Welcome back to Get Motivated Mondays. Each week, we talk about ways to get a little healthier. Sometimes, it’s about eating well, others it’s about exercising. I’m starting to run low on topics regarding getting healthy, so I may change things up in the near future. In the mean time, if you have anything you’d like to read about, leave me a comment, or if you’d like to submit a guest post to fall under this category, I’d be interested!
So, did you all have a nice Easter holiday? We spent the day at my sister’s house. There were 12 kids and 7 adults there. We had a nice time. I’ll be sharing pictures later this week!
Do you remember, growing up, your mom telling you to make sure you eat your vegetables? Sometimes, it was “Eat your vegetables or you don’t get dessert”. I’ve actually been known to say that to my kids, imagine that! 🙂 Why is it that we sometimes have a hard eating enough vegetables?
I can think of several excuses:
- Don’t like them (top excuse for kids!)
- Forgot to make them (my stupid excuse)
- I eat them, just not the daily recommended amount
- No time to prep a salad
- _____________________(Fill in the blank)
It’s time we all stop making excuses! When I consistently increase my vegetable intake, losing weight becomes a lot easier. It’s amazing. The great thing about vegetables is that you can usually eat as many of them as you want to and not gain weight. In Weight Watchers, most of them are considered a free food because they’re so important. Only corn and potatoes count as points because they are starchy veggies.
So now lets talk about what the big reasons are to eat more vegetables?
- They are full of fiber, which makes you feel more full, reducing the amount of other foods you consume.
- Carrots help to improve eye sight.
- They help to prevent disease (heart disease, cancer, stroke, kidney stones, etc)
- They help you to lose weight (which also helps to prevent the above diseases)
- They boost your immune system, making it easier to fight off illnesses.
- They help your skin tone to look younger and more vibrant
- You have more energy because your body has the nutrients it needs
- Cost – it’s actually quite a bit cheaper to make a veggie dish, than it is a meat dish
- You can grow them – this could count as school if you’re a homeschooler.
What is the best way to eat your veggies? However you will eat them!! In all honesty though, I believe that you should eat food in as close to their natural state as possible. This means, raw is probably best, followed by frozen (and cooked), then canned is last.
If you’re having a hard time eating enough vegetables each day, try making a green smoothie, have a salad before each meal or if you’re having a really hard time with it and don’t mind investing some money, you could try a shake supplement called BarleyMax 
. My mom bought me a container of it and I think I’m at least going to try that this week, along with adding more fresh veggies to the table for snacks and with meals. If you have any other great reasons to eat the veggies or an awesome vegetable recipe, please leave a comment below!
. My mom bought me a container of it and I think I’m at least going to try that this week, along with adding more fresh veggies to the table for snacks and with meals. If you have any other great reasons to eat the veggies or an awesome vegetable recipe, please leave a comment below!What’s your favorite way to eat your vegetables?
Alina Joy says
We always eat raw food before the cooked food at our house! I have two "tricks" to make this happen without complaining: I start the babies on raw food very young. I grind salad up in a tiny food processor for them to eat when they're itty-bitty! I also make delicious dressing that makes it hard to resist a second serving of salad! Ok, sometimes the salad is just the vehicle to get the dressing in, but it all gets eaten! Great post! =)