Unconventional ways to get Fruits & Vegetables

[USAF-Larry]

Do you get five servings a day of fruits & vegetables?  Most of us probably don't. This is an interesting arcticle on how use unconventional methods to increase fruit & vegetable consumption.

We’ve all heard at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day is the recommendation from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.  Yet, in all honesty, how many of us are meeting that goal?  Not enough of us.  According to a 2015 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only a mere 13 percent of us are eating enough fruit – the required 1.5 to 2 cups daily.  Vegetable intake is even worse – just nine percent of the nation is meeting the two-to-three cup daily recommendation.

Failing to meet our recommendations of daily produce can be harmful to our health.  Plenty of research has shown a diet rich in fruits and vegetables may lower your risk of a whole host of diseases you really don’t want to get – cardiovascular disease, hypertension, cancer, diabetes, diverticulosis, cataracts, and macular degeneration.

Read full article here:  Unconventional ways to get Fruits & Vegetables

[WendyB]

I need to pull the mashed Califower on my Husband. If I told him he would not touch it.

[USAF-Larry]

There is no way you could hide Califlower to get me to eat it, @WendyB!  LOL

[WendyB]

LOL @USAF-Larry Its good stuff!

[USAF-Larry]

That is what my wife claims, too, @WendyB, but for the 47 years that she has been trying, she has not yet convinced me! 

[betpchem]

The only dish I've liked mashed cauliflower in is a Paleo recipe for shepherd's pie. It used cauliflower instead of mashed potatoes as the top. That worked really well. As a side dish, not so much, in my opinion.

[SunsetRunner]

Cauliflower pretty much will pick up other flavors.  I like mashed cauliflower with meats that make gravies (I thicken wih xanthum gum) and cauliflower 'rice' makes an awesomely good and healthy spanish rice.  I don't like it just by itself though.

[A_Lurker]

I eat plenty of fruits and veg.  The only two ways I really like califlower is raw and roasted.  In the summer I'll often take grape tomatoes, onion, califlower and garlic and roast them together after tossing in a little oil.  Yum

[melaangus]

I admit that, especially as an ovolacto vegetarian, I don't eat enough fruits and veggies as it's recommended. But I do eat more than the average (or try to). Particularly adding tomato and onion to almost anything I cook (rice & beans, my eggs, my veggie chilli or soups, ect.) since they go with everything! Lately I've gotten into spinach, which can be added to a lot of things but I partictularly eat it with my eggs, I've recently bought pita bread and made a few pizzas with it and always added spinach. I also buy canned corn and canned greenbeans (I know, high on sodioum, but it's the only ones I don't really cook fresh on a relatively regular basis) which I can add to burritos, enchiladas, and even my homemade mac and cheese (I make the cheese sause myself and then add as many veggies as I have handy, like the corn, greenbeans, tomato, spinach, and onion).

Of course these aren't ways to HIDE them persay, I like the taste of them, but I had to find recipes in which I liked the meal and they easily included as many veggies as possible. As far as hiding, I'm not a HUGE fan of pumpkin, at leats not cooking with it. So whenever my mom buys it (she likes making chicken soup with it, but I don't eat chicken) I add some cubes to the beans when I make rice & beans (the puertorrican way).

When it comes to fruit, I like a banana in my oatmeal, sometimes I buy blueberries or raspherries (they're expensive, so I rarely get them) and I add them to my pancakes. Strawberries work the same for both. Other than tomato and banana, I do admit I barely get fruit.