1. Get Enough Fiber and Nutrients
Vegetables provide us with extra fiber, on top of the carbs, to help flush the system of toxins and prevent cancer and other colon problems. The typical diet consists of about 10 or 11 grams of fiber. By adding fresh, uncooked vegetables to your diet, you can increase your fiber intake to nearly 20 or grams, a much healthier place to be. Leave the skins on potatoes for more vitamins and more fiber. Cut up fresh vegetables in your salads for increased fiber, such as celery, radishes and cucumbers with the skins. Don't peel squash and zucchini to get the most flavor, fiber and nutrients. If you are not accustomed to eating raw vegetables, cut them really small at first until you begin to crave the taste.
2. Up the Ante
Get more Vitamins A and C from dark leafy greens such as radicchio, collards, kale and mustard greens. Some of these veggies need to be cooked, while others go great in salads and on sandwiches. Look for ways to incorporate dark green vegetables in your meals. Add broccoli to your stews and soups, and cut it up raw in salads. Peppers, cabbage and brussels sprouts are a much better way to get your daily vitamins than supplements can ever be. If your family turns up their collective noses at too many vegetables, find recipes that hide them. One dish meals like casseroles and skillet meals are great places to hide a slew of vegetables and cover them up with light sauces made of low-fat cheese and skim milk or chicken broth.
3. Chose the Color Palate
When choosing leafy green vegetables, always reach for darker colors. Lettuce today comes in a variety of shades in most every grocery store and farmer's market. Always lean toward the darker shades. If you prefer lighter lettuce such as iceberg, then mix it up. Make your salads with half iceberg lettuce and half loose lettuce. While all lettuce is made up mostly of water, the vitamin contents vary greatly. For example, one cup of iceberg lettuce contains about 300 grams of Vitamin A, while the same serving of Romaine lettuce provides 2600 grams.
4. Check for Bugs
Look for freshness when buying lettuce. If you see any black, slimy leaves on lettuce, be concerned that it could contain a fungus or be tainted from some heavy chemical fertilizers or germs. Lettuce tends to gather mold when left too long in one place, so buy it from sources that you know switches out the produce and brings it in from local sources whenever possible.
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