Eat Your Vegetables The Way You Eat Your Fruit

Posted on July 26th, 2008.

I think the good Lord was absolutely brilliant when he created fruits and vegetables. Many varieties of produce already come in the perfect serving size. Apples, bananas, oranges, plums, tomatoes, potatoes, corn, apricots, peaches, peppers… He really knew what he was doing when he created these nutritious gems! Eating nutritiously is so easy if you have fresh produce at home. You can simply grab one as you head out the door, and you have a healthy portion of food, packed with vitamins and nutrients.

Most often, people think of fruits as being the main type of food you would eat whole. You know, peel a banana and eat it. Grab an apple and take a big bite out of it. But let’s not forget that we can do the same thing with veggies. One of my favorite ways to make sure I’m getting veggies in my diet is to actually eat an entire red, green or yellow pepper at a meal. Peppers are FULL of wonderful vitamins and nutrients, so instead of just eating a few skinny slices, cut them up in big pieces and eat half the pepper or the entire thing! Sure, it does look a little weird to eat a pepper the same way you would an apple or a plum, but why not? Something we do at our house is cut the pepper in half, get rid of the seeds and then eat the entire half of the pepper. I especially love dipping it in low fat dressing such as the Kraft Light Raspberry Vinaigrette.

Obviously, not all fruits and vegetables are in perfect portion sizes. A watermelon or celery bunch is much more than one person could handle. But be a little different when trying to eat your vegetables. Slice up half of a cucumber and eat it. Cut a tomato in quarters and top it with low fat cottage cheese. Remember – fruits are wonderful for you, but veggies are even better! Challenge yourself every day to eat more veggies than you do fruits. And challenge yourself to eat more fruits than you do treats. If you continually eat fruits and veggies, you will feel so much more clean and energetic in your life. Why else do you think Heavenly Father made them for us? Hmmmm?