Add More Veggies To Your Diet
We could all add some more veggies to our diet.
Athletes need the variety of vitamins and minerals found in vegetables that help maintain a strong and healthy body. Athletes also benefit from eating vegetables as they play a vital role in recovery following strenuous exercise. When athletes do not get enough of these nutrients, it can lead to fatigue, muscle damage and impaired immune function.
Another great benefit of consuming more vegetables is the high water content, which helps with hydration. Lastly, more veggies helps keep your system regular and aids in digestion.
There are many easy ways to add vegetables into your diet on a daily basis to help maintain a healthy life.
Tips To Add More Veggies To Your Diet
1) Veggie noodles like zucchini noodles, carrot noodles, and sweet potato noodles! Â Mix with regular pasta or eat on their own as the main dish!
2) Soups – add extra chopped vegetables to canned soups or broth.
3) Veggies at breakfast – chop up peppers, broccoli, spinach, or any veggie of your choice and add to your morning eggs or in an omelet. RECIPE BELOW
4) Smoothies! Blend in spinach, or other greens by the fistful. Mixed with fruit and you won’t even taste the vegetable!
5) Prep right away – make up salads and store in plastic containers so they are easy to grab and go! Â Another prep idea is to roast (or better yet for even faster cooking – AIR FRY) a large batch of vegetables that you can eat throughout the week.
6) Add chopped veggies to sauces (like pasta sauce) for an added veggie boost.
Veggie Egg Cups
Ingredients
- 1 cup spinach, chopped
- 1 cup red / green bell pepper, chopped
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes quartered
- 6 eggs
- 4 egg whites
- 1/4 cup feta or parmesan cheese, grated
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Lightly coat a standard 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick spray.
- Divide the spinach, bell peppers, tomatoes and cheese among the cups (they will be about two-thirds of the way full).
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg whites and seasonings until well combined.
- Fill each muffin cup three-quarters of the way to the top with the egg mixture.
- Bake for 24 to 28 minutes, until the egg muffins are set. Let cool for a few minutes, remove them from the pan and enjoy!
- Store leftover egg muffins in the refrigerator.
This recipe is incredibly flexible. Feel free to swap the listed veggies for the same amount of any other diced vegetable or cooked, diced meat.
Linsey Corbin is a professional triathlete who is an 8x Ironman Champion and has achieved top-American honors at both the Ironman and 70.3 World Championships. Linsey has been a QT2 Systems & The Core Diet athlete since 2013. Linsey works closely with the TCD Registered Dietitians developing recipes, creating content & sharing knowledge in regards to fueling to improve performance.