Include a variety of veggies on your daily menu to be sure plenty of nutrition enters every meal. Include every color of the rainbow to ensure each nutrient, vitamin and mineral gets in the diet. Use the freshest and least processed veggies for the most nutritional value and try cooking them in ways that don't toss the nutrients with the boiled water.
Snacks
Between-meal snacks transform diet killers to diet helpers when veggies form the snack. Pre-packaged baby carrots, celery, sugar snap peas, sliced bell peppers, button mushrooms and broccoli florets all provide great nutrition. Dip them in fat-free yogurt or low-fat dressing for extra zip and variety. MayoClinic.com states advises beginning any food shopping visit in the fresh produce section of the market, so the fridge will contain plenty of veggie snacks to keep diet-killing hunger from making the dieter reach for fattening, high-sodium, processed snack foods.
Salads
Try varying salad dressings with home-made cider vinegar, virgin olive oil and salt-free spices for low-fat zest added to the salad. Crumbled goat cheese, walnuts or sliced almonds added to a salad can add protein and healthy oils to the mix, according to MyPyramid.gov.
Sides
Side dishes of veggies provide the best nutrition when cooked so nutrients don't bleed into boiling water or are lost from over-cooking. Experiment with microwaved or steamed veggies. Cheesy and buttery sauces add unneeded calories, sodium and fat, so go for salt-free spices and a splash of cider vinegar instead. Pair vegetable side dishes with poultry or fish instead of red meat for the healthiest sources of protein. The Harvard School of Public Health states a six-ounce portion of salmon provides slightly less protein than a six-ounce steak, but with 25 percent of the fat content.
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