Deciding to eat healthfully is one thing. Picking what to eat, is a whole other story.
For example: I innocently go to brunch. I check out the menu. The quinoa and squash bowl sounds like the smart choice. But the eggs Benedict just looks TOO good. I get the eggs. Story of my life.
Most of the time I’m just looking for a way to cut corners. How can I eat more vegetables and order my eggs at brunch?
Happily, there’s an answer to this!
The answer is definitely NOT those portion size pictures. I know you know the ones I’m talking about.
They’re the “simple” ones with the hands and the dice and the baseballs that are compared to measuring cups. They look so easy to follow. Until you’re sitting at brunch, squinting at the bread basket and you have no idea how big anything is.
And being hungry at a brunch that’s serving unlimited cocktails is definitely NOT the time to start messing around with measuring cups.
But that doesn’t mean you need to ignore all good sense either.
Instead of trying to convince yourself you’ll just “start tomorrow” while you’re on the way to happy hour on Friday, what if there was one basic guideline that doesn’t involve measuring or counting?
Something to that lets you walk (or stumble) away from happy hour actually feeling good about what you ate.
If you’re looking for just one thing you can eat right now that can put you on the path towards healthy, it’s getting in your vegetables.
Yea, I said it. Vegetables.
3 EASY WAYS TO ADD VEGETABLES TO ANYTHING
No matter where you are, there’s going to be a vegetable on the menu. It doesn’t have to be a fancy vegetables. That vegetable doesn’t even have to be your main course.
PUT IT ON SOMETHING
This is probably the easiest place to start. Just because you like pepperoni pizza the best, doesn’t mean you can’t dabble in a veggie slice from time to time.
Taking off the pepperoni and adding some broccoli will remove the worst part of that slice of pizza and add in a serving of veg instead.
PICK IT INSTEAD OF SOMETHING
Maybe you don’t really care about that slice of pizza, it’s just easy. Maybe if you took an extra 5 minutes to think about it, you’d remember that veggie pita place your co-worker ordered from that actually looked great.
MAYBE you’d even swap that pepperoni slice for that pita and make it a major win for the day.
ADD IT TO THE MEAL
It’s very possible there are days that a slice of pepperoni pizza will be non-negotiable. This doesn’t mean you can have to walk away from your veggie serving for that meal.
When you add a vegetable to your meal, you’ll be one step closer to meeting your needs for the day. A full side of veg, like in a side salad or some sauteed spinach, can get you up to 2 servings. That’s a lot more than you’d get on the pizza slice.
Add it to every meal, and you’ll really be close to getting your recommended 8-10 servings of vegetables a day.
So today (and again tomorrow, and then again the next day), start here. Pick a veg today. Try something new. Black bean burger? Grilled tofu? You might actually like this stuff.
Other times you might just need to share the fries and get a salad of your own (dressing on the side, of course). Let your friend suffer the consequences of the onion rings. You can still grab a handful when she’s not looking.
Any place that works for you, is the place you should start. Try adding a veg to your next meal. You might be surprised how easy it is.