Vegetables are a source of various vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber. Some vitamins and minerals contained in vegetables act as antioxidants in the body. Various studies show that adequate consumption of vegetables plays a role in maintaining blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels to remain normal. Adequate vegetable consumption also reduces the risk of constipation and obesity. This shows that adequate consumption of vegetables plays a role in preventing chronic non-communicable diseases. Furthermore, sufficient vegetable consumption is also a simple indicator of balanced nutrition.
The World Health Organization (WHO) generally recommends consuming 250 grams of vegetables per person per day, equivalent to 2.5 servings or 2.5 cups of vegetables after cooking and draining. For Indonesians, the recommended consumption is 200-270 grams of vegetables per person per day for toddlers and school-age children and 270-400 grams per day for teenagers and adults. However, sometimes we have difficulty meeting the recommended vegetable consumption. Let's see four tips to increase daily vegetable consumption!
1. Making Vegetable Soup
In Indonesia, we generally make soup by adding vegetables to clear broth. So, apart from adding vegetables to soup with clear broth, you can make soup from various vegetables!
The method is easy; you need to make it puree by grinding it with a blender and adding some spices to adjust the taste. Some examples of vegetables that can be made into soup stock are broccoli, spinach, carrots, and tomatoes. By making soup from vegetables, we can increase vegetable consumption. Soup from vegetables can also increase your fiber intake, vitamins, and minerals.
2. Making Noodles from Vegetables
Apart from increasing vegetable consumption, vegetable noodles can also be used as a substitute for other noodles, which generally have a high carbohydrate content. Currently, vegetable-based noodles are also being sold in the market, so you don't have to make them yourself. However, if you want to make your own, you only need to mix the juice from the vegetables you choose into the noodle dough before you shape it into noodles.
Vegetable choices that can be used range from carrots and spinach to carbohydrate sources such as sweet potatoes. The result of these vegetable noodles will be colorful because vegetables have natural coloring, so they can also be given to children who don't like to eat vegetables. These noodles can be consumed with various dressings or sauces according to taste.
3. Making Drinks from Vegetables
The easiest way to process vegetables into drinks is to puree them in a blender as smoothies. Besides being easy to make, vegetable smoothies are filling as a snack. If you are not used to the taste, add ice, milk, or water in a blender, like when making a fruit juice. Or, you can combine fruits and vegetables in smoothies and juices. For example, make banana-cucumber juice, spinach-beet juice, or pineapple-avocado-spinach juice.
4. Mixing Vegetables in Side Dishes
The simplest thing you can do to mix vegetables into side dishes is to add vegetables to the omelet mixture. You can add any vegetables to the omelet batter, such as spinach, garlic, bok choy, mushrooms, tomatoes, and peppers. If you need to add calories, you can add cheese and pieces of meat.
Apart from that, you can also include vegetables in various processed side dishes that children like, especially if your child doesn't like vegetables. Some examples are mixing vegetables into nuggets, roulades, and galantine.
Here are four tips to increase vegetable consumption that you can try at home. Currently, consumption of vegetables in the age group over ten years in Indonesia is still low, only around 36.7%. So, those who need to increase vegetable consumption are not only children but all family members. Try these tips at home to increase your family's vegetable consumption, and keep reading articles on Fitie for more tips related to nutrition and health!
Sources:
Elliot, B. (2020). 17 Creative Ways to Eat More Vegetables. Healthline. [online]. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/17-ways-to-eat-more-veggies#1.-Make-veggie-based-soups
Kementerian Kesehatan RI. (2014). Pedoman Gizi Seimbang. Jakarta: Kementerian Kesehatan RI.