Tips

· Leaving the skin on your vegetables increases the fibre content and can also retain key nutrients. Try leaving the skin on vegetables such as carrot, potato, sweet potato and pumpkin.

· Cooking and then cooling potatoes and sweet potatoes leads to an increase in the amount of resistant starch, which then acts as fuel for our gut microbes, keeping our gut microbiome thriving and healthy

· Extra virgin olive oil enhances the bioavailability of lycopene, a phytonutrient found in red vegetables like tomatoes. Try topping your tomato salsa, or bruschetta with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. 

Simple swaps

Increasing the amount and different types of vegetables you are consuming may seem overwhelming at first. Rest assured this doesn’t have to be the case.

For our overall health and wellbeing, adults should be aiming for 5 serves of vegetables every day.

One serve of vegetables is 75g, which is equivalent to ½ cup of cooked vegetables or 1 cup raw salad vegetables.

To meet these recommendations, aim to include vegetables in all of your meals and snacks.

Below we have some easy swaps for you to try, which will help you to increase the amount of vegetables you are eating each day! Scroll and download the templates below.