How to Eat More Vegetables: Tip #5

We sure love our smoothies!
We all know we should eat more vegetables. But how, how do we do that, really? What real-life tips and ideas work? How can we build our lives around the healthiest of all foods, vegetables? Every Saturday, the 'veggie evangelist' shares practical tips and ideas from her own experience, her readers and other bloggers.

And now for this week's tip, more submissions from readers, this time Kathleen H. from Gallup, NM and Shawna M. Thanks, guys! You so perfectly expressed our love for smoothies!

UPDATE: After I posted these tips, Kathleen explained further exactly why smoothies are so important to her health. She wrote, "I really think that veggie smoothies have played a major role in my cancer survival. I ordered the Vita-Mix two days after my first lung cancer diagnosis in March of 1999. I've used it at almost every meal I've eaten at home since then -- fruit, seeds, whey protein powder for breakfast and veggies at lunch and dinner." WOW. Here's to more healthy smoothies -- and to continued good health for Kathleen and all of us. (A Vita-Mix is a high-performance blender. It's not cheap but people rave about them.]


How to Eat More Vegetables

TIP #5
Get Serious About Smoothies. Man, we love our smoothies! So many of you wrote in to suggest smoothies as a great way to incorporate more vegetables into our diets. My recipes/suggestions for Green Smoothies are a favorite post here on A Veggie Venture.

Reader Kathleen H. from Gallup, NM says that with smoothies, there's no worrying about recipes, about seasoning, about serving. Just blend up the vegetables and serve alongside protein for a complete meal. She recommends starting out with just mild, sweet veggies (for example, apple, carrot, and spinach), then working up to more serious smoothies. Here's how Kathleen does it:

"I have a Vita-Mix blender and use it to make a 'liquid salad' for lunch and dinner.  I wash, cut and toss into the Vita-Mix: half an apple, a carrot and greens of choice (usually a big handful of broccoli florets, parsley and cilantro) and maybe also spinach, Brussels sprouts, celery and kale. Add a little water and blend it up."

She's got the prep down too. "I prepare four rounds of veggies at a time, using 2 apples, 4 carrots, a small bunch of broccoli, a bunch of parsley, a bunch of cilantro. I wash and chop everything, then separate it all into four plastic bags and refrigerate. When I'm tired and hungry, I just dump one bag into the Vita-Mix, add a little water, and blend."

Shawna M. is also a smoothie fan. "I get lots vegetables and fruit every day by drinking 32 to 64 ounces of green smoothies. My green-smoothie ingredients vary from week to week, but here is the one I had today for breakfast: 2 cups of kale, 2 oranges, 3 or 4 chunks of frozen pineapple, 1 banana and 1/4 cup of water. Blend til smooth, drink and enjoy!"

AND YOU? What about you, would drinking your vegetables work for you?

TIP #6
Coming next week!

MORE TIPS
Watch for a new tip each Saturday. Never miss a one! If you love vegetables, or would like to learn more easy ways to cook vegetables (plus these weekly tips), be sure to sign up for a free e-mail subscription.

ALL THE TIPS How to Eat More Vegetables



How to Eat More Vegetables: This Week's Bloggers

How to Eat More Vegetables from Plant Food Fabulous

How To Chime In

Readers & Bloggers, Both: Here's how to participate, I hope you will!

Many Thanks

Today's photograph is courtesy of maltman23 on Flickr.

Eat more vegetables! A Veggie Venture is the home of 'veggie evangelist' Alanna Kellogg and is the award-winning source of free vegetable recipes, quick, easy, and yes, delicious. Start with the famous Alphabet of Vegetables.

© Copyright Kitchen Parade 2011


Alanna Kellogg
Alanna Kellogg

A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

Comments

  1. Drinking vegetables won't work for me. Huge ewww factor, there, for me. I'll eat two enormous salads a day, but won't touch a smoothie!

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  2. You wouldn't like my smoothies, then, which are mostly veggies, but I bet you would never know there were any vegetables in Shawna M's smoothies, which are mostly fruit.

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  3. I do enjoy an occasional smoothie and even make it part of my detox Mondays LOL
    But if you're eating all your veggies and fruits in this purréed fasion aren't you missing out on extra fiber ? Just curious ?

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  4. I love drinking veggies by way of smoothies :) just did that this morning...it was an ugly shade of brown but at least i know i'm getting a bunch of nutrients!

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  5. Some of those smoothies have WAY too much fruit in them. When your smoothie is over half fruit, seriously, just eat a bowl of cereal.

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  6. I love veggie juices I the summer but somehow am never in the mood for them in cold weather.... Summer is almost here though so I'll be pulling out the juicer soon!

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  7. I love smoothies, I love to hide stuff it them my kids don't eat enough of. Funny story though, once my 4 year old handed me back the smoothie and said, "mommy, I think there is a salad in my smoothie!" I guess there was too much kale. ;)

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  8. When you make a smoothie in a VitaMix, you add the entire fruit and veggie and therefore you get the fiber. That is different from a juicer. Also, you might start with a lot more fruit than veggie/greens and gradually shift your taste instead of just going all veggie right away. Eliminate the quantity of fruit as you up the veggie/green content. Add flax seeds or bee pollen to increase the nutritional value even more. I think even an all-fruit smoothie of good quality fruits is better than cereal any day.

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  9. Michael HinesMarch 20, 2011

    Hi there Alanna! This is a great post about veggie smoothies. I love healthy smoothies in general but I do think it will take a few veggie smoothies for me to get use to it! Although, I know how healthy it is and as you said, once you get serious about it, you will come up with some artistic ones! Thank you for sharing this. I have smoothie maker here at home and might just try a few veggies in there. Take care Michael

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  10. I think that smoothies made with 50% fruit and 50% vegetables are the way to go. They usually are much more delicious than straight vegetable smoothies. Pureed vegetable soups are another delicious way my family and I eat more vegetables.

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Thank you for taking a moment to write! I read each and every comment, for each and every recipe, whether a current recipe or a long-ago favorite. If you have a specific question, it's nearly always answered quick-quick. ~ Alanna