ShareThisThis is the government's new dietary recommendation: Eat more fruits and vegetables.
We've heard this advice for years, with little effect on our diets. But the U.S. Department of Agriculture, along with first lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" initiative, hope that a new educational campaign and a simplified message will make the difference.
At the heart of this education campaign is a new dietary icon, a plate divided into segments: one-quarter protein, one-quarter grains and starch, and one-half fruits and vegetables, with a small circle for dairy off to the side.
But filling half a plate with fruits and vegetables is easier said than done. They're often expensive and time-consuming to prepare. Fresh options taste the best, but they have a short shelf life and, again, require the most labor. It can be even harder to load up on fruits and veggies at most restaurants.
To help overcome these obstacles, here are some tips from the fruit- and vegetable-loving Pittsburgh Post-Gazette food family.
-- Be a flexitarian
I make sure that two or three (and that's a minimum) of our meals a day are vegetarian. If we have meat for lunch, I try not to serve meat for dinner, so it might be pasta with broccoli or tomato sauce from the freezer, or garlic and oil; or a baked potato with olive oil or light sour cream and dill, with at least one other vegetable and a big salad. -- Miriam Rubin
-- Think of meat, not vegetables, as the garnish
This time of year, it's so easy to make a dinner salad that's filling and delicious, but mostly vegetables. Try arugula with sliced strawberries or tart apples, fennel and rotisserie chicken. Dress tender baby spinach, cherry tomatoes and thinly shaved zucchini with a mixture of freshly squeezed lemon juice, yogurt and chopped dill. Then top each bowl with a serving of grilled meat (about 3 ounces); or add a handful of canned, rinsed chickpeas for a vegetarian option. Cutting the meat into small pieces will ensure that each bite is a balanced mix of flavors, with the added benefit of making the portion seem larger.
Once tomato season is in full swing, make a modified Greek salad with cubed cucumber, tomatoes and olives, but skip the cheese and add black-eyed peas, canned salmon; or grilled shrimp, instead. -- China Millman
-- Fill your freezer
At our house, we all love vegetables, including our 3-1/2-year-old, who'll devour just about anything, especially if it's plucked from the backyard garden or from a farmers market. Unfortunately, in lots of parts of the country, for most of the year good-quality fresh vegetables are not accessible. To always have something good to eat, even in the summer and fall, I try to keep in the freezer a few boxes of frozen vegetables, which really can be nearly as good as fresh.
Whole-leaf spinach is good on its own -- with just a little olive oil, or maybe with some garlic and a handful of toasted pine nuts and raisins -- or it can be served over pasta or in a quick lasagna. Frozen peas are tasty and versatile, too -- I like to make a quick Spanish pea soup. And my son and I both like classic boxes of Birdseye mixed vegetables, which give you peas, green beans, corn and carrots in one shot, which you can make more sophisticated than you think with the right dried herbs. -- Bob Batz
-- Smooth move
A great way to get more fruit into your diet is to make smoothies. I just made one with frozen mango and pineapple, low-fat yogurt, milk, finely shredded (unsweetened) coconut and honey. Delicious. And refreshingly cool on a 90-degree day -- Patricia Lowry
-- Subterfuge is your friend
Combine a familiar and acceptable (motion, food, taste, texture) with the (new) thing you want to be eaten, whatever it might be.
Dip it.
It's all about the "motion" of dipping. We are programmed to dip. Cut up anything. Works best if the dip is white and creamy. Yogurt zipped up with lemon and garlic, yogurt with mashed avocado and lime juice, ketchup and a little lo-cal mayo or yogurt.
Hide it.
Put it in a sandwich (apple slices are good on a sandwich). Add it to a taco. Bury it under cheese in a pizza (wilted spinach is good like this). Put it in a salad with lots of other familiar stuff. Add it to macaroni and cheese, an omelet or frittata or a pizza. -- Marlene Parrish
(Contact China Millman at cmillman(at)post-gazette.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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