When I talk to clients, whether I’m seeing them for weight loss or improved sports performance, I generally hear an enormous and immediate emphasis on protein protein protein.
Sure, protein will help you build muscle, recover from a tough workout, and retain muscle while you lose fat…
But ya know what’s going to give you a natural immune boost, better hydration, luscious hair, skin, and nails, crisp eyesight, excellent digestion, reduced bloating, better sleep, scurvy prevention, and a strong heart that keeps beating longer…?
Fruits and vegetables baby.
I would say most of us know we probably need to get more produce in our lives...
But let’s face it, knowing that fruits and vegetables are good for us doesn’t mean we’ll actually eat them.
I get it…fruits and vegetables are just not as sexy as a big juicy steak or a full roasted chicken.
At least that’s what most people think.
I however have a different view of produce.
I view fruits and vegetables, not as a side dish or a necessary evil that should be incorporated into my day…
But as one of THE primary ways I get to easily transform my health and the health of my friends and family.
I know as a dietitian that there are SO many massive health benefits of fruits and vegetables that I would be insane not to incorporate them in abundance into my day-to-day life.
And when you think about it, there’s so much emphasis on taking foods away for health, weight loss, and better digestion that I think it’s refreshing to focus on what you can add to improve health and wellness.
Mind you, I didn’t always have this view…I’ve always loved fruit, but vegetables were generally an afterthought for me.
However, as I’ve gotten older (ahem…wiser) and deeper into my career as a dietitian, I’ve realized that fruits and vegetables are kind of magical…they really give your body good clean energy, are a natural rich source of vitamins and minerals, and can prevent or improve chronic diseases.
Armed with that knowledge, I purposely started to make fruits and veggies the star of every meal I cooked, and I began to incorporate one or the other into most of my snacks.
Basically, instead of viewing the protein as the main component of dishes, veggies and fruit started to get the most attention.
I essentially started looking at all recipes and asked myself, “what vegetables or fruits can I add to this?”
This was honestly a kind of lifestyle change that started with a simple willingness to be just a smidge more creative.
And this approach has paid off.
My husband and I now have more energy than we did in our early 20s, our labs are better at our annual physicals, and overall, I personally just feel healthy AF (even after I eat a big meal).
I think what really turned this into a lifestyle change for me though was not just the knowledge that produce is good for my body…
It was the small amount of extra effort I put in to just make these foods sexier.
I purposely put in effort to turn fruits and veggies into the most delicious, flavorful specimens that I could.
And as a result, my husband doesn’t complain when his meals are 70% vegetables.
In my next post, I’m going to teach you a handful of creative ways you too can start making fruits and vegetables a little sexier and therefore eat more of them…
But for now, I want to leave you with 2 simple questions to ponder…
The first is a question I ask all of my clients:
Are you willing to adjust the way you eat to improve your short-term and long-term health, or to accomplish your health goals?
Second question (more specific to this post):
Are there easy little ways you could adapt the dishes you currently make to incorporate more produce?
Chew on that and I’ll be back.
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