Vegetables really are our dietary heroes for so many reasons! They offer us protective factors for heart health, provide many strong anti-cancer components, keep us in good bowel health and their low
kilojoule and high fibre content assists with appetite control and weight management.
The fibre works in a number of ways. It takes longer for your body to break down, so keeps you feeling fuller for longer. Fibre adds bulk and size to your meals without contributing many kilojoules. For
instance, if you halve a bowl of rice and beef strips, and top it up with plenty of greens, it will effectively provide half the kilojoules, but a similar level of fullness. Plus the actual physical action of chewing fibre gives an increased feeling of fullness. The trend of juicing your vegetables, which either removes or breaks the fibre down provides a reduced level of fullness compared to chewing the whole fibre.
As we step into winter and salads have less appeal you may need to change the way you access your greens: steam a medley of winter vegetables for the evening meal and cook double, so they are also easily available for lunch the following day. Make your vegetables delicious. If you want to add soy, thai chilli, oyster or any other low fat sauce for flavour – then do so!
Some soups can be great – use plenty of the green or ‘free’ vegetables and briefly simmer in a good stock. Keeping the vegetables crunchy will encourage chewing and improve appetite control. The higher the vegetable content and the less of the fluid the better.
Frozen vegetables are also a good option. You could make your own or the commercially available ones are a quick and easy option – maybe keep a bag as a backup in your freezer at home and at work. Use your herbs or low fat sauces to make them delicious!
