Foodie Friday: More Veggies, Please!

Sometimes New Year’s Resolutions suck. The New Year comes just after the Christmas whirlwind, when bank accounts are low, waistlines are expanded, and the weather is gloomy. I like the idea of NYR’s, but the reality is often less than inspiring.

Instead, I propose we practice Spring Break Resolutions. (Or maybe just “Spring Resolutions” for those of y’all who are not students or otherwise ruled by a school calendar ). Spring is a time of growth, of birth, and of life! What a perfect time to let go of things holding us back and commit to something great, right?

This year, I was lucky enough to experience a true Spring Break. Between grad school terms, I took some days off at work and ventured with my beloved to Zion National Park in Utah. What a beautiful and inspiring place!

After four miles of hiking in the wrong direction (whoops), and more miles in the right direction, Dale and I finally made it to the breathtaking lookout he stands at in the photo above. Feeling a bit achy, thirsty, and completely exhilarated, I realized that it was time to change some things in my life. You have to grab inspiration whenever and however it comes.

One small (but meaningful) resolution I made was to eat more fruit and vegetables. This seems so incredibly easy in theory. And yet, since last winter, I had developed such a taste for all food that is not produce (cheese! bread! chocolate! yogurt!) that I had to really put a lot of time into making this change.

For today’s Foodie Friday, I’m going to share some tips for doing this. To be honest, this is mostly a selfish post. Now I won’t have the excuse that I don’t know how to eat fruit and vegetables.

1. Do it early. When eating breakfast (which is always a good idea), don’t let a meal go by without some kind of produce. Add fruit to oatmeal or on top of toast. If you are feeling egg-y, saute up a mix of veggies and put an egg on top (see photo at the top of the page.)
2. Cook it all at once. I realized that one thing holding me back was the time it took to cook the produce I love. To get around this, I resolved to use my Sunday afternoons to roast up a batch of things like potatoes, squash, and onions to eat throughout the week.
3. Snacks! Replace the granola bar, sugary yogurt, or candy with apples, carrots, and bananas. If you still want one of those other things after eating the produce, you can have it.
4. Plan your lunches. This one piggy-backs off of no. 2. Once I had things like squash and potatoes cooked up, it was easy to pack it up for lunch. This has reduced the number of impulse (i.e. fast food) lunches.
5. Smoothies. When lusting after desserts, throw together a smoothie with frozen fruit, something like carrots or spinach, a bit of powdered drink mix like Crystal Light, and water. Yum.