Happy Eat Your Veggies Day!

This summer I have been volunteering with the American Heart Association as the Communications Intern. Through this intern experience I have learned a lot about what it takes to keep your heart happy. Healthy eating is a key part to improving your heart health, and today we are celebrating National Eat Your Vegetables Day. Vegetables are very important not only because they are full of beneficial nutrients and are low calorie and high fiber foods, but they also help lower the risk of serious health conditions like, heart disease, stroke and many others. It is crucial to incorporate these natural, healthy foods into your daily diet, but it can sometimes seem very difficult.

You do not have to adjust your entire diet to in order to fit in more vegetables. All you need to do is supplement them to your current diet and make some healthier decisions. Adding extra veggies on your sandwiches and eating a side salad with your lunches and dinners can help you easily include extra nutrients without changing your entire diet.

Also, you can substitute unhealthy snacks like potato chips with quick, and easy-to-eat vegetables like, cucumbers and peppers. Try to avoid stopping at vending machines when at school or work by packing a snack beforehand. Throwing some veggies like carrots or sugar snap peas in your bag before heading off to work or school can help you avoid unhealthy, high calorie snacks. In order to keep yourself on track and honest, prepare some precut and prepacked vegetables and keep them in your fridge so you can quickly grab a snack and go.

Many people are put off by vegetables and claim to not enjoy the taste. These people still can include veggies in their daily diets and enjoy their many health benefits by sneaking them into their meals.

For example, when making dishes with ground meat, like burgers and meatballs, replace half of the meat with chopped onions. This will add nutrients to your meal without completely changing the taste. Another example is adding spinach or kale into fruit smoothies. If you put a frozen banana into your smoothie as well, the taste of the vegetables will be almost completely masked.

Celebrate National Eat Your Vegetables Day by incorporating more of these super foods into your daily diet by making healthier decisions.