Are you a lover of summer salads and fruit but tend to find the inspiration to include fruits and vegetables in your diet a challenge in winter? This blog is for you. Fruits and vegetables are so versatile, with a bit of imagination and creativity you can still meet and enjoy getting enough fruits and vegetables each day to stay healthy.
Warm Up with Salad
Have you tried a warm salad? Some ideas could be roasted vegetables like capsicum, potato, sweet potato or pumpkin with roasted chickpeas and feta cheese or grilled chicken breast. To make this a complete meal by adding some wholegrains like brown rice, or pasta, wholegrain couscous or quinoa.
Load Up Sauces and Soups with Veggies
Do you tend to stick to a simple soup or sauce without many varieties in vegetables? Adding in additional vegetables not only can add more nutrients to your body but also add additional taste to your meals.
Some ideas could be adding more vegetables to a tomato soup to make a minestrone or a rainbow of vegetables soup. If you want to help achieve and maintain a healthy weight aim for a soup based in water over cream.
Adding more vegetables like legumes, mushrooms, corn, to a beef mince. Spice up a tomato pasta sauce with your favourite vegetables. Some ideas can be eggplant, capsicum, mushrooms, peas, corn, celery, carrot or spinach.
Enjoy Warm Fruit Desserts
Fruits are enjoyed in many different varieties in summer but can also be enjoyed and help warm you in winter. One of my favourite ideas is baking or microwaving an apple. Core the apple and stuff with low fat cream cheese and raisins with cinnamon.
Add More Veggies to Your Favourites
We all have favourite meals we go to. Over winter to help meet your vegetable serve needs aim to bulk up a cup or two of vegetables over winter. For example, adding some chickpeas or sweet potato to a curry or add more vegetables to your steak and three vegetables. Add some peas, cauliflower, broccoli and corn to a tuna bake.
Eat Seasonally
In the western world we have access to most fruits and vegetables all year. The taste of eating fruits and vegetables in season far outweighs the vegetables and fruits which have been kept in storage for longer. Winter vegetables also have nutrients like vitamins C and A which support your immune system to function optimally. In addition, these vegetables also give a cosy, warming feeling which make them perfect to add to your meals and snacks.
Vegetables and fruits which are in season over winter include grapefruit, kiwifruit, fuji apples, pears, avocado, oranges, spinach, pumpkin, potato, sweet potato, beetroot, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, fennel, and garlic. These are just a few examples, but the variety is amazing.
Remember Herbs and Spices
Adding herbs and spices can be a fantastic way to enhance the flavour of a meal or snack and increase the nutrients and antioxidants your body receives. Some winter warming ideas can be adding cinnamon to your porridge. Try adding turmeric to your favourite curry or paprika to a soup, pasta sauce or nachos.
Take home message: Finding the love for fruits and vegetables over winter is possible. Adding in enough and a variety of fruits and vegetables can make eating during this time of year more enjoyable and tastier. You will also be putting your best health forward by giving your body a variety of nutrients to support an optimal functioning body and immune system.
If you are looking for more individualised nutrition support reach out today to an experienced dietitian at Feed Your Future Dietetics.
References:
- Winter Fruit and Vegetables. Cancer Council NSW. https://www.cancercouncil.com.au/news/winter-fruit-vegetables/egetables | Cancer Council NSW
- 17 Creative Ways to Eat More Vegetables. Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/17-ways-to-eat-more-veggies#1.-Make-veggie-based-soupse.com)
- Bodytec Train Smarter. Get Stronger. www.bodytec.com.za
