6 ways to sneak more veg into your diet

Image from Pinterest

I really believe if people could up their intake of veggies, the world would be a much healthier place. Eating an array of colourful vegetables fills our bodies with the nutrients needed to fight and prevent disease. They are high in fibre which is awesome for detoxification, and are bursting with carotenoid antioxidants which; according to a study published in The Journal of Public Health make our skin glow in a way that is perceived as more beautiful when compared to a sun tan (for all my whitey friends). 

The benefits of veggies are endless.Everyone knows it, but most people in this day and age don't get enough of them. Maybe because they think vegetables are gross or boring, but it couldn't be further from the truth! All it takes is a little determination and creativity to transform your health with veg.

I've personally experienced tremendous benefits from filling my diet with loads of vegetables. I'm completely addicted! Some may say a little obsessed. But I feel on top of the world when I'm cramming them in, and feel less than favourable when I miss out on them. 

I remember hearing nutritionist and superfood expert David Wolfe wisely declare that the answer to vibrant health isn't about cutting out foods that are bad for you. Rather, it's all about adding in the good stuff. That way you crowd out the unhealthy ingredients you would normally consume.

It's not rocket science. If you're loading up on veggies with every meal, and taking every opportunity to get them in, there will be less room for yucky, additive ridden foods that are harmful to your health. 

Here's 6 simple ways that I crowd out bad foods with an abundance of veggies.

1.Eat veggies for breakky

Image from My New Roots

Breakfast is most likely the meal people don't include veggies in because we are so accustomed to having sweet stuff like breakfast cereals and muesli. But you don't always have to have porridge, fruit and yogurt or other sweet breakfasts to satisfy you in the morning. Mix it up by having some savoury starts to the day; by doing this you have plenty of room for cramming in the veggies.

Here's some ideas:  

Have avocado, spinach & tomato on toast

Eat eggs with a side of roasted tomatoes, fresh herbs, mushrooms and wilted spinach or kale. 

I love making this Veggie & Egg Tower of Power

Have any leftover roast veg? Bubble and squeak them in a frying pan with some butter. Have on toast, on its own, or with some poached eggs. 

 2. Keep a 'chop salad' in the fridge.

Image from My New Roots

I try to eat salad with every lunch and dinner. This way I know I'm getting a good dose of raw goodness into my day. But preparing salads can be time consuming and quite frankly annoying. One way to combat this barrier is to make a giant chop salad every couple of days and keep it in a big bowl in the fridge; free from any dressing that could make it soggy. This way you always have some salad to add to your meals, to take with your lunch to work, or to have as a nutrient rich snack.

A chop salad is simply a giant salad packed with shredded and grated seasonal veggies and herbs. I often do this in my food processor with the grating and fine slicing attachments to make it extra speedy. 

At the moment my typical chop salad will include:

- red & green cabbage

-parsley

-coriander

-mint

-grated carrot

-grated zucchini

-kale

-spinach

-radishes

My aim is to get a wide variety, with different colours for different nutrients. For a quick meal you can add some beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, brown rice or shredded meat.

3. Utilise the humble grater

Image from Pinterest

Cooking spag bol? Grate in a heap of carrot. You can't even taste it.

 Making burgers or rissoles? Grate in some zucchini. 

Whipping up an omelette? Grated sweet potato goes awesome with eggs!

A simple way to sneak extra veg in. Grate it in. Great idea! (I'm so punny)

4. Dip em and dress em

Image from jamieoliver.com

Dips and delicious homemade dressings are a sneaky way to make boring raw veggies taste awesome. You can even make dips out of veggies, then dip raw veggie sticks into it for a double hit of vegetably goodness! Two of my favourite dip recipes at the moment include:

My spicy beetroot dip

Simple mint pea dip from My New Roots

As for dressings, I love:

Tahini cream dressing with orange from My New Roots (goes awesome on the chop salad)

Yogurt Tahini dressing from Gwyneth Paltrow's cookbook It's All Good

5. Juice baby, juice!

Image from Pinterest

Raw vegetable juices are one of the best ways to get an instant energy hit, and pack in a hefty amount of veg into your day minus the fibre. It's a smart and quick way to down a big bowl full of vegetables without having to do any chewing.

My favourite combinations at the moment include:

Beetroot, carrot, celery, ginger, & lemon

or

swiss chard, celery, cucumber, kale, ginger, lemon and green apple.

6. Jump on the green smoothie bandwagon

Image from Pinterest

Everyone needs to eat more veggies, but green veggies in particular are super important due to the presence of chlorophyll; which oxygenates and alkalises the blood, increases circulation, boosts energy and aids in detoxification. Greens are also a great source of plant based iron, as well as folate, vitamin K and specific phytonutrients like corotenoids and flavonoids that offer protection against various chronic diseases including cancer.

Green smoothies may look a bit scary, but with a little smart flavour combining you can make something really yummy whilst also packing in those nutrients and fibre. You can even make a meal out of it; great if your in a hurry. I pretty much have one green smoothie, and one raw veggie juice every day. I fill up my giant stainless steel water bottle with green smoothie before I go to church on Sunday nights (It's on during my normal dinner hours) and sip it throughout the evening.

Here's my standard recipe (makes heaps! about a litre)

- 1 stalk celery chopped

-1 small cucumber chopped

-a handful kale, stalks removed

-a big handful spinach

-a big handful chopped cos lettuce leaves

- 2 TBSP chia seeds soaked in 1/2 cup water for a few mins

-2 TBSP flaxseeds

-small knob of ginger

-juice of half a lemon

-1 pear chopped

-1 green apple chopped

-half a large avocado

-filtered water & ice

pack all ingredients into the blender and fill to the half way mark with filtered water. Blend until liquefied (it takes about a minute and a half in my blender but much faster in a Vitamix). Add in half a tray of ice and blend for 10 seconds. Enjoy!

Welcoming Arie: my birth story, plus a mummy friendly recipe

Dear readers,

I'm ever so sorry for my lack of blogging as of late. Its been a crazy couple of months. Almost 4 weeks ago I gave birth to the most beautiful little boy. His name is Arie Flynn Lowe; he arrived into the world at 8.27am on the 25th July, all 8 pound 12 ounces of him, after an intense and amazing 4.5 hour labour.

I have to share my story; because I reckon it's pretty cool.

My supposed due date was the 15th July, and a day or so prior to this my midwife found that I was about 3cm dilated. We concluded that the baby shouldn't be too far off......or so we thought.

At 41 weeks Arie still hadn't arrived but my cervix was looking very favourable; now around 4cm dilated; but still, no baby. An induction date had been booked in for 40 weeks plus 10 days, so by now I was a little bit frightened because I really desired to go into labour naturally. This was a really testing time for me because I had to make peace with the fact that things mightn't go exactly the way I wanted.  I had done everything I could to ensure I looked after myself during pregnancy in an effort to ensure a natural birth and a healthy baby: regular exercise, sunshine, relaxation, weekly chiropractic adjustments, wholefood supplements, superfoods, eliminating harmful chemicals from my entire household and skincare, organic produce, etc etc etc.

I came to the conclusion that even though I'd done all these things, I had to be prepared to surrender the things I couldn't control. There was never going to be any guarantee that things would turn out exactly as I wanted as a result of all my control freak efforts. I decided to continue to believe that my birth would be an amazing experience, regardless of the things I couldn't control; even if I had to be induced, or face other interventions that I was frightened of.

I didn't get much sleep in the night of the 24th, thinking I would be getting induced at 7.30am the next morning. But at 4am I noticed some interesting feelings happening inside me. I'd had a few twinges throughout the prior two weeks, so I didn't want to get my hopes up; but these ones were rhythmic and more intense. We called my midwife at 4.30 to tell her what was happening and she told us to ride it out until things became more consistent and call her if my waters broke.

My labour was very hectic. Very irregular, unpredictable contractions with no rest in between. After 2 hours of active labour I was absolutely exhausted! I felt I had run a marathon and the contractions were getting more intense, but I didn't feel I had the energy to endure them. Grant noticed my exhausted delirium and forced me to drink coconut water for electrolytes to see me through. We thought there was going to be many many hours more of this to go through; and at the pinnacle of my exhaustion I insisted that Grant should call the midwife because I wanted to get an epidural. Little did I know I was in transition!

After a couple of hours standing and bending over the bathroom sink and straddling the lounge, and tapping my feet around the house like a crazy woman, I had reached my limit, so I hobbled and threw myself onto our bed. My waters broke as soon as I got on the bed and the pushing contractions started! It was an amazing feeling looking back... my whole body had taken over and was pushing Arie out. I had absolutely no control over what my body was doing. During the pushes I remember making some pretty crazy noises. I think I sounded like a cow! Grant called the midwife and she heard my noises, then told Grant to quickly get me to the hospital and she would be on her way.

Grant somehow managed to get me in the shower. I was on all fours, on the floor of the shower continuing to push. I thought I was going to give birth in the tub! I couldn't for the life of me move from this position, so Grant, in an absolute panic; cleaned me up, threw a big tent-like dress over me (no undies underneath- no time for that!), packed the car and dragged me down three flights of stairs while I was still having pushing contractions. He managed to strap me into the car, and hastily drove me up the road to the hospital. The security guard and Grant slowly dragged me into the hospital (I was still having pushing contractions every few steps), and a midwife on duty managed to get me straddling backwards on a wheelchair so they could transport me to the birthing unit.

One hour of pushing later, and Arie was born from a standing position at 8.27am. There was very minimal tearing that needed no stitches, the placenta was birthed naturally and Arie literally leaped up to the breast and fed for an hour.  By 12.30 we were back home. It was a crazy whirlwind, and a beautiful birth experience.

Birth, for me, was nothing that I thought. Pain, in the conventional sense is not the word I would use to describe it. It was more like hard work. The hardest thing I have ever physically done, but also the most exciting and amazing thing I have ever done. My experience of pushing was a brilliant one, as I was able to rest between contractions (unlike my labour), and I knew that the finish line was in sight. Feeling his head come out was the best part! I still can't believe the design of a woman's body and it's seemingly impossible capabilities.

My relationship with my body has completely changed as a result of giving birth. It's not the same as it used to be; my tummy is etched deeply with stretch marks. My boobs are the biggest they've ever been (can't really complain about that, but they do HURT!), and my abs are non-existent. Yet I have so much respect for this amazing machine that is my body. It was the home and nurturing space to a big baby boy. And he is still living solely off my body through breast feeding. Its mind blowing. I now want to nurture and take care of my body to the best of my ability because it is what will benefit Arie's health; and if I'm healthy, I have the capacity to be the kind of mum I want to be.

On that note, the following recipe is a tribute to a new season of motherhood. Its full of all things awesome for a new mum, and are super easy and convenient to put together.

I've been doing a bit of research on foods that are great for mums who breastfeed, and read about a 1999 study published in Lipids that indicated the importance of nutrition for quality breast milk; that women who don't eat enough quality saturated and unsaturated fat produce milk that may only be 2% fat, where women who had adequate levels of good quality fat could produce milk up to 9% fat (as much as table cream); resulting in higher IQ levels, and a decrease in neurological problems and failure to thrive in babies.

No wonder I've been craving fat so much!

Anyway, this recipe  has a few ingredients known to be wonderful for breastfeeding mummies. The info comes from a great book called Mother Food for Breastfeeding Mothers: Foods and herbs that promote milk production and a mothers health by Hilary Jacobson. But don't worry If you aren't a breastfeeding mumma! Grant also thoroughly enjoyed these delicious treats! Arie seems to be loving the results too! They contain some known lactogenic (foods that induce milk secretion) including;

Turmeric: Increases milk supply and acts as an anti-inflammatory and natural antibiotic; preventing mastitis. It's been found to be useful in Ayurvedic medicine as a treatment for intestinal diseases; and therefore may be helpful for breastfeeding mothers with colicky babies to produce milk with fewer triggers for colick.

Ginger: Said to help stimulate the let down reflex, and calms digestive problems that may come to some women after giving birth.

Macadamia's: Support milk supply. Nut's in general are considered as lactogenic foods due to their high levels of minerals and health promoting fats. Macadamias in particular are full of potassium, phosphorous, magnesium, calcium, selenium, zinc, copper and iron.

Coconut: Full of the quality saturated fats required for fattier, more nutritious breast milk. It is said that eating high quality saturated fats from organic, grass fed butter, grass fed meats and cold pressed organic coconut oil and other coconut products are the best way to increase the saturated fat content of breast milk. Coconut products are high in lauric acid (interestingly, this is an important component of breast milk); a fatty acid with significant antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal and immune boosting properties.

Medjool Dates: Believed to contain elements that assist in alleviating depression in mothers and enriching breast milk with elements needed to make children resistant to disease. Supports thyroid function which can be compromised after giving birth; resulting in low milk supply.

Sunflower seeds: known in Aryuvedic medicine to promote breast milk production. Sunflower seeds contain an array of trace minerals important for breastfeeding mums. They also supply a healthy balance of protein and plant based fats. Also high in zinc; required for the development of a babies brain. Zinc is needed during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Raw gingerbread truffle balls

Ingredients:

1 cup desiccated coconut, plus extra for rolling
1 1/4 cup macadamias
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
8-10 medjool dates, seeds removed (depending on how sweet you wanna go)
1 TBSP finely grated, fresh ginger root
1 tsp finely grated, fresh turmeric (For Wollongong people, you can get this from the Friday markets from Rita's veggie stand)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 vanilla bean scraped
1 pinch sea salt (I like Celtic or Himalayan; lots of healthy trace minerals)

Method:

1. Throw all the ingredients except for the dates into a food processor and blitz until finely crumbed
2. Add your dates and blitz again until finely crumbed
3. Use your hands to form the mixture into bite sized balls and roll in coconut. Store in the freezer.

Enjoy!

Love Jess & Arie