How to sneak more plant foods into every meal

Whatever diet you follow, including less processed plant foods will only make it healthier. Here are practical tips on how to bulk up your regular, everyday meals with plant-based foods.

If  you're keen to eat more plants, but are not quite ready to learn brand new recipes, here are some simple ideas from on how to include more of these nutritious foods in your regular drinks and meals:

Get vegetables involved

• If you have a blender and like making your own smoothies, try mixing in more whole vegetables to boost the health benefits. Carrots, beetroot, baby spinach, kale, celery, avocado and ginger work well. If you find the root veggies make your drink too crunchy or fibrous when added raw, steam well and cool them first before blending.
• Opt for veggie sticks instead of highly processed snacks at work.
• Instead of a purely potato mash, add cooked, mashed carrots or a bean purée.
• Add more vegetables to traditionally meaty dishes, like grating carrots or courgettes into your mince as you cook it.
• Throw mushroom steaks onto the braai, and add diced peppers and onion into your breakfast eggs.
• When serving, double the amount of veggies and halve the amount of meat on your plate. It may help to start thinking of the vegetable portion of your meals as the main dish, and the other foods as side dishes. That’s a great nutrition goal to aim for.

Embrace your fruit

• Pure fruit juices can be high in sugar and it is easy to drink too much. It’s best to eat the entire fruit to benefit from the fibre. If you have a love for juice and drink it regularly, dilute fruit juices with water over time in small increments, until you are comfortable with switching to plain water instead.
• Breakfast isn’t breakfast without fruit! The next time you make oats, top it with a grated apple, a handful of berries or a sliced banana, or even scoop out a fresh granadilla or sprinkle over a handful of pomegranate seeds.
• Slice fresh fruit into a green salad for a tasty addition. A nectarine or pear works particularly well.
• Keep fruit at hand for a healthy snack – easy-to-eat options include bananas, pears, apples, grapes and berries.
• Favour fruit-filled desserts – ones made with fresh fruits, not syrup-laden ones from a can. Healthier dessert ideas include poached pears topped with yoghurt and flaked almonds or strawberries dipped in a little bit of chocolate. Experiment with increasing the fruit content in your blueberry pancakes or banana bread.

Stock up on whole grains, nuts and seeds

This is an easy one - simply commit to swapping all your highly refined grains with whole ones, as far as possible. This means opting for whole wheat bread, pasta, couscous or flour and brown rice instead of the highly processed white versions.

When it comes to other grains, nuts and seeds, buy packets in bulk and get into the habit of including them in your favourite dishes:

• Bulk up your soups and stews with a handful of barley or quinoa.
• Top your roasted veggies with whole wheat couscous, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds.
• Sprinkle sesame seeds over your Asian-style salads, poppy and flax seeds in homemade muffins and breads, and make simple chia-seed puddings for breakfast.
• Put pine nuts in pesto, peanuts and cashew nuts in Indian-style curries and biriyanis, chopped walnuts, hazelnuts and pecan nuts over your porridge, and all of them in your granola mix or snack box!