10 ways to introduce extra fruits and vegetables into your family diet

We all now know that we should eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables every day. But knowing and doing two things are different, aren't they? Sometimes it's not easy to put them all there. We tend to constantly stock up on conveniences and fast food. If your family is like mine, they'd rather fill a bag of chips or a bowl of rice or pasta than try a steamed apple or a bowl of broccoli.

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We all now know that we should eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables every day. But knowing and doing two things are different, aren't they? Sometimes it's not easy to put them all there. We tend to constantly stock up on conveniences and fast food. If your family is like mine, they'd rather fill a bag of chips or a bowl of rice or pasta than try a steamed apple or a bowl of broccoli. So we have to be creative. Here are some ideas for “introducing” additional vegetables and fruits into your family's diet.

1. Start the day with a breakfast smoothie. All you have to do is throw fruit, low-fat yogurt, and ice cream into the blender. You can also add a scoop of protein powder for good measure. Just blend for a few seconds and you'll have a perfect breakfast ready. I like to drink mine from a thermos mug on the way to work. To make it more appealing to your kids, use frozen yogurt or a dollop of ice cream in the smoothie. They won't believe you let them have ice cream for breakfast.

2. Dried fruits are a great snack any time of the day. Add a few small packets of raisins to your kid's lunch box, put some yogurt-covered raisins in your husband's bag, and save a few for snacks. You can also add dried fruits to oatmeal and cereal in the morning. My family loves banana chips in their breakfast cereal.

3. Add fruits and vegetables to your family's sandwiches. You can add bananas, apple slices, or strawberry slices to your peanut butter sandwich. Top the turkey sandwich with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and whatever they eat. You can also make a convenience store-style veggie sandwich by combining several different veggies with mayonnaise and cheese on the bun.

4. Eat a salad bar for dinner. Select a variety of shredded vegetables, cheese, toast, as well as several salad dressing options with lettuce, and let everyone make their own perfect salad.

5. Let them drink fruits and vegetables. Keep a variety of fruit and vegetable juices in the fridge and encourage everyone to drink them as a snack. To show creativity. You can start Family Cocktail Hour by pouring a glass of their favorite juice over ice for each person. Add straws and cocktail umbrellas and sit down together to talk about each other's day.

6. Try this for dessert. Put 1 teaspoon of ice cream or frozen yogurt in a bowl and top with plenty of fresh or frozen fruit.

7. Serve fruits and vegetables as snacks. You can cut the apple into slices and put peanut butter or cheese on it. Cubes of cheese and served with grapes. Chop fresh vegetables and serve with ranch dressing. And of course there are ants in the registry. Spread some cream cheese or peanut butter in a piece of celery and sprinkle it with raisins (wow, fruit and veg in a snack).

8. Try new fruits and vegetables. Choose something exotic to attract your family's curiosity. Hopefully, their curiosity will outweigh their initial fears of trying something new. You can try artichokes, bananas, papaya, mango, starfruit, or anything you find in the produce section of your local store.

9. Prepare a pot of vegetable soup or stew rich in vegetables and easy to eat with meat. Both offer comfort food when the weather turns cold.

10. Family members can be spread over the days of the week so that each family member receives vegetables on one of the days of the week. They have the right to choose their vegetables as long as they have tasted them the previous week, otherwise , they lose their turn and the mother, for example, must choose and decide.

Combine some of these ideas and everyone in your family will be eating more fruits and vegetables in no time.

Here's another tip:

Now that everyone in the family has tasted theirs, make sure you always have plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables on hand and ready for a snack.