How to add a range of veg to your diet

It’s no secret that vegetables are good for us. In fact, research shows time and time again that eating at least 5 servings of veg a day can significantly decrease the risk of many diseases including heart disease and cancer. The 17th of June marks national Eat Your Vegetables Day and with a world that is constantly pushing fast food and quick “ready meal” type cooking, in this post I will let you know 5 easy ways to add a range of veg to your diet.

Green smoothies:

Smoothies are a great way to kick start your day and can even be made the night before and left in the fridge so that you can grab and go the next morning. Green smoothies typically include spinach and kale with a variety of fruits to give you a perfect balance of sweet tastiness with nutritional goodness too. BBC goodfood has 10 great green smoothie recipes here.

Soups:

If you are looking at packing as much veg as possible into one portion then soups might be a good option for you. You can use veg as the base and blend it down with spices and herbs to create a flavour-packed bowl of goodness like this spiced butternut squash soup recipe. Alternatively, you could use a lentil or pasta base to add some more texture to the soup whilst still maintaining the benefits of using a variety of fresh veggies like this easy minestrone soup recipe

Spaghetti/courgetti:

If you are a pasta lover why not try switching out your spaghetti for courgetti. “Spaghetti” can be made from a variety of vegetables such as butternut squash, carrots or courgettes and it can be a very easy way to sneak more vegetables into your diet. You could also make a delicious homemade rep pepper and tomato sauce to go with it to add more veg to your diet!

Veggie alternatives:

With the world now catering more and more for vegetarians and vegans, it is easy to find meat-free alternatives to your favourites that are packed with veg but are still extremely tasty. Why not swap out a meat burger for a veggie one or switch our steak pie for a mixed vegetable pie? Alternatively, you can try adding more veg to the meals you already make. Not only will this make them healthier but if you still use the same amount of everything else you will get more portions too. One of my personal favourites is a gnocchi pasta bake crammed full of spinach and frozen mixed veg topped with mozzarella and fresh basil.

Sides of vegetables:

This may sound obvious but veg is often forgotten about and having a side of veg can really make your meal so much healthier. I find the easiest way to do this is using frozen mixed veg that you can just put in the microwave but you could also make a side salad, make a baked veg medley or have classic corn on the cob. With veg, you really can get as inventive as you like and the veg doesn’t always need to be a side why not consider adding some mixed veg to the next pasta bake, curry or fried rice that you make.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post I hope that it has inspired you to add some more veg to your diet. While you are here be sure to check out more food-related student life posts! Let us know what veggie goodness you get up to this Eat Your Veg day by tagging us on social media @uolstudentlife.

“A healthy outside starts from the inside”