{"id":5181,"date":"2009-02-03T11:13:20","date_gmt":"2009-02-03T16:13:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/?p=5181"},"modified":"2009-02-03T11:14:21","modified_gmt":"2009-02-03T16:14:21","slug":"15-sneaky-vegetable-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/02\/15-sneaky-vegetable-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"15 Sneaky Vegetable Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of life’s epic struggles is eating vegetables. Having once had a limited list of vegetables I would eat, I now can’t imagine not having my refrigerator stocked with colorful produce. Whether it’s yourself or your kids, you simply have to start making yourself try different vegetables. Luckily, there are a variety of cooking and serving methods that can ease you in to eating more.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The thing is, like them or not, you can’t cut them out of your diet if you plan on eating healthily and\/or losing weight. They are the most nutritious foods on Earth, and provide generous amounts of antioxidants, fiber, vitamins and minerals. That’s why you want to eat a variety of vegetable colors<\/a> in about 3-5 servings per day. A portion size of vegetables<\/a> is about the size of a baseball.<\/p>\n

This list from WebMD<\/a> introduces 15 tips and tricks that will certainly convert veggie haters to veggie lovers.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Hide veggies you kind of like in dishes you love. <\/strong>For example, add peppers or mushrooms to an omelet or layer fresh spinach leaves in lasagna.<\/li>\n
  2. Add to soup.<\/strong> When making homemade soup, fill with your favorite veggies. Or, bolster the veggie content of reduced-sodium soups by adding more carrots, green beans or edamame.<\/a> <\/li>\n
  3. Fill a salad.<\/strong> Use spinach leaves and baby greens instead of lettuce, and fill with every vegetable you like.<\/li>\n
  4. Serve raw.<\/strong> Some people prefer the fresh crunch, texture and flavor of uncooked vegetables.
    \n<\/strong><\/li>\n
  5. Dip them.<\/strong> Dip vegetables in a low-cal dip like hummus, salsa or a light dressing.
    \n<\/strong><\/li>\n
  6. Go Italian. <\/strong>Pizza and pasta are great places to hide veggies like mushrooms, spinach, broccoli, zucchini, bell peppers, fresh basil leaves, or artichokes.
    \n<\/strong><\/li>\n
  7. Drink them. <\/strong>Make your own veggie juice at home, or try quality brands like V8. For a sweeter alternative, try V8 Splash<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  8. \"\"<\/a>Make it fun.<\/strong> Grilled vegetable kabobs, corn on the cob, stuffed mushrooms or peppers are all fun finger foods that kids and adults will rave about.<\/li>\n
  9. Grill. <\/strong>The flavor of grilled vegetables cannot be beat. Lightly brush with olive oil and asparagus, zucchini, mushrooms, peppers and eggplant perfectly complement any meal.<\/li>\n
  10. Learn to cook them properly. <\/strong>The stronger flavored or more bitter tasting vegetables, like cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and eggplant, need special attention when cooking. Try saute or stir-fry, or add special flavors like balsamic vinegar, olive oil and lemon juice.<\/li>\n
  11. Surprise yourself.<\/strong> Put roasted red peppers on a sandwich, include fresh basil in a wrap or stuff a pita with shredded cabbage. Unexpected flavor in familiar places will change your thinking.<\/li>\n
  12. Choose fresh.<\/strong> If all you’ve ever had are canned vegetables, you don’t like them for a reason! Steamed, grilled and roasted fresh vegetables have a completely different flavor and texture.<\/li>\n
  13. Fast-food veggies count.<\/strong> Get salads, carrot and celery sticks or a baked potato. Just be mindful of the calories in dressings, sauces and dips.<\/li>\n
  14. No prizes.<\/strong> Don’t reward yourself or the kids for positive vegetable behavior. You’ll learn to like the treat, and forget to learn to like the veggies.<\/li>\n
  15. Be cheesy!<\/strong> Bake veggies topped with low-fat or skim milk cheese for a gooey treat.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    You can find more sneaky vegetable tips in Jessica Seinfeld’s wildly popular book, Deceptively Delicious<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    One of life’s epic struggles is eating vegetables. Having once had a limited list of vegetables I would eat, I now can’t imagine not having my refrigerator stocked with colorful produce. Whether it’s yourself or your kids, you simply have … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":85,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3695],"tags":[31,29,242,815],"class_list":["post-5181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diet-and-nutrition","tag-health-news","tag-nutrition","tag-vegetables","tag-webmd"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/85"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5181"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5185,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5181\/revisions\/5185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}