Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is about little tweaks you can make to
Speaker 1: achieve that common New Year's goal of healthier eating. Now,
Speaker 1: I know that the exact definition of a healthy diet
Speaker 1: is not settled science. If you want to see the
Speaker 1: sparks fly between the low card people and the whole
Speaker 1: grain people, try asking whether eating something like keenwa is
Speaker 1: a great idea or not. But most people would benefit
Speaker 1: from eating more produce. Fruits and vegetables tend to have
Speaker 1: a lot of water and fiber and nutrients, and when
Speaker 1: our stomachs are filled with these things, there's less room
Speaker 1: for stuff that's more questionable. So over the past few months,
Speaker 1: I've been trying to get myself up to the five
Speaker 1: to nine servings per day that the U s d
Speaker 1: A recommend. And this seems like a lot of fruit
Speaker 1: and veggies, but it hasn't felt too difficult. Some of
Speaker 1: my strategies might be helpful for other people too. My
Speaker 1: first tweak always eating a serving of fruit or veggies
Speaker 1: at breakfast. Since I'm generally cooking at home, I mix mushrooms, peppers,
Speaker 1: or spinach into my eggs. But fruit is more convenient
Speaker 1: for people on the go. Grab an apple to eat
Speaker 1: with your coffee. Lots of coffee shops sell bananas right
Speaker 1: next to the register. You can grab one and add
Speaker 1: a serving with close to zero effort. Once you've started
Speaker 1: doing that, double down by adding one produce based snack
Speaker 1: to your repertoire daily. If you're in an office, you
Speaker 1: could bring a pack of baby carrots or cut up celery,
Speaker 1: or there's little snack sized peppers or cucumbers and hummus
Speaker 1: for a mid afternoon pick me up. I put a
Speaker 1: fruit bowl on the island in the kitchen next to
Speaker 1: my home office. Now I see apples every time I
Speaker 1: walk in there, so I tend to grab one and
Speaker 1: the peanut butter when I'm hungry, or maybe one of
Speaker 1: those little oranges that make for very tasty snacks. Next,
Speaker 1: take yourself to the master's level with this fruit. For dessert,
Speaker 1: frozen bananas and strawberries make a great smoothie when blended together.
Speaker 1: Mangoes and blueberries too. I snack on frozen grapes, which
Speaker 1: are quite tasty, or combine sliced bananas with chocolate chips.
Speaker 1: Pineapples are sweet enough to eat on their own. Of course,
Speaker 1: to eat lots of produce, you need to have lots
Speaker 1: of produce accessible, and in the past I've bought pineapples
Speaker 1: and then watched them rot on the counter because chopping
Speaker 1: them up seems like a lot of work. Then I
Speaker 1: realized that grocery stores sell pre cut produce. Yes, it's
Speaker 1: more expensive, but in the grand scheme of things, it's
Speaker 1: probably better to pay five dollars for something you'll eat
Speaker 1: than three dollars or something you'll throw out. We now
Speaker 1: generally have packages of cut up fruit sitting in the fridge.
Speaker 1: Another great hack frozen veggies. With these in the freezer,
Speaker 1: a stir fried dinner with tons of produce is as
Speaker 1: easy as cutting up and sauteing a protein. If you
Speaker 1: don't have frozen veggies, well, then you might come home
Speaker 1: from work, decide there's nothing to eat, and order pizza
Speaker 1: or take out that doesn't involve a lot of produce.
Speaker 1: In general, frozen veggies can be thrown into various convenience
Speaker 1: foods to make them modestly more healthy. Last night, for instance,
Speaker 1: I added a serving of frozen peas to some soup. Now.
Speaker 1: I know that every January many people resolve to avoid
Speaker 1: unhealthy foods. The problem with this is that it sounds
Speaker 1: like it's going to require a lot of willpower and
Speaker 1: isn't much fun. But adding something to a diet seems
Speaker 1: relatively indulgent, and I'm all in favor of solutions that
Speaker 1: sound easy. If you've managed to add more fruits and
Speaker 1: veggies to your diet, I'd love to hear how. You
Speaker 1: can email me at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart
Speaker 1: media dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening, and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod.
Speaker 1: That's b the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is
Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from
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