If you’re trying to eat a healthy diet, getting more fruits and vegetables into your meals should be a number one priority. It’s easy enough to get your fill of vegetables with the right dinners and the occasional salad. However, getting fruit in your diet, and especially the healthiest ones, might feel a little tricky if you don’t like grabbing them to eat directly. I struggle with getting myself to eat more fruit.
Below are ways you can add more fruit to your diet. A little variety in how you eat them can help you make the change in habit much more likely to stick.
Have a berry good breakfast
When it comes to nutritious and healthy fruits and vegetables, there are few that are better for you than berries. Containing fiber, antioxidants, and a host of vitamins, these can easily be considered one of the “true” superfoods. It’s also one of the easiest fruits to add to all kinds of meals, especially at breakfast time. Berries in your oatmeal (my favorite!), berries with your pancakes, berries with rice pudding, and more can help you enjoy a healthy breakfast that’s jam-packed with nutritional value as well as full of energy to help you start the day off right.
Drink it up
Unlike many processed fruit-based products, fruit juice can contain 100 percent of the nutritional value of the fruit that it’s made out of. However, for the best results, you don’t want to get cartons from your local grocery store. Instead, you should consider getting a fruit juicer that you can use to make your own at home. It doesn’t take much effort at all and you can get as many as three of your five fruits a day with a single cup of juice. Just be aware this is also one of the most high-sugar means of consuming your fruit, so you might want to limit your sugar intake for the rest of the day.
Have a smoothie for lunch
This tip might seem very similar to the idea of juicing your fruits to drink several at the same time. It’s true, the only real difference is that smoothies also make use of milk. Coconut milk, oat milk and almond milk make for great replacements (Almond milk even tastes a little better.) Smoothies aren’t just a great way to get more fruits in your diet, but they can also be a very filling but not overly calorific lunch, helping you manage your appetite well throughout the day.
Enjoy the right sweet treats
If you have a bit of a sweet tooth, you might indulge in a little dessert after dinner to end the evening on a delicious note. However, your desserts don’t need to be needlessly heavy and they can be a perfect example of ways to add some fruit into your diet. With this oatmeal raisin cookie recipe, you can get plenty of fiber. Raisins have plenty of nutritional quality on their own, such as adding even more fiber to the mix as well as a high amount of potassium, a vital mineral for all sorts of organ functions. You could also try options like these Amish fry pies. They are made from locally sourced fruits that carry more nutrients than your average processed dessert.
Keep it nice and accessible
If you have fruit that’s going to stay fresh throughout the day, then you can simply keep a bowl of it on the counter to grab whenever you like. This works best for fruits that stay fresher for longer. It also helps if you have the habit of grazing. Every time you head out to the kitchen for an unplanned snack, the sight of the fruit sitting right there can make it a lot easier to reach down and make the healthier choice for your day.
Try to get a variety of fruit choices
While eating more fruit, in general, is undoubtedly better for you than not getting enough fruit, you should also make sure that you’re not just eating the same things over and over. Not only is having a variety of fruits going to make it easier for you to eat more of it throughout the day, but you’re also less likely to drop the habit. If you eat bananas all day, every day, you’re going to get sick of bananas, after all.
There are tons of ways to eat more fruit, be it through your desserts, your breakfasts, or even by drinking them down a little more often. Just be sure to keep in mind your sugar intake. Too much fruit can start to have some adverse effects, too.
