Ways to add more fruit and vegetables into your diet!

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Do you know how many servings of fruits and vegetables you should eat in a day?

5-10.... Now how many servings do you get in your diet? Be honest...

Now that you know how many should be in your diet, are you getting enough? The truth is that most people are not getting enough fruits or vegetables in their diets.

Knowing is one thing but the doing is the important part. Your mom was right it is right "eat your veggies!", It is so important. These are just a few reasons why fruits and vegetables are so important.

Fruits and vegetables are ....

1. High in vitamins and minerals

2. High in fiber

3. High in antioxidants

4. Low in calories and fat content

5. Protective against Cardiovascular disease and Cancer (and other degenerative diseases).

6. Delicious

7. Low in sodium

8. Low in Cholesterol

Now we looked at WHY they are important, lets look at a few ways to get more in our bodies.

1. SMOOTHIES - Start your day with a nutrient dense smoothie!. Throw some fruits in it, some kale and a protein powder. This is my favourite protein powder here. It tastes amazing, high in fiber, and is low glycemic. Best of all it contains 15 plants!!! This is the way I personally start my day to get a bunch of nutrients in my body first day!

2. DRIED FRUIT - is a great snack. However, you have to be careful as most dried fruit is high in sugar content. So use in moderation. This is a great salad topper, or mix with nuts for a afternoon snack. Make sure you get dried fruit that is unsweetened or sweetened with juice, and that is unsulfured. This is my favourite dried cranberries here, they are sweetened with apple juice!

3. ADD TO SANDWICHES - Okay this one might sound a bit weird, but peanut butter and banana sandwiches? It is pretty good! Top a turkey sandwich with lettuce, tomato, cucumber and anything else your family will consume.

4. BUDDHA BOWLS / SALAD BAR - This is a great way to get your family involved in cooking. For your meals chop up a variety of fruits and vegetables (make sure to have a protein and whole grain with it) and let your family create their own masterpiece.

5. ICE CREAM - There are so many recipes you can find online for "nice cream" it is a healthier version of ice cream. It is generally made with bananas or coconut milk. This is another way to add some more fruits and vegetables in your diet.

6. SNACKS - Make sure you have already washed, cut up fruits and vegetables in your fridge. This allows an easy snack when you are hungry. Let's face it opening a bag of chips can be easier than cutting and peeling a carrot. If it is all ready to go you will grab the carrot versus the bag of chips. Cut up an apple and dip in unsweetened almond butter, or put vegetables with hummus for a healthy snack.

7. VEGGIE DAY - Each week allow each member of the family to choose a vegetable one day of the week. As long as they have tried each vegetable the week before they qualify to get to choose. If they don't they lose a turn.

8. STOCK UP - It is so important to have a good collection of fruit and vegetables in your fridge so you will always have options to get a lot of fruits and vegetables in your diet.

9. LEAD BY EXAMPLE - This one is hard, but if you want your kids to eat more vegetables and fruit. You have to eat more vegetables and fruit. Our kids watch our every moves so if you don't do it, it will be harder to get your family to do it.

1. TOWER GARDEN - This was one of the best purchases I made. It is an aeroponic growing system. It is self watering, and the lights are on a timer (and best of all there are no weeds). I set my tower garden up, check the water and minerals once a week and then it is self sustaining. When I don't want to go to the grocery store (its a pandemic what can I say) I go downstairs and grab some fresh lettuce, or herbs, or kale and add them to whatever I am cooking. For more information about the tower garden contact me at info@thewellnessequation.com or check out my site here. There are two models, the home model which is sleeker (24" inches wide) which is the one I have and is predominately for greens and the flex model (30" inches wide) which is more versatile on what you can grow. You can even add a cage to this model and grow tomatoes. This ends up being a snack tower for my kids, they are always picking off of it as it grows "mom can I eat this (as they hold up some fresh chard or kale or lettuce)" ... yes you can ... yes you can...

Let me know which tips you integrated into your life to eat more fruit and vegetables!