18 Jul 7 Reasons Why You Need To Eat Vegetables
Let’s go on a ride. You’re 8 years old, sitting at the dinner table with your family. After smashing breaded chicken plus mashed potatoes and gravy you’re absolutely stuffed. But mom won’t let you leave the table until you finish that broccoli. Why? Because everyone knows that we need vegetables.
Below I’ll share the top 7 benefits we get from vegetables. Then we’ll talk about simple ways to incorporate them into your nutrition plan.
Why We Need Vegetables
1) Vegetables are dense in important nutrients. Vegetables have high amount of essential vitamins and minerals that help you break down food and convert it into energy. Deficiencies are guaranteed unless you?re taking in a high potency multi vitamin like the Poliquin based Complete Multi we offer at Faster Fitness.
2) They balance pH levels at a cellular level. Studies have shown that having proper pH levels is essential to burning carbs and fat properly. Remember, if you’re not burning it, you’re storing it! Plus, it helps to keep the body in balance and prevents the chronic immune state that occurs from being out of balance. Eating veggies at every meal ensures you’re in balance.
3) They provide essential carbohydrates. If you are one of the unlucky people who gain weight looking at carbs, then a very low carb diet may be recommended while we provide nutrients to boost your carbohydrate tolerance (technically called your insulin sensitivity). Adding a variety of different vegetables makes it easy to stick to your plan during this phase and gives you the fuel you need to stay mentally and physically sharp.
4) Veggies provide variety. There are hundreds of vegetables at our disposal and infinite ways to mix and match them with seasonings, meat, healthy carbs and the rest of your meal.
5) They provide fiber. Vegetables provide a large portion of the fiber intake that we need. Fiber helps stabilize blood sugars which gives us better energy, improves our metabolism and helps prevent cravings.
6) They make you feel full. If you’re trying to lose body fat, you’re taking in less calories than you’re burning so you may get hungry from time to time. Adding additional veggies is an excellent way to feel full and kick those cravings.
7) They help you add muscle. If you have imbalanced pH levels, you won?t be able to fully utilize carbs. Now you miss the benefits of the most anabolic hormone insulin, and you won’t have maximal energy to train hard and recover from your sessions.
Okay, at this point you can’t wait until your next meal so you can put down some brussel sprouts right? Or am I the only one?
Next, lets talk about how we can easily add them to our lifestyle:
- Eat at least one salad everyday
- Mix them in with your meat
- Add them on the side
- Make it a habit to add them to every meal for a period of time
- Eat simple to make ones like broccoli, peppers and celery, but also challenge yourself to learn new ones
- Experiment with different Cauliflower recipes – mashed, rice…tons of options
- Consider greens formulas like Wellness Greens (pictured below) to make up for lack of optimal intake
If you’re not already, make it a habit to eat veggies at most, if not every meal. As you can see, the benefits are a lot more than mom even knew 🙂
If you need help with your nutrition plan, then reach out to us by clicking “Request More Information” below.
