10 Sneaky Ways to Eat More Vegetables During Office Meals – and Get Closer to 9 Servings Per Day!
Posted by Sara on Monday, June 16th, 2014 with Comments Off on 10 Sneaky Ways to Eat More Vegetables During Office Meals – and Get Closer to 9 Servings Per Day! Comments
How many fruits and vegetables do you eat every day? How many do you think you should be eating? Maybe an apple at breakfast, a side salad at lunch, and an ear of corn off the grill at dinner?
Think again. The latest recommendations from the USDA suggest that the average American adult should be eating nine servings of fruits and veggies daily, with an emphasis on the vegetables. Approximately, that means two cups of fruit, and two and a half cups of vegetables.
Five servings of a veggies a day? You’re not alone if this is a struggle – but it doesn’t have to be!
Image source: flickr user Rick Ligthelm
If your current routine leaves you falling short (especially if you don’t count white potatoes, which many nutrition experts say you shouldn’t), you aren’t alone. Research suggests that many Americans are only eating three servings of fruits & vegetables every day — a third of the recommendation. And this means that most of us are actively saying “no thanks” to a healthy habit that would almost certainly reduce our risk for weight gain, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, and cancer.
Vegetables, for some reason, seem trickier than fruit to most of us — maybe because fruit is sweet and easy to eat all on its own, and vegetables typically aren’t. Snacking on apple slices or fresh berries is a lot more appealing than eating a dish of raw broccoli. The good news is that you don’t have to become a vegan or eat a bucket of kale every day to up your vegetable intake — and even at the office, you don’t really have to change your routine or ditch your favorite food delivery order at all!
One way to build a nine-servings-per-day habit is to simply always be on the lookout for ways to add vegetables to whatever office meals you’re already eating. If you decide to make more drastic changes (like observing Meatless Monday or cutting back on sugar), that’s awesome… but don’t let inconvenience hold you back from eating more fruits and vegetables right now.
Need a little inspiration to get your vegetable habit kick-started? Here are ten easy ways to sneak more veggies into your office meals:
1) Add veggies to your morning omelette (spinach & tomatoes are excellent options) at a catered breakfast meeting
2) Instead of cream cheese, spread a healthy dose of hummus on your bagel: chickpeas are a great source of fiber
Yes, hummus can be a vegetable serving – it’s made from chickpeas!
Image source: Flickr user Lara604
3) Order your lunchtime pizza with extra veggies (bell peppers are an excellent choice), and if you really want to go crazy, half the usual amount of pepperoni or sausage too
4) Order sweet potato fries instead of regular from the diner — while fries still aren’t the best choice, you’ll at least get a nice dose of the antioxidant beta-carotene
5) Add a cup of minestrone soup or vegetarian chili to your lunch order — as a bonus, it may help you consume fewer calories during the rest of your meal
6) Instead of sour cream, get guacamole on your burrito (yes, avocado is technically a fruit, but still packs a lot of vitamin C and heart-healthy monounsaturated fats)
7) At the Chinese place, ask for extra veggies in your favorite stir-fry or more broccoli in your beef-and-broccoli — and eat a little less rice to make room
8) Add an order of edamame next time you have sushi delivered to the office
9) Try an eggplant curry from your favorite Indian takeout place — you’ll be shocked at how little you miss the meat!
Indian food is a fantastic cuisine for eating more veggies.
Image source: Flickr user pelican
10) When you order a deli sandwich, add a few extra veggies like spinach or sliced bell peppers (iceberg lettuce is kind of a nutritional throwaway, so don’t waste your time there!)
The easiest way to eat more vegetables is to try new ones — if you automatically think of broccoli and spinach, you might just need to broaden your horizons. Whether it’s eggplant in your curry or beans in your chili, there are so many ways to sneak a few extra servings into your office meals! And ordering with Waiter.com makes the facing challenge even easier. What’s holding you back from getting your nine-a-day?
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