Anyone here need to get more color in your diet?! I do! For the next month my plan is to focus on getting 3 additional servings of fruit or vegetables a day. Right now I usually get one or two (but sometimes none ).
I'm going to log all the produce I eat here everyday for the next week to keep myself accountable. Want to join me? I hope you do! The general consensus seems to be that a serving of veggies or cut fruit is a 1/2 cup. A serving of whole fruit about the size of a tennis ball. Of course you can gage it however you want, the point is to eat more of the green stuff! I'm starting off with a bang! Right now I'm sitting here with a giant bowl of veggies mixed with cottage cheese.
Vegetables: It's what's for (a weird) breakfast
So tell us what your fruit/veggie related goal is. Tell us all about the fruits and veggies you're eating! Let us know if you try something new! Share those delicious recipes you are about to discover! Ready, set, go green!
Last edited by thinpossible; 06-28-2009 at 08:38 AM.
Sun. 6/21
Um, do coffee beans count as a vegetable? OOPS! I'll do better today.
Mon. 6/22
Breakfast:
Lunch: Darn, I'm behind again today. Small salad with lunch so far.
Dinner: Wow, I really suck at the fruit/veggie thing. Plus I just started my period so I'm craving carbs. And I need to go to the store...
Tues. 6/23
Breakfast:
Snack: Look! I'm eating an orange! This may be no big deal for you, but for me it's big! An orange, which I am eating!
Lunch: pineapple and carrots!
Dinner:
Weds. 6/24
snack: apple
lunch: apple
dinner: salad on the table. did not eat it
Thurs. 6/25
apricot w/ breakfast, carrots with lunch
Fri 6/26
Shoot, I didn't log, and now I can't remember
Sat. 6/26
carrots for lunch, salad for dinner
Last edited by thinpossible; 06-28-2009 at 08:36 AM.
my goal is to have more veg (now that i have a garden, should be easier!) and to eat LESS fruit - sounds weird I know, but the stuff is like frickin' candy to me!! HALF a WATERMELON is NOT a serving!!! LOL
T--and even with all that, I was 1/2 serving of fruit under what I should have eaten today.
Wow, you're still doing really well. I'll eventually work my way up to the FDA rec., but for now, I'm just working on 3 extra. As you can see by yesterday, not so much. I usually eat my veggies at dinner, we were out of town and DH wanted Mexican for Father's Day, and they aren't really big on the veggies, unless you count the garnish I'll do better today!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trazey34
my goal is to have more veg (now that i have a garden, should be easier!) and to eat LESS fruit - sounds weird I know, but the stuff is like frickin' candy to me!! HALF a WATERMELON is NOT a serving!!! LOL
Tell us how your garden is going and I can't wait to hear how much better your veggies taste than the store bought variety!
Tell us how your garden is going and I can't wait to hear how much better your veggies taste than the store bought variety!
it's crazy good! the radishes are so HOT and fresh it's heavenly LOL the tomatoes aren't anywhere near ready yet, but we've had a few potatoes, tiny new ones soooo goooood!!! one thing i do notice is that you pick it you better EAT it that day or it doesn't last long -- makes me wonder what the heck they put in it at the store to make it last so long??? There's a documentary coming out called FOOD, INC. that talks about all the crap that's in our food supply - not just the packaged things, but meat and veg and fruit everything! i'm kind of afraid to watch it tho, yoikes!
I have challenged myself over time to raise the quantity of vegetables and fruits in my diet, usually tweaking one meal at a time rather than trying to drastically change my habits all at once. At this point, a typical weekday menu includes 8 to 12 servings of veggies and fruits, and it looks like this for me:
Breakfast: 4 oz blueberries, 4 oz nonfat yogurt, 4 oz nonfat cottage cheese, ground ginger, fish oil supplement
Snack: 8 oz asparagus, 3 oz baked chicken
Lunch: 3 oz canned salmon, 3 oz carrots, 3 oz spinach, 3 oz tomatoes, 2 oz avocado, 1/2 grapefruit
Snack: 4 oz cherries, 1/2 oz almonds
Dinner: Onion-mushroom-sausage gravy and chicken on whole-wheat toast, 10 oz salad of romaine lettuce, green pepper, cabbage
Treat: Hot chocolate made from nonfat milk, cocoa powder, agave syrup, and cinnamon; and a spoonful of peanut butter
Beverages throughout the day: Coffee, green tea, black tea, water with lemon juice
That's more veggies than I was getting even three months ago, because I used to have oatmeal and milk at my morning snack, rather than veggies and chicken. But I changed my routine because I specifically wanted to get more veggies in, even though I was already in the 6 to 10 servings a day range then.
It's been helpful for me to try to change my perspective about meal planning. It used to be that my basic question was, "What am I going to have to go with my carbs at this meal?" Now I am trying to start from, "What vegetable is the centerpiece of this meal?" Thinking about veggies as just side dishes that I "should" eat leads to me eating them less often, or in smaller quantities. But thinking about vegetables as if they are the real food, and everything else is just a condiment, leads to me eating them more often and in larger quantities.
It's been helpful for me to try to change my perspective about meal planning. It used to be that my basic question was, "What am I going to have to go with my carbs at this meal?" Now I am trying to start from, "What vegetable is the centerpiece of this meal?" Thinking about veggies as just side dishes that I "should" eat leads to me eating them less often, or in smaller quantities. But thinking about vegetables as if they are the real food, and everything else is just a condiment, leads to me eating them more often and in larger quantities.
That's a really good point, WarMaiden. That's how I began increasing the protein in my diet. I started saying "what will go with my protein at this snack/meal?" So I no longer eat just oatmeal or toast for breakfast, for instance, because they don't have much protein of their own.
You inspire me to do the same with veggies. "What veggies will I have with my protein?" is a good question to work with. Thank you for this inspiration.
Fruit & Veggie Challenge
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