I was doing an interview yesterday and one of the topics that came up was about how does someone get more fruits and vegetables into their diet.

Seems like a pretty obvious answer but the difficulty is that most people simply don’t get enough fruits and vegetables in their diet. I believe that most North Americans get an average of 1.5 servings per day. That’s pretty insane considering that the recommended daily intake is between 5-10 servings.

With that in mind, here are 3 surefire ways to help you at least double the number of plant-based foods you consume each day.

1. Adopt a Mono Meal Mindset

I’m not saying that you need to follow a raw food mono meal diet (although you would greatly benefit from doing so) but rather I’m suggesting that you adopt the practice of eating several of one type of food at a time.

For instance, if you are used to eating one apple as a snack, then you might as well eat 2 or 3 (or more). There’s no down side to eating too many fruits and vegetables.

So the idea with mono meals is to eat any particular fruit or vegetable to the point of satiation. Since these foods are lower in calories, you’ll be able to eat more of them before you get full.

Mono meals also facilitate digestion because you are eating simply and your digestive system doesn’t have to work over time breaking down complex food combinations.

2. Liquify Your Meals

I love smoothies. They are such an easy and convenient way of getting more fruits and veggies into your body. There are so many different smoothie recipes that you can enjoy and the beauty is that any given one can almost provide your entire fruit and vegetables requirements for a single day.

For instance, I often like to make this smoothie:

1 apple
1 banana
2 handfuls of spinach
Juice of 1 lime
1 tbsp spirulina (optional)
2 cups water

As you can see, this smoothie recipe easily gives me 4-5 servings in just 500 ml of easy to digest, delicious smoothie action.

Smoothies are convenient because you can blend everything up and take it with you on the go. Instead of grabbing that morning coffee, you can easily make a nutrient-packed smoothie and get your day started right.

3. Add Variety to Your Diet

I think a lot of people don’t get enough fruits and vegetables simply because they don’t like the taste or find them boring. That’s obviously a result of a polluted diet full of processed foods that have destroyed the palette.

Besides getting rid of such garbage foods, one of way of enjoying “good” food is to try new things.

The next time you go shopping try adding a new fruit or vegetable into your basket. Even if it’s something you’ve never tried before don’t worry – you’ll be prompted to seek out ways to enjoy by looking for yummy recipes, etc…

And you never know…you might fall in love with some new foods. This is how I fell in love with coconuts, mangosteens, durians, and many other delicious fruit.

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