Eat your Veggies!!!

How do you get people to eat veggies?

 I wish I had a dollar for every time I have heard someone say they don't like to eat vegetables. Funny how often I would hear this while working in Cardiac Rehabilitation. Coincidence? I don't think so. A healthy diet includes 5 servings a day of fruit and veggies, many people are ok with the fruit but entirely skip the veggies. Women are instructed to get 4 1/2 cups a day of vegetables for heart health. Children are picky and it can take years to get them to eat a variety of vegetables. Don't give up!!! Keep trying new vegetables, new textures, new recipes.

Get your servings each day 

One way to get your veggies in each day is to join a CSA. This is community supported agriculture. You essentially purchase a share of a farm and each week you get your vegetable share. This week my share was 22 lbs of vegetables and included eggplant, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, tomatillos, squash - zuchinni, yellow and patty pan, dill, cilantro, garlic, onions, bean - green and purple, peppers, cucumbers, and beets. Last week we had similar but added turnips, cabbage and radishes. It is an experiment finding what recipes we will have repeatedly and what ones we will avoid. Tonight's dinner included camelized turnips - these went over well -suprizingly.

Be creative with vegetables

Get away from the traditional boiled or steamed veggies. Try to get creative. Google recipes for vegetables. Turn carrots or asparagus into ribbons, combine unusual flavors, grill veggies, sneak them into meals - chop them small. Combine strong flavors with sweet, try flavored vinegar's with veggies. Recently I made cole slaw with lemon infused vinegar and very little mayo - the whole family commented on how it was the best cole slaw they ever had while not knowing how basic the recipe was - cabbage, carrots, vinegar, sugar, lemon peppes,  and a tiny bit of mayo.

With all these vegetables they become the food which the meal is built around, rather than the typical American diet which builds it's meal around the meat source. Which leaves me with how will I prepare eggplant this week? Baba Ganoush or Eggplant Parmasean?