How to Up Your Daily Produce Intake
I think I have seen more failed fad diets in my lifetime than Hollywood divorces.
Remember the cabbage soup diet? Gross. Then we went from low fat (which meant everything was riddled with sugar) to low carb (which meant everything was without joy) to wherever we are today.
The problem with these diets is that they are not always easy to integrate into a lifestyle. Following rules and restrictions can be a challenge to follow long-term.
I think to this end it is important to reframe one’s mindset from weight loss to eating to fuel your body.
I have seen first-hand the importance of food as medicine. Whether you have a pre-existing condition, a family history of something, or just want to prevent disease or age well, you really cannot go wrong with upping your fruit and vegetable intake.
One fundamental principal that has never changed is the importance of produce.
I am always wary of a diet that restricts entire food groups, and even more so, entire groups of produce. To the latter, it might be controversial, but if you are honest with yourself for a moment, you will agree: no one is gaining weight because they are eating too many sweet potatoes or bananas or cantaloupe.
We are overcomplicating things in terms of weight loss formulas when we should be focusing on the very basic ideas as to what your body needs. At the very foundation of health is ingesting lots of fruits and vegetables. I am not sure it possible to overdose on those.
Let me start off by saying that I am not vegetarian, and I do not eat a ton of salads…but I do get at least 10 servings of produce every day.
However, after a virus attacked me, landed me in the hospital over Christmas (it was positively festive), and almost killed me (the attending physician would have benefitted from a course in pleasant bedside manner), I had to build my body back up. Food became medicine for me, and that totally reframed the way I approached it.
I have always been a healthy eater, but I had never faced a life-or-death situation. Fear is a tremendous motivator! But there are plenty of motivations, as you well know, to eating well.
After all this health disaster and trying to get better, one day I woke up, and all my pants were too big (just kidding – I hate pants!). I thought “okay wow, this is pretty amazing.” I focused heavily on nutrition as a way to heal, but the too big pants were an added benefit.
When you focus on getting the nutrients you need from real food, you do not have to restrict things.
I have a remarkable sweet tooth. For the most part though, when I indulge that tooth I have something like frozen yogurt or dark chocolate or pumpkin (because I am basic), which have other health benefits. There is a huge lovely gap between restricting foods to stay skinny and giving your body what it needs…and indulging some cravings.
Essentially I try to eat the rainbow every day. It really is not that difficult to get your servings in!
Eating well is like exercising – there is element of momentum. Once you start doing it, you get used to doing it, and it becomes a habit. Not to mention that you just feel a lot better when you, so you want to keep doing that.
Given all the love I have for produce, obviously there are some (vile weeds) out there I do not like.
Yes, there are certain vegetables that I have had to work at liking. I used to hate beets, butternut squash, and brussels sprouts. This is unfortunate because those puppies are nutritional powerhouses. However, as someone who hates to admit defeat, I kept trying them in different recipes until I found ones that made them palatable. (To that end, I plan on doing a series of recipes on “how to like X” including the recipes that converted me to liking them.)
I have found that if I find one way to eat a vegetable that is delicious, I learn to genuinely like the flavor.
For example, I tried a beet burger while visiting my brother in Austin, and it was incredible. The key was that it was topped with goat cheese and a yummy lemon vinaigrette. From there, the flavor of beets grew on me, and now I love them, even the juice! (Which is good, because beet juice is amazing for the liver.)
The only vegetable I still refuse to eat is eggplant (no redemption). I have tried it every which way. It is the taste, it is the texture, it is the essence of failure. If you happen to have a great eggplant recipe, please click on “contact me” and send it along! I want to like eggplant.
So while there are plenty of fruits and veggies I am sure you like and eat normally, if you want to up your intake, there are some universally loved dishes that help pretty seamlessly:
1. Pizza.
This is a pretty obvious one, but I love to start with a margherita pizza (my mom was named after my great-great grandmother Margherita!) and load it up with frozen peppers, mushrooms, onions, and artichokes, and/or roasted veggies. You can do the cauliflower pizza crust, of course, but I like a real pizza because I feel like I am eating pizza.
You would be surprised how satiating a couple of slices loaded with veggies is.
2. Risotto.
Here is where the northern Italian in me comes out. Risotto was built as a vehicle for veggies. There is always cheese (I lean on goat or parmesan usually), and that plus the tang of the acid (red or white wine) and saltiness of the broth means any vegetable can be masked flavor-wise. This is actually how I began eating zucchini and summer squash. Something I have recently started experimenting with is using riced cauliflower and broccoli rather than arborio rice. I could write an entire blog solely with recipes for risotto. However, I will never share my great-grandmother’s recipe. That is my secret forever and hands-down the most delicious thing I have ever eaten. Every generation has improved upon it, and I will brag until the day I die that my nonna said mine is better than my mom’s (sorry mom).
3. Veggie burger/fritter.
Basically you combine a bean or lentil with a grain and some veggies and spices. It is as simple as that! Then you top that sucker with some cheese and extra veggie toppings. I put slices of onions on everything, and I apologize for nothing.
4. Legume dip.
My go-to dip is cannellini beans plus a green (it is a good way to get kale into your system), some garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil. You can blend a lot of veggies into a dip, particularly if you throw some garlic in there.
5. Pasta.
Well this is a no-brainer. There are plenty of veggie noodles today, so talk about convenient! I actually threw away my spiralizer because there are so many options at the grocery store, both fresh and frozen. In my mind, there are really two options: veggie noodles with a meat sauce or regular (whole wheat, lentil-based, etc) pasta with a lot of veggies on top in a marinara. I distinguish those as separate entities because it’s really just not as satisfying and indulgent to have veggie noodles with veggies on top. Good for you if you think it is, but I personally am not someone who agrees. Don’t deprive yourself of real pasta, especially when you have all the primavera on top!
6. Tacos/quesadillas.
I have a theory that you could put hakarl in a quesadilla, then even that would be edible. (Okay maybe not, but you get my point. And if you don’t know what hakarl is…it’s Icelandic rotting shark, and you’re welcome.)
The basic equation of a quesadilla is cheese, perhaps an herb (it does not have to be cilantro – try basil or oregano for an Italian twist!), some spices, and vegetables. My personal favorite is peppers, mushrooms, and onions.
So there you have it, my most basic, easily loved foods that can serve as vessels for produce.
