Excuses, excuses, SOLUTIONS.

“Nature’s Original Fast Food”

Fruits and Veggies.

Friends or Foes?

I would like to call them my best friends. But sometimes we don’t give our best friends the respect they deserve. Why don’t we just eat more of these foods if we know they’re so good for us? Why not if we know is good for us? There are only like a-bajillion research studies done on the benefits these colorful wonders have on our bodies… “yea, I’ll take the fries as a side please but hold the tomatoes.”

I narrowed it down to three reasons why we consciously refuse to eat these babies, and then three amazingly easy solutions to these issues!

Excuse #1: It’s not convenient.

So most of you beautiful people reading this are students (and if not you are an on-the-go worker). So you might not have time to whip up some healthy meals right?

Wrong, so wrong, sweetie.

A few fruits and veggies you can carry in your purse/backpack:

· Carrot sticks

· Celery sticks (and natural peanut butter, yum!)

· Apples

· Red bell peppers (whole, not sliced so the vitamin C doesn’t oxidize. Eat it like an apple!)

· Oranges (whole)

· Bananas

· Berries

· Cherry tomatoes

· Cranberries (wait, those are berries)

· Raw zucchini (with yogurt dip)

· Guacamole (mashed avocado with spices, see recipe below)

· Kiwis

· Mangos

· Figs

· Apricots

· Plums

· Almonds (Okay, so not exactly a fruit, but it is the seed of a fruit and still an amazingly healthy snack! This isn't cheating, telling you dark chocolate is a smarter and more decadent choice over milk chocolate would be cheating...)

That’s more than a few, but it’s a thorough list you can pick and choose your favorites from! Even though there are a few you might not like, go ahead and be adventurous. (I might’ve cheated a little and had some help from this website.) You might like new veggies with a dip and can progress to eating them all by themselves. Go YOU!

Excuse #2: Bad Childood Memories

Your mom served you an ocean full of nasty greenish peas with a stench so nauseating your first instinct was to…cry. Now that you’re grown up you can take that tissue and tuck it into your shirt because you best believe you will be enjoying these delicious emeralds this time around. Not yo mama nor anyone else is going to force you to eat anything. You choose what you eat. So why don’t you give it a second try? Peas go well in chicken/tuna salad and you can barely taste them. Blend spinach into your breakfast shake with berries and the fruit will overpower any other taste. Why not quickly cook them with a bit of lemon, pepper, and garlic? Zesty and non-nightmare producing, eh?

Excuse #3: But the Doritos taste so much better!

So does the Chex Mix and the Pringles. What if I told you that we train our taste buds to like certain foods? Would that help us understand that we can actually train those suckers to enjoy Brussels sprouts? Heck-to-the-yes! Don’t do it from one day to the next though. Make it a goal to switch out a sugary or oily snack for a healthier version once a week, then twice, and so on until you’re on a full-blown Veggie Vogue! GO YOU!

Eating more fruits and veggies is a lifestyle you must adapt your mind and body to. If you try to make a whole bunch of sudden changes to your diet, the odds will not be in your favor of sticking to this new healthy regimen. Instead, take your time, explore what you like and add new options as you go along. Keep your purse/backpack stocked with a day’s full of good-for-you snacks (like the ones I listed), be willing, and be patient.

peanut butter jelly time! Na, I'd rather do VEGGIE TIME like this:

Luscious Guacamole

· 3 medium Haas avocados

· 1 lime (or 2, depending on how strong of Latin vibes you’re feeling)

· 2-3 cloves of garlic

· 1 small onion

· 2-3 tablespoons cilantro

· Sprinkle of salt

· 2 serrano chiles (they look like this)

Mash the avocados. Finely chop up the garlic, onion, cilantro, and chile. Squeeze some lime lovin, and sprinkle some salt. Make other people jealous and enjoy.

GO YOU!