Is it really so hard to eat vegetables?
Several months ago, a friend of mine told me she was forcing herself to drink a small can of tomato juice each morning, even though she despised the stuff. I asked why she was drinking it, then. “Because I’m trying to get in three servings of vegetables a day,” was her answer. We chatted a bit more, and it came out that even though she hated tomato juice, she just couldn’t come up with any better ideas for getting that third serving in.
I was stunned.
Reading this article the other day, I starting wondering a bit. Why is it so hard for people to get enough vegetables in their diets? Are vegetables rare? Hard to find? Too expensive? Or do people really just not know they’re supposed to eat them? What’s so darn difficult about eating veggies?
Unfortunately, getting enough servings of vegetables in does seem to be a challenge for lots of people. So much so that the US government has come out with this calculator to tell you how many fruits and veggies you should be eating per day. It recommended 2.5 cups of veggies per day for me, along with 2 cups of fruit. I eat probably twice that amount of veggies, but I certainly don’t eat that much fruit.
Do you have trouble getting in enough servings of vegetables each day?
I find it really easy to get both, especially fruit, I snack on it like crazy!
My number one rule for vegetable eating: don’t force yourself to eat the ones you don’t like.
When I was pregnant with my first son I took a class the local community college was giving on family nutritian. According to them people have an easier time eating vegetables than fruits. The teacher said because people associate veggies with health and will force themselves to eat them. But fruit, which tastes sweet, gets mixed with treats in their minds and too often gets replaced with junk treats.
I’ve always liked veggies. There are so many kinds of vegetables out there, it must be nearly impossible not to find at least a bunch to like. And sometimes liking veggies has to do with how they’re prepared…