clegg, APD
Keep Healthy and Love your Veggies!
In the cooler months people are always talking about warding off the colds and flus with certain foods, garlic, vitamin C supplements, echinacea, however eating enough fruit and vegetables can often be overlooked and can be one of the most beneficial things you can do to keep healthy, reduce the severity and duration of illness.
Veggies provide a huge range of vitamins, like vitamin A, B group vitamins and vitamin C which we all know is important for good immune health. They provide a range of antioxidants to keep inflammation at bay, and various minerals depending on the type of vegetable. Vegetables also provide us with different fibres which is important for good gut flora which further strengthens our immune system.
What we know is that eating a wide range of vegetables will ensure that you get the wide range of nutrients from this food group and they are such an integral part of a balanced diet, however, most Australian’s struggle to get their 5 a day (or two and a half cups).
Some reasons why this is the case are:
- Learning to eat vegetables as a child is actually quite difficult
- Learning to eat new foods is not as simple as just putting in in your mouth. It can take over 14 exposures to learn to like a new food.
- When learning to eat a range of foods a new food to a child is something that looks different and that is a different texture to another food s. For example, a carrot that is raw in sticks seems like a different food to a child when it is raw and grated, versus when it is steamed or stir fried in different shapes as all these different variations are a different eating experience
- Vegetables are one of the most difficult food textures to eat as the tough fibres need good jaw strength to grind them down into small pieces to eat. After the age of 3 is when many kids physically have this good jaw strength and can therefore eat their vegetables better, that is when they are not tired at the end of a hard day of play or school.
- We have lost our connection and positive relationship with fresh foods, particularly vegetables, as a society. There was a time where we all used to grow our own food or at least some of it so we have lost a lot of food knowledge, love, care and also control over what is in our food. Today we can make a whole meal without even touching a vegetable, just open up a packet and whack it in.
Instead of focussing on whether it is low carb or the amount of kilojoules in our food, we need to focus on learning about where our food comes from, who grows it, how does it grow, what does the plant look like from seed, seedling and how do you know when to harvest prepare, cook and preserve a bumper crop. That way we will place a higher value on it than something that came in a plastic package that does not even resemble a whole food. We need to learn to value love and appreciate our vegetables more.
Here are some tips to build that connection with your veggies.
- Go to your local green grocer or farmer’s market and hand pick your fresh produce. Feel the texture and smell all the wonderful aromas and really connect with your food.
- Visit a local farm, pick up some produce off the side of the road, do a tours or pick your own session. With the Harvest Festival coming up there are plenty of opportunities to get to know your food and farmers
- Start gardening to increase the availability of vegetables. It also reduces the cost as well as wastage. Easy to grow vegetables are shallot, lettuce, silverbeet, spinach, beans including snow peas and sugar snap peas, capsicum, rocket and radishes. Even visit your local community garden, check out a Permaculture Central Coast gathering or permablitz and get inspired by the Central Coast Edible Garden Trail.
- Use fresh, frozen and canned vegetables as there is little difference in nutritional benefits if the alternative is to go without.
Build up your vegetables at each meal and snack of the day.
Breakfast
Toppings with on on Toast
Tomato (raw or grilled), mushrooms, spinach, leek, capsicum, zucchini, asparagus, baked beans, creamed corn, hummus or vegetable dip or a Spanish omelette.
Snacks
Sticks and Dips
There are so many tasty vegetable dips out there. You can use them with sticks, crackers or a spread on a piece of toast or bread. Smashed avocado, roast pumpkin, nut butters or seed pastes are great options too!
For dippers use more than the usual carrot, celery, cucumber. Try green beans, snow peas, sugar snap peas, broccoli and cauliflower florets or stalks, capsicum (red, green, yellow), cos lettuce (small leaves), halved cherry tomatoes.
Corn
Corn on the cob or popcorn can make a great snack
Legumes
Roasted chickpeas or other roasted legumes.
Lunch
Salad
A salad can be a great quick meal on it’s own, added to a sandwich or on top of a cracker.
- Use more than just lettuce, tomato and cucumber, there is a rainbow of mixed salad leaves like baby beetroot, rocket, carrot (grated/ sliced) beetroot (grated raw/ cooked sliced), green beans, snow peas, sprouts, bean shoots, celery, capsicum, corn, cabbage (red, green, wombok), bok choy, avocado, onion, shallot, olives, artichoke, blanched asparagus,
- Add some starch: left over roast vegetables or a can of corn
- Add some protein: cheese, eggs, meat, canned fish, legumes (like a 4 bean mix) or nuts
Make leftovers go further
Bulk up leftovers meals when reheating microwave meals by adding finely sliced cabbage, greens, green beans or frozen peas and corn to the plate/bowl. They will be cooked whilst the rest of the meal is being re-heated.
Dinners
Make sure you add more than 3 types of vegetables to your plate.
Stir frys
What’s in the wok? The sky is the limit when it c omes to stir fry veggies. Iin order of addition to the pan or wok: onion, carrot, choko, zucchini, mushroom, capsicum, green beans, snow peas, fennel, asparagus, celery then the last couple of minutes add cabbage (green, red, wombok), sprouts, shallot, Asian greens or spinach.
Steam
Steaming is a great way to lock in those nutrients. In order of addition: potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, turnip, swede, beetroot, carrot, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, asparagus, peas, corn, beans, cabbage, Asian greens, spinach.
Roast
Save time and washing up by cooking all your veggies in the oven. Starchy vegies include potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, parsnip, beetroot, swede, turnip. Non-starchy for half your plate include: carrot, choko, eggplant, zucchini, squash, mushroom, capsicum, fennel, celery, onion, leek, cabbage steaks.
Enjoy your rainbow of colour and fight off those colds and flus!
Be clever about your eating and stay as healthy as possible by learning how to further support your immune system and attend out Nutrition For Immunity Workshop.