Think getting more veggies into your diet is impossible with your busy life? Think again. In this episode, Aimee teams up with Carolyn Cohen from the Wellness While Walking podcast to uncover smart, no-nonsense strategies for upping your vegetable game—without losing your sanity.
From managing those “life went sideways” moments to discovering sneaky ways to grab veggies on the go, this conversation is packed with practical advice for real life. Aimee and Carolyn also tackle the challenges of tiny fridges, making convenience foods work for you, and letting go of the pressure to eat perfectly.
Whether you’re a veggie novice or just looking to add more variety, this episode offers actionable tips to help you boost your health without overhauling your routine. Tune in now and start adding more greens to your plate today!
MORE ON VEGGIES!
- State of the Plate, fruitsandveggies.org
- The Benefits of Eating the Rainbow, healthline.com
- Strong and Bitter Vegetables...Improve Health Status, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Mirepoix
Check out Carolyn's Podcast: Wellness While Walking
CHAT ME UP: let me know what's on your mind by texting here!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Happy holidays, my fellowhealthy heathens.
For the next two episodes, I'mgoing to be taking some time off
to enjoy my family this holidayseason, but I am not going to
leave you hanging.
My podcast pal, Carolyn ofWellness While Walking, has
graciously shared the episodesthat I recorded with her for her
podcast, and over the next twoweeks, I'm going to share these
(00:21):
episodes with you.
So, we're going to be talkingall about vegetables, and it's a
really great segue into some ofwhat I am planning on sharing in
2025.
You're going to learn some timehonored tips to get more veggies
on your plate in easy,sustainable ways, how to
increase your willingness to eatvegetables when you are feeling
a little reluctant, And how toget better at finding them
(00:43):
whether you are on the road, inan airport, or even navigating a
new grocery store.
Carolyn and I discuss what to dowhen your plan goes sideways,
creative ideas on how to expandyour veggie palette, and myriads
of ways that veggies can improveyour health.
I do hope that you enjoyed theseconversations as much as I
enjoyed having them.
(01:03):
And have a wonderful, wonderfulholiday.
We all have the best intentionswhen it comes to eating well.
Well, what happens when lifegoes sideways, as our guest Amy
says today?
Can we still eat in alignmentwith our intentions?
(01:24):
And specifically, how can we getthose veggies in?
And if you've been pushing asidethose slightly bitter
vegetables, we've got big newsfor you.
Don't turn up your nose, but do.
Join us.
Welcome to the Wellness WhileWalking Podcast.
(01:46):
I'm your walking guide andhealth coach, Carolyn Cohen.
Whether you've been walking orotherwise moving regularly, or
it's fallen off your schedule,I'll be here to help you make
your own wellness a priority.
We'll plan for about a 30 minutewalk each week, and while you're
ambling, I'll be rambling inyour ear.
(02:06):
Mm hmm.
We will talk about walking abit, but also about wellness in
the largest sense of the word sothat we can continue on a
journey of a beautiful life ofno regrets.
Let's chat, learn, laugh, andmove in the most natural way
possible, and then get back towork.
To designing and living thebest, most rewarding lives we
(02:28):
each ever imagined.
Hi, welcome to episode 228.
Thanks for being here with metoday.
Before we continue a reminderthat I'm not a doctor or a
mental health professional, andthat the content presented here
is for educational andinformational purposes only,
please make sure that you checkwith your doctor before making
(02:50):
any health or lifestyle changes.
One of the most successfulhealthy eating campaigns took
place in the past couple ofdecades across the world.
In the US, the UK.
In New Zealand and in othercountries where officials were
(03:11):
trying to get residents to eatmore and vegetables.
The campaigns centered aroundgetting folks to eat five or
more servings a day, whatever aserving is, of fruits and
vegetables, or as we would sayhere, vegetables and fruit.
And wow, the campaigns worked.
Well, sort of, I should say.
The awareness of the campaignswas strong.
(03:33):
Extremely high.
People got how important it wasto add more produce into their
diets.
So with all that success ofdrilling into our heads that we
needed five or more servings aday of fresh vegetables and
fruit in our diets, wanna guesshow many more servings we ate,
uh, with that full knowledge ofhow these extra servings would
(03:53):
impact our health?
Well In the U.
S.
anyway, servings of produce,according to many sources,
actually went down.
Veggies went down 7 percent andfruit 2%.
So there you go, that is theperfect example of a no do gap,
where we know what to do, but wedon't.
(04:16):
And maybe that, in this case, ispartially because we're letting
The perfect be the enemy of thegood.
In other words, we might be ableto get closer to getting those
veggies in if maybe we threwaway our preconceived notions
about how that had to look andhow that had to happen.
So let's jump back into ourconversation with Amy about all
things produce and then I'llcome back afterwards.
(04:39):
and chat with you about how tomake a particular subgroup of
produce more appealing.
See what I did there?
Because this particular group ofplants, um, pack a huge
nutritional punch.
So you'll definitely want tobridge that no do gap in this
case.
Okay, we're jumping back in.
(05:06):
If you're working with somebodyand they're really wanting to
cook more at home and that partof that.
Is to maybe get more vegetablesinto their diets.
What are some steps that yourecommend that people start
with?
I think if they're, if they'rereally in a time crunch, which
I, I'm going to make thatassumption because it's hard,
it's harder and harder to findpeople who aren't, if we're
(05:30):
honest.
Yes, absolutely.
Taking advantage of ourconvenience culture and
purchasing pre cut vegetables,uh, frozen vegetables, canned
vegetables, lean into that, letthat, use that to your benefit.
It, again, it doesn't have tobe, I go to the farmer's market
(05:52):
and get the best stuff and Itake it home and I spend four
hours prepping everything andputting it in glass containers.
neatly in my fridge.
And then I take an Instagrampicture and my life is perfect,
right?
Like, that's not, that's not.
(06:12):
That's so true.
We probably just happened to getmore of those like popping up
because we do probably, youknow, follow different kinds of
accounts on social media.
And then they assume that I'mgoing to want to see a
refrigerator absolutely stackedfull of the rainbow.
That no family could possiblyconsume in time.
You know what I mean?
(06:32):
It's just so unrealistic.
And then people think like nowthere's a refrigerator is sold
in the U S I don't know.
If it's widely availableeverywhere, uh, that comes with
a drawer, which like a verynarrow drawer.
So it's like the freezer, thefridge, and then this extra
third drawer.
And when my kids were young,especially, we used to do salad
bars all the time, like on thekitchen counter and they could
take what they, you know, firstof all, it was impossible with
(06:53):
four of them to keep track ofwhat they liked and didn't like,
but they could customize it.
It was fun.
And then we put all those kindof containers back in the fridge
and pulled them out the next dayand did the same thing again.
I always thought I would inventa salad bar.
contraption that you could justeasily take out and put back in
the fridge because I thought itwas so helpful for my kids.
But this, like, drawer is beingused kind of like that in some
(07:16):
cases where it's just, like,open, like, people would just
open it up and there's, like,lettuce and cut up carrots and
celery and cucumbers justsitting there and everything.
But again, it's just, like, A,what percentage of the people
have this in their fridge?
Like, 0.
001%.
And B, just, like, it's soPretty unperfectionist kind of
affirming that people are justlike, Oh, that's lovely to look
(07:38):
at.
And I can't do that.
You know, exactly.
That is a dream though, right?
And what is what is the internetbut not a collection of our
fantasies?
There you go.
And it's all well and good untilyou pivot and go 180 degrees in
the opposite direction, youknow?
Yeah.
I mean, there are, there arecertainly plenty of people who,
(07:59):
at the start of the year,they're like, okay, I'm going to
do this.
I'm going to food prep.
I'm going to do this once aweek.
And, you know, for a week, twoweeks, three weeks, I mean, if
they are, in my eyes, amazing,maybe it lasts a couple of
months where they have theInstagram worthy refrigerator
with all the glass containersstacked up at the start of the
week and they just go throughit, right?
(08:21):
But inevitably, life happens.
And so finding a system that issustainable for you is of
critical importance and enteringany kind of health goal with,
Okay, yes, we have our ideal.
We have our best case scenarioof how we're going to execute
this.
But what happens when stuff goessideways?
(08:44):
Then, then what are you, what'syour backup plan?
And having a backup plan is so,so important.
And that's why I encourage, likeI always encourage my clients,
have an emergency stash offrozen vegetables in your
freezer because there will be aday, I promise you, when either
you can't get to the grocerystore, when you come home and
(09:08):
you find out your kid came homefrom soccer practice and just
cleaned out the fridge andthere's nothing left for you.
Things happen, right?
Having that backup plan preventsyou, one, from entering into
that fatalistic mindset of, oh,well, it didn't happen today, so
I might as well just get takeoutor just have the sleeves of Ritz
(09:31):
crackers for dinner or, youknow, what have you.
And it also allows you to bemore agile and adaptable to the
chaos of the real world.
It's so, so important.
We have to be realistic with,you know, what's going to
actually fit in our lives today,and not be punitive when it
doesn't work out, because thereare those Other steps that are
(09:55):
perfectly good.
One, one obstacle that Istruggle with personally is for
several years now, I've lived inlocations where the size of our
refrigerator is, is muchsmaller.
You know, if you've ever been toEurope, European style fridge,
right?
Or, you know, in the U.
(10:16):
S., in the cities.
You know, they have now thesesuper tiny fridges that are
economical and not made forpeople who eat produce.
It's just, yeah.
And so when I go groceryshopping, shopping for two or
three days and I'm cramming, youknow, the romaine lettuce takes
up an entire shelf all on itsown.
(10:37):
And then you throw in a couplebell peppers and they're like,
there's not room for anythingelse.
In the winter, I can put itoutside on the deck and make it
last a little bit longer, but asthe weather warms up, I'm losing
that option, right?
And it just becomes too warm forit to keep out and stay put
anyway.
So in these situations, Whereyou don't have the storage
(11:01):
space, but you have the desireand the intent, what you can do,
in addition to utilizing thefreezer, is you can go to the
grocery store and, and this iswhat reminded me of this, raid
that salad bar.
Use the salad bar at the grocerystore to get just the right
amount of vegetables that youneed and the variety of
(11:22):
vegetables that you want to thenuse in a salad at home to then
use in a stir fry.
Is it the most economicaloption?
No, not by far.
However, if you're not bringinghome produce that then goes to
waste, you're more likely not tostep on that guilt train that
has you throw in the towel atthe end of the day.
(11:43):
And sometimes that's worth it.
And sometimes you actually endup saving money by using the
produce that's already pre cutat the salad bar and throwing it
into a soup, then buying all ofthe ingredients and letting the
leftovers rot.
In the fridge or on the counterbecause you don't have any space
in the fridge.
(12:03):
Yes.
I appreciate that perspectivevery much.
I think that we have tosometimes allow ourselves to
splurge in a way that is, And,you know, consistent with our,
our goals.
And sometimes it's challenging.
It's an interesting kind of factto remember is that we used to
spend a much larger portion ofour salaries, of our income on
(12:29):
food.
And we have, at least in the U.
S.
where things have beendrastically subsidized, we are
used to less expensive food.
And so I'm not saying everyonecan do this, but if we can, it's
certainly aligned with You know,our health and perhaps our
health goals to spend a littlemoney to get that help, you
(12:50):
know, to get the help ofsomebody's labor at the grocery
store to cut up those things.
And that huge variety of thingsthat we might not be able to
buy, you know, like, it's a bigstep to buy, like a big, Package
or a bunch of radishes when wewant one or two.
And so when we go throughsomething like that and we have
a salad bar that's prepared forus, and we can just get a little
bit, you know, that works out sowell, like you said, and it,
(13:12):
like, it really could end upsaving us money.
And then if we have the fundsand you know, if we have the,
the ability to spend a littlebit more, also encourage people
to, to take advantage ofspending a little bit more to
help you achieve what you're,what you're trying to achieve.
Exactly.
Yeah, and that salad bar tip canbe used too for, for things like
I, it's always kind ofirritating when you are making a
(13:33):
pot of soup or something and itcalls for one stock of celery
and maybe your grocery storedoes not sell single stocks of
celery and then you buy a wholehead of celery and maybe you
don't really care for it raw,you don't know what to do with a
whole head of it after you makethe soup and so the rest of it
just kind of Go south.
(13:55):
That's a great place to, again,go to the salad bar, grab either
the celery sticks, or if they'vechopped up the celery, and find
pieces for a salad.
Soups and things like this arerough estimates anyway.
Get what looks to beapproximately a stock worth, put
it in a salad, you know, a saladcontainer, and take it home.
(14:16):
Yes, I love it.
Actually, as you're speaking ofcelery, I think one of the, one
of my favorite things to do whencooking vegetables is to use a
pre made mirepoix.
Oh, yes.
Yeah, chopped carrots, celery,and onions, which I'm finding
more and more available onsupermarket shelves and how,
like, that just, If I'm makinglike a chili, for example, to be
(14:39):
able to just start with that,throw that in and start with
that is just a huge time saving,so save you like 10 minutes.
Yes, I'm glad for all thesethings that are happening more
and more.
For example, another one isshaved brussels sprouts.
I'll put it in the show notes,but I have a recipe I just love
for a shaved brussel sproutsalad.
(15:00):
And like, I probably wouldn'tmake it if I had to shave
brussel sprouts myself, youknow?
It just wouldn't probably everhappen, but I can buy a bag of
them and how wonderful.
So I think more and more we'reseeing that.
And also just in historically,like when my mother was a health
nut, kind of ahead of her time,there were times in, in American
grocery stores where we couldn'tfind produce.
(15:22):
That she really had a hard timefinding fresh produce because it
was kind of in the aftermathwhen everything was canned
mostly, wasn't even reallyfrozen.
Frozen is such a boon, like yousaid, but she really had a hard
time and there weren't evenfarmers markets really at that
time.
So I do feel like we are alittle better off than we have
been, even though sometimes it'sstill a hurdle.
(15:43):
Yeah, absolutely.
It's the access that we have nowis really unlike anything I've,
I've seen in my lifetime.
Right.
I mean just the amount of timesI've gone into a grocery store
over the last 15 years and beenlike, I didn't know cauliflower
came in that color.
Yeah, exactly.
And that's right.
That's not necessarily at yourfarmer's market.
(16:04):
That's right in your, in yourlocal supermarket.
So some of us have definitelyvarying degrees of produce
range, but I think we're goingin the right direction.
At least I hope that's the case.
I think we are.
Yes.
That beep indicates we're abouthalfway through the episode.
So if you're not walking a loop,you might want to turn around
(16:26):
and head back now.
So you mentioned just one thingI was curious about.
When you have excess produce, doyou ever freeze it yourself?
Is that what you're saying?
I do.
Yeah.
Sometimes I will freeze itmyself.
I do save all of my scraps whenI'm prepping and then turn it
into, into broth because I alsosave all the chicken bones and,
you know, I, I hoard.
(16:47):
I hoard food.
That's so great.
I know it's so funny because I,we're moving soon and I have
accumulated some scraps andbones in my freezer and I'm
like, I better make soup reallysoon because I don't really
think I'm going to be able tomove these items.
So I relate so much to thatsentiment, but it's going to be
good when I remember to throw itinto my pressure cooker.
(17:08):
It's going to be awesome.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Well, thank you so much.
I feel like this is soinspirational.
And I would say, you know, mybiggest takeaway is to not let
the perfect be the enemy of thegood when it comes to most
things, but especially here.
Yeah.
And, and one, one thing that Ialso want to offer listeners is
(17:29):
a guide that I have called fiveways to five a day.
In 15 minutes or less, and it'sfive different ways that you can
quickly and easily begin tobring more produce into your
diet, into your plate.
And it's not a bunch ofsmoothies or salads.
I, I don't, those get old quickand there's plenty of those
(17:50):
options out on the internet foryou already.
So these are different ways thatyou can start to both expand
your palate and, um, expand yourskill set as a veg hunter.
All right.
And, um, increase the, thevitality and the energy and the
joy that you have in your lifethat comes from a high produce
(18:11):
diet.
Well, I'm really excited toshare that with the listener.
Thank you so much for sharing itwith us.
And it's been really wonderfulto connect.
I found that our conversationwas very inspiring to myself.
I look forward to changing a fewthings up.
And I know that people willbenefit if they take any of the
steps that we've we've talkedabout today.
Great.
Thank you so much again forhaving me.
(18:33):
It's been awesome, Amy.
I think Amy could actually callherself the veggie coach, or the
veggie whisperer.
It was great.
To have her on and speak withher about her very doable
approach to vegetable hunting.
(18:54):
Because I think we often getcaught up in the perfect vision
of how our consumption ofvegetables would go, and then of
course, life happens.
I think that being primed tolook for something in our
environment is really key.
If we let our brains, which arewired to keep us fattened up
because of a potential famine,that's unlikely to occur, but if
(19:16):
we let that orientation takeover, we're likely to pursue
other high energy, aka highcalorie laden foods.
If we can keep front of mindthat we want to be on the
lookout for vegetables in ourenvironment, that intentionality
can shift what we see.
Like, oh look, the conveniencestore has cut up celery and
(19:38):
carrots, or the airportbookstore has a salad in their
refrigerated case, or my localsandwich shop will swap out the
bag of chips for coleslaw for anextra 50 cents.
When we're looking for them,we're more likely to find them.
define them.
Amy alluded to training ourtaste buds to like some of the
(19:59):
more bitter flavors in somevegetables, and she mentioned
fried brussels sprouts.
Our taste preferences that arenaturally built in from birth do
have us liking sweet tastes themost.
My first class in college, thatwas a psychology class, the
professor was very well knownfor his Experiments with babies
(20:21):
where they so strongly preferredsugar water over regular water.
It was crazy and kind of sad,actually, because they would
really like Just love on thatsugar water and then stopped
drinking regular water infantslike newborns Anyway, probably
couldn't do that experiment.
(20:41):
No again like this, you knownatural built in preference for
sweet that was helpful when wewere evolving and Also, we were
specifically wired to dislikesome of the more bitter flavors
because some plants that werebetter bitter were actually
poisonous.
(21:01):
So we were definitely throwingup the baby with the bathwater
there because those bittervegetables have a lot of
nutrients we really could use.
So our brain is kind ofstymieing our ability to nourish
ourselves fully, which meansthat we need to fight back a
little bit.
And maybe intentionally try toexpand our palates beyond how
they're wired naturally.
(21:23):
This will serve us well becauseif we can broaden the range of
nutrients we're getting throughhaving a real variety of plant
food, this will mean enhancedhealth and well being.
There was a study done testingout the ability of adding more
mild and sweet vegetables inversus the standard intake to
help fight certain diseases.
And then they also tested peoplewho added more butter.
(21:45):
bitter vegetables to theirdiets.
The added veggies in bothgroups, the mild and sweet ones
versus the bitter, strongtasting ones, they were actually
the same vegetables, mostly rootvegetables and members of the
brassica or cruciferous family.
But they varied on how bitterthey were.
(22:05):
We've been breeding modern cropsfor sweetness for years across
all produce, and so this studycompared those vegetables from
modern hybridization with themore traditional and more bitter
kind of varieties.
So both groups who ate moreveggies did get significant
health improvements, which isn'ttoo surprising.
(22:26):
But the Bitter veggie eaters goteven more than those who ate the
milder, sweeter vegetables.
They had better insulinsensitivity and blood sugar
control, better body fat mass,and better blood pressure.
Which isn't to say that weshouldn't also enjoy the milder,
sweeter vegetables, but maybethat we should try to get used
to eating some of the morebitter varietals as well.
(22:48):
And one trick to do this is to,well, fry them like Amy alluded
to.
Another is to pair.
bitter and sweeter together.
So like a nice tray of roastedveggies where some are sweeter
like carrots and maybe some aremore bitter like brussels
sprouts or celery root.
Another option is to addsweetness to a bitter vegetable.
Something like pomegranate arilswill fit the bill here.
(23:10):
Those are the little tiny arils.
Nuggets of sweetness in apomegranate, and um, they pair
really well with bittervegetables like kale and
cabbage, and again, brusselssprouts.
A balsamic glaze or a bit ofmaple syrup will also cut the
bitterness.
If you're trying to keep yourblood sugar balanced, just keep
those amounts maybe not tooheavy, and perhaps eat them
(23:31):
after your protein, which willhelp stem the impact to blood
sugar.
It's worth experimenting andplaying around for the benefits
because they're prettysignificant, like possible
reduction in cancer and heartdisease, slowing down the
progression of dementia, andmany of these bitter vegetables
are also rich in prebioticfibers, so these are fibers that
(23:53):
can feed our gut microbiota.
and stave off a whole host ofdiseases and help nutrition
absorption and also improve ourimmunity.
So what's not to like there?
And besides adding sweetflavors, by the way, we can also
balance bitter flavors with allthe other tastes as well, like
salty, umami, sour, and even hotflavors like chili.
(24:16):
All those can help balance outthe bitterness as well.
We can intentionally eat somebitter veggies, perhaps
balancing them out with thoseother flavors.
So that's one approach.
On a more macro level, we canlook to eat the rainbow.
This involves getting an arrayof colors in, if not daily, then
maybe over the course of a week,with the assumption that having
(24:36):
a range of colors will also meangetting an array of all the
different phytochemicals thatplants can provide to us.
These can contribute to reducinginflammation, which is at the
core of many disease processes,and in turn can mean improved
health and longevity.
So eating the rainbow means thatwe'd.
(24:56):
Strive to get servings of red,orange, yellow, green, kind of
blue, violet, fruit, andveggies, white, and also brown
foods into our diets.
We're talking about veggiesprimarily today, but when we're
eating the rainbow fornutritional benefits from a
diversity of different, uh,sources for calories.
(25:18):
getting the full complement ofphytonutrients.
We can also look to fruit andteas and spices and herbs and
nuts and seeds to, um, give usmore hits of those plant based
nutrients.
And this variety will definitelydo us good, but back to veggies.
Here are some of the mostnutrient dense vegetables out
(25:39):
there.
According to wonderful friend ofthe podcast, Marty Kendall.
The first listings are ones thatare most nutrient dense per
calorie, so adding them in, uh,won't add too much energy to our
intake.
Uh, they include spinach, bokchoy, watercress, asparagus,
kimchi, chard, kale, broccoli,endive, which might be endive
(26:06):
depending on how you pronounceit, along with salsify, salsify.
Lettuce, brussels sprouts, whichwe keep hearing about, also
cauliflower, mushrooms, andgreen beans.
And then another few come with alittle more energy or a few more
calories, but absolutely can bepart of our balance plate on a
(26:27):
regular basis.
Or a vibrant rainbow, dependingon how you're looking at it.
And these would include sweetpotato, potato, So, sweet
potato, and also regular potato,and avocado.
From these listings, I'm sureyou already have some favorites,
so maybe you want to startthere.
Though diversity might be a goodlong term goal for some people,
(26:48):
we should all start where weare.
So, sticking with what we lovemight be the best strategy for
us right now.
Finding a similar veggie to onethat we like might be a next
step.
for somebody else.
Or if we're finding that we'regravitating mostly to sweet
veggies and we want to try toget some more diversity in,
then, you know, maybe we canconsider revisiting some of the
(27:10):
bitter vegetables for morediversity of nutrients and other
benefits.
Remember, it's not always easybecause our brains were
literally wired to do theopposite, but we can make a lot
of headway and it's really worthour while.
So.
Maybe we can start doing thosefive a day that we know are good
for us.
So, you know, bridging that nodo gap, and then we can go from
(27:32):
there.
Thanks for spending time with metoday.
If you're enjoying WellnessWhile Walking and would like to
leave the show a review oniTunes, that would be so
appreciated.
There are instructions for howto do this in the show notes, or
you can just email me and I canhelp you do it.
Thank you so much forconsidering that and take care
of yourself until we're togetherand again next time a reminder
(27:58):
that neither I nor my podcastguests are doctors or health
care professionals of any kindand Nothing on this podcast or
associated content should beconsidered medical advice The
information provided by WellnessWhile Walking, Whole Life
Workshop, and Bermuda RoadWellness LLC is for
(28:19):
informational and entertainmentpurposes only.
It is not intended to be asubstitute for professional
medical advice, diagnosis, ortreatment.
Always seek the advice of yourphysician or other qualified
health care provider before Withany questions you may have
regarding a medical condition ortreatment, and before
(28:40):
undertaking any new health careregimen, including walking.
Happy holidays, my fellowhealthy heathens.
For the next two episodes, I'mgoing to be taking some time off
to enjoy my family this holidayseason, but I am not going to
leave you hanging.
My podcast pal, Carolyn ofWellness While Walking, has
graciously shared the episodesthat I recorded with her for her
podcast, and over the next twoweeks, I'm going to share these
(00:21):
episodes with you.
So, we're going to be talkingall about vegetables, and it's a
really great segue into some ofwhat I am planning on sharing in
2025.
You're going to learn some timehonored tips to get more veggies
on your plate in easy,sustainable ways, how to
increase your willingness to eatvegetables when you are feeling
a little reluctant, And how toget better at finding them
(00:43):
whether you are on the road, inan airport, or even navigating a
new grocery store.
Carolyn and I discuss what to dowhen your plan goes sideways,
creative ideas on how to expandyour veggie palette, and myriads
of ways that veggies can improveyour health.
I do hope that you enjoyed theseconversations as much as I
enjoyed having them.
(01:03):
And have a wonderful, wonderfulholiday.
We all have the best intentionswhen it comes to eating well.
Well, what happens when lifegoes sideways, as our guest Amy
says today?
Can we still eat in alignmentwith our intentions?
(01:24):
And specifically, how can we getthose veggies in?
And if you've been pushing asidethose slightly bitter
vegetables, we've got big newsfor you.
Don't turn up your nose, but do.
Join us.
Welcome to the Wellness WhileWalking Podcast.
(01:46):
I'm your walking guide andhealth coach, Carolyn Cohen.
Whether you've been walking orotherwise moving regularly, or
it's fallen off your schedule,I'll be here to help you make
your own wellness a priority.
We'll plan for about a 30 minutewalk each week, and while you're
ambling, I'll be rambling inyour ear.
(02:06):
Mm hmm.
We will talk about walking abit, but also about wellness in
the largest sense of the word sothat we can continue on a
journey of a beautiful life ofno regrets.
Let's chat, learn, laugh, andmove in the most natural way
possible, and then get back towork.
To designing and living thebest, most rewarding lives we
(02:28):
each ever imagined.
Hi, welcome to episode 228.
Thanks for being here with metoday.
Before we continue a reminderthat I'm not a doctor or a
mental health professional, andthat the content presented here
is for educational andinformational purposes only,
please make sure that you checkwith your doctor before making
(02:50):
any health or lifestyle changes.
One of the most successfulhealthy eating campaigns took
place in the past couple ofdecades across the world.
In the US, the UK.
In New Zealand and in othercountries where officials were
(03:11):
trying to get residents to eatmore and vegetables.
The campaigns centered aroundgetting folks to eat five or
more servings a day, whatever aserving is, of fruits and
vegetables, or as we would sayhere, vegetables and fruit.
And wow, the campaigns worked.
Well, sort of, I should say.
The awareness of the campaignswas strong.
(03:33):
Extremely high.
People got how important it wasto add more produce into their
diets.
So with all that success ofdrilling into our heads that we
needed five or more servings aday of fresh vegetables and
fruit in our diets, wanna guesshow many more servings we ate,
uh, with that full knowledge ofhow these extra servings would
(03:53):
impact our health?
Well In the U.
S.
anyway, servings of produce,according to many sources,
actually went down.
Veggies went down 7 percent andfruit 2%.
So there you go, that is theperfect example of a no do gap,
where we know what to do, but wedon't.
(04:16):
And maybe that, in this case, ispartially because we're letting
The perfect be the enemy of thegood.
In other words, we might be ableto get closer to getting those
veggies in if maybe we threwaway our preconceived notions
about how that had to look andhow that had to happen.
So let's jump back into ourconversation with Amy about all
things produce and then I'llcome back afterwards.
(04:39):
and chat with you about how tomake a particular subgroup of
produce more appealing.
See what I did there?
Because this particular group ofplants, um, pack a huge
nutritional punch.
So you'll definitely want tobridge that no do gap in this
case.
Okay, we're jumping back in.
(05:06):
If you're working with somebodyand they're really wanting to
cook more at home and that partof that.
Is to maybe get more vegetablesinto their diets.
What are some steps that yourecommend that people start
with?
I think if they're, if they'rereally in a time crunch, which
I, I'm going to make thatassumption because it's hard,
it's harder and harder to findpeople who aren't, if we're
(05:30):
honest.
Yes, absolutely.
Taking advantage of ourconvenience culture and
purchasing pre cut vegetables,uh, frozen vegetables, canned
vegetables, lean into that, letthat, use that to your benefit.
It, again, it doesn't have tobe, I go to the farmer's market
(05:52):
and get the best stuff and Itake it home and I spend four
hours prepping everything andputting it in glass containers.
neatly in my fridge.
And then I take an Instagrampicture and my life is perfect,
right?
Like, that's not, that's not.
(06:12):
That's so true.
We probably just happened to getmore of those like popping up
because we do probably, youknow, follow different kinds of
accounts on social media.
And then they assume that I'mgoing to want to see a
refrigerator absolutely stackedfull of the rainbow.
That no family could possiblyconsume in time.
You know what I mean?
(06:32):
It's just so unrealistic.
And then people think like nowthere's a refrigerator is sold
in the U S I don't know.
If it's widely availableeverywhere, uh, that comes with
a drawer, which like a verynarrow drawer.
So it's like the freezer, thefridge, and then this extra
third drawer.
And when my kids were young,especially, we used to do salad
bars all the time, like on thekitchen counter and they could
take what they, you know, firstof all, it was impossible with
(06:53):
four of them to keep track ofwhat they liked and didn't like,
but they could customize it.
It was fun.
And then we put all those kindof containers back in the fridge
and pulled them out the next dayand did the same thing again.
I always thought I would inventa salad bar.
contraption that you could justeasily take out and put back in
the fridge because I thought itwas so helpful for my kids.
But this, like, drawer is beingused kind of like that in some
(07:16):
cases where it's just, like,open, like, people would just
open it up and there's, like,lettuce and cut up carrots and
celery and cucumbers justsitting there and everything.
But again, it's just, like, A,what percentage of the people
have this in their fridge?
Like, 0.
001%.
And B, just, like, it's soPretty unperfectionist kind of
affirming that people are justlike, Oh, that's lovely to look
(07:38):
at.
And I can't do that.
You know, exactly.
That is a dream though, right?
And what is what is the internetbut not a collection of our
fantasies?
There you go.
And it's all well and good untilyou pivot and go 180 degrees in
the opposite direction, youknow?
Yeah.
I mean, there are, there arecertainly plenty of people who,
(07:59):
at the start of the year,they're like, okay, I'm going to
do this.
I'm going to food prep.
I'm going to do this once aweek.
And, you know, for a week, twoweeks, three weeks, I mean, if
they are, in my eyes, amazing,maybe it lasts a couple of
months where they have theInstagram worthy refrigerator
with all the glass containersstacked up at the start of the
week and they just go throughit, right?
(08:21):
But inevitably, life happens.
And so finding a system that issustainable for you is of
critical importance and enteringany kind of health goal with,
Okay, yes, we have our ideal.
We have our best case scenarioof how we're going to execute
this.
But what happens when stuff goessideways?
(08:44):
Then, then what are you, what'syour backup plan?
And having a backup plan is so,so important.
And that's why I encourage, likeI always encourage my clients,
have an emergency stash offrozen vegetables in your
freezer because there will be aday, I promise you, when either
you can't get to the grocerystore, when you come home and
(09:08):
you find out your kid came homefrom soccer practice and just
cleaned out the fridge andthere's nothing left for you.
Things happen, right?
Having that backup plan preventsyou, one, from entering into
that fatalistic mindset of, oh,well, it didn't happen today, so
I might as well just get takeoutor just have the sleeves of Ritz
(09:31):
crackers for dinner or, youknow, what have you.
And it also allows you to bemore agile and adaptable to the
chaos of the real world.
It's so, so important.
We have to be realistic with,you know, what's going to
actually fit in our lives today,and not be punitive when it
doesn't work out, because thereare those Other steps that are
(09:55):
perfectly good.
One, one obstacle that Istruggle with personally is for
several years now, I've lived inlocations where the size of our
refrigerator is, is muchsmaller.
You know, if you've ever been toEurope, European style fridge,
right?
Or, you know, in the U.
(10:16):
S., in the cities.
You know, they have now thesesuper tiny fridges that are
economical and not made forpeople who eat produce.
It's just, yeah.
And so when I go groceryshopping, shopping for two or
three days and I'm cramming, youknow, the romaine lettuce takes
up an entire shelf all on itsown.
(10:37):
And then you throw in a couplebell peppers and they're like,
there's not room for anythingelse.
In the winter, I can put itoutside on the deck and make it
last a little bit longer, but asthe weather warms up, I'm losing
that option, right?
And it just becomes too warm forit to keep out and stay put
anyway.
So in these situations, Whereyou don't have the storage
(11:01):
space, but you have the desireand the intent, what you can do,
in addition to utilizing thefreezer, is you can go to the
grocery store and, and this iswhat reminded me of this, raid
that salad bar.
Use the salad bar at the grocerystore to get just the right
amount of vegetables that youneed and the variety of
(11:22):
vegetables that you want to thenuse in a salad at home to then
use in a stir fry.
Is it the most economicaloption?
No, not by far.
However, if you're not bringinghome produce that then goes to
waste, you're more likely not tostep on that guilt train that
has you throw in the towel atthe end of the day.
(11:43):
And sometimes that's worth it.
And sometimes you actually endup saving money by using the
produce that's already pre cutat the salad bar and throwing it
into a soup, then buying all ofthe ingredients and letting the
leftovers rot.
In the fridge or on the counterbecause you don't have any space
in the fridge.
(12:03):
Yes.
I appreciate that perspectivevery much.
I think that we have tosometimes allow ourselves to
splurge in a way that is, And,you know, consistent with our,
our goals.
And sometimes it's challenging.
It's an interesting kind of factto remember is that we used to
spend a much larger portion ofour salaries, of our income on
(12:29):
food.
And we have, at least in the U.
S.
where things have beendrastically subsidized, we are
used to less expensive food.
And so I'm not saying everyonecan do this, but if we can, it's
certainly aligned with You know,our health and perhaps our
health goals to spend a littlemoney to get that help, you
(12:50):
know, to get the help ofsomebody's labor at the grocery
store to cut up those things.
And that huge variety of thingsthat we might not be able to
buy, you know, like, it's a bigstep to buy, like a big, Package
or a bunch of radishes when wewant one or two.
And so when we go throughsomething like that and we have
a salad bar that's prepared forus, and we can just get a little
bit, you know, that works out sowell, like you said, and it,
(13:12):
like, it really could end upsaving us money.
And then if we have the fundsand you know, if we have the,
the ability to spend a littlebit more, also encourage people
to, to take advantage ofspending a little bit more to
help you achieve what you're,what you're trying to achieve.
Exactly.
Yeah, and that salad bar tip canbe used too for, for things like
I, it's always kind ofirritating when you are making a
(13:33):
pot of soup or something and itcalls for one stock of celery
and maybe your grocery storedoes not sell single stocks of
celery and then you buy a wholehead of celery and maybe you
don't really care for it raw,you don't know what to do with a
whole head of it after you makethe soup and so the rest of it
just kind of Go south.
(13:55):
That's a great place to, again,go to the salad bar, grab either
the celery sticks, or if they'vechopped up the celery, and find
pieces for a salad.
Soups and things like this arerough estimates anyway.
Get what looks to beapproximately a stock worth, put
it in a salad, you know, a saladcontainer, and take it home.
(14:16):
Yes, I love it.
Actually, as you're speaking ofcelery, I think one of the, one
of my favorite things to do whencooking vegetables is to use a
pre made mirepoix.
Oh, yes.
Yeah, chopped carrots, celery,and onions, which I'm finding
more and more available onsupermarket shelves and how,
like, that just, If I'm makinglike a chili, for example, to be
(14:39):
able to just start with that,throw that in and start with
that is just a huge time saving,so save you like 10 minutes.
Yes, I'm glad for all thesethings that are happening more
and more.
For example, another one isshaved brussels sprouts.
I'll put it in the show notes,but I have a recipe I just love
for a shaved brussel sproutsalad.
(15:00):
And like, I probably wouldn'tmake it if I had to shave
brussel sprouts myself, youknow?
It just wouldn't probably everhappen, but I can buy a bag of
them and how wonderful.
So I think more and more we'reseeing that.
And also just in historically,like when my mother was a health
nut, kind of ahead of her time,there were times in, in American
grocery stores where we couldn'tfind produce.
(15:22):
That she really had a hard timefinding fresh produce because it
was kind of in the aftermathwhen everything was canned
mostly, wasn't even reallyfrozen.
Frozen is such a boon, like yousaid, but she really had a hard
time and there weren't evenfarmers markets really at that
time.
So I do feel like we are alittle better off than we have
been, even though sometimes it'sstill a hurdle.
(15:43):
Yeah, absolutely.
It's the access that we have nowis really unlike anything I've,
I've seen in my lifetime.
Right.
I mean just the amount of timesI've gone into a grocery store
over the last 15 years and beenlike, I didn't know cauliflower
came in that color.
Yeah, exactly.
And that's right.
That's not necessarily at yourfarmer's market.
(16:04):
That's right in your, in yourlocal supermarket.
So some of us have definitelyvarying degrees of produce
range, but I think we're goingin the right direction.
At least I hope that's the case.
I think we are.
Yes.
That beep indicates we're abouthalfway through the episode.
So if you're not walking a loop,you might want to turn around
(16:26):
and head back now.
So you mentioned just one thingI was curious about.
When you have excess produce, doyou ever freeze it yourself?
Is that what you're saying?
I do.
Yeah.
Sometimes I will freeze itmyself.
I do save all of my scraps whenI'm prepping and then turn it
into, into broth because I alsosave all the chicken bones and,
you know, I, I hoard.
(16:47):
I hoard food.
That's so great.
I know it's so funny because I,we're moving soon and I have
accumulated some scraps andbones in my freezer and I'm
like, I better make soup reallysoon because I don't really
think I'm going to be able tomove these items.
So I relate so much to thatsentiment, but it's going to be
good when I remember to throw itinto my pressure cooker.
(17:08):
It's going to be awesome.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Well, thank you so much.
I feel like this is soinspirational.
And I would say, you know, mybiggest takeaway is to not let
the perfect be the enemy of thegood when it comes to most
things, but especially here.
Yeah.
And, and one, one thing that Ialso want to offer listeners is
(17:29):
a guide that I have called fiveways to five a day.
In 15 minutes or less, and it'sfive different ways that you can
quickly and easily begin tobring more produce into your
diet, into your plate.
And it's not a bunch ofsmoothies or salads.
I, I don't, those get old quickand there's plenty of those
(17:50):
options out on the internet foryou already.
So these are different ways thatyou can start to both expand
your palate and, um, expand yourskill set as a veg hunter.
All right.
And, um, increase the, thevitality and the energy and the
joy that you have in your lifethat comes from a high produce
(18:11):
diet.
Well, I'm really excited toshare that with the listener.
Thank you so much for sharing itwith us.
And it's been really wonderfulto connect.
I found that our conversationwas very inspiring to myself.
I look forward to changing a fewthings up.
And I know that people willbenefit if they take any of the
steps that we've we've talkedabout today.
Great.
Thank you so much again forhaving me.
(18:33):
It's been awesome, Amy.
I think Amy could actually callherself the veggie coach, or the
veggie whisperer.
It was great.
To have her on and speak withher about her very doable
approach to vegetable hunting.
(18:54):
Because I think we often getcaught up in the perfect vision
of how our consumption ofvegetables would go, and then of
course, life happens.
I think that being primed tolook for something in our
environment is really key.
If we let our brains, which arewired to keep us fattened up
because of a potential famine,that's unlikely to occur, but if
(19:16):
we let that orientation takeover, we're likely to pursue
other high energy, aka highcalorie laden foods.
If we can keep front of mindthat we want to be on the
lookout for vegetables in ourenvironment, that intentionality
can shift what we see.
Like, oh look, the conveniencestore has cut up celery and
(19:38):
carrots, or the airportbookstore has a salad in their
refrigerated case, or my localsandwich shop will swap out the
bag of chips for coleslaw for anextra 50 cents.
When we're looking for them,we're more likely to find them.
define them.
Amy alluded to training ourtaste buds to like some of the
(19:59):
more bitter flavors in somevegetables, and she mentioned
fried brussels sprouts.
Our taste preferences that arenaturally built in from birth do
have us liking sweet tastes themost.
My first class in college, thatwas a psychology class, the
professor was very well knownfor his Experiments with babies
(20:21):
where they so strongly preferredsugar water over regular water.
It was crazy and kind of sad,actually, because they would
really like Just love on thatsugar water and then stopped
drinking regular water infantslike newborns Anyway, probably
couldn't do that experiment.
(20:41):
No again like this, you knownatural built in preference for
sweet that was helpful when wewere evolving and Also, we were
specifically wired to dislikesome of the more bitter flavors
because some plants that werebetter bitter were actually
poisonous.
(21:01):
So we were definitely throwingup the baby with the bathwater
there because those bittervegetables have a lot of
nutrients we really could use.
So our brain is kind ofstymieing our ability to nourish
ourselves fully, which meansthat we need to fight back a
little bit.
And maybe intentionally try toexpand our palates beyond how
they're wired naturally.
(21:23):
This will serve us well becauseif we can broaden the range of
nutrients we're getting throughhaving a real variety of plant
food, this will mean enhancedhealth and well being.
There was a study done testingout the ability of adding more
mild and sweet vegetables inversus the standard intake to
help fight certain diseases.
And then they also tested peoplewho added more butter.
(21:45):
bitter vegetables to theirdiets.
The added veggies in bothgroups, the mild and sweet ones
versus the bitter, strongtasting ones, they were actually
the same vegetables, mostly rootvegetables and members of the
brassica or cruciferous family.
But they varied on how bitterthey were.
(22:05):
We've been breeding modern cropsfor sweetness for years across
all produce, and so this studycompared those vegetables from
modern hybridization with themore traditional and more bitter
kind of varieties.
So both groups who ate moreveggies did get significant
health improvements, which isn'ttoo surprising.
(22:26):
But the Bitter veggie eaters goteven more than those who ate the
milder, sweeter vegetables.
They had better insulinsensitivity and blood sugar
control, better body fat mass,and better blood pressure.
Which isn't to say that weshouldn't also enjoy the milder,
sweeter vegetables, but maybethat we should try to get used
to eating some of the morebitter varietals as well.
(22:48):
And one trick to do this is to,well, fry them like Amy alluded
to.
Another is to pair.
bitter and sweeter together.
So like a nice tray of roastedveggies where some are sweeter
like carrots and maybe some aremore bitter like brussels
sprouts or celery root.
Another option is to addsweetness to a bitter vegetable.
Something like pomegranate arilswill fit the bill here.
(23:10):
Those are the little tiny arils.
Nuggets of sweetness in apomegranate, and um, they pair
really well with bittervegetables like kale and
cabbage, and again, brusselssprouts.
A balsamic glaze or a bit ofmaple syrup will also cut the
bitterness.
If you're trying to keep yourblood sugar balanced, just keep
those amounts maybe not tooheavy, and perhaps eat them
(23:31):
after your protein, which willhelp stem the impact to blood
sugar.
It's worth experimenting andplaying around for the benefits
because they're prettysignificant, like possible
reduction in cancer and heartdisease, slowing down the
progression of dementia, andmany of these bitter vegetables
are also rich in prebioticfibers, so these are fibers that
(23:53):
can feed our gut microbiota.
and stave off a whole host ofdiseases and help nutrition
absorption and also improve ourimmunity.
So what's not to like there?
And besides adding sweetflavors, by the way, we can also
balance bitter flavors with allthe other tastes as well, like
salty, umami, sour, and even hotflavors like chili.
(24:16):
All those can help balance outthe bitterness as well.
We can intentionally eat somebitter veggies, perhaps
balancing them out with thoseother flavors.
So that's one approach.
On a more macro level, we canlook to eat the rainbow.
This involves getting an arrayof colors in, if not daily, then
maybe over the course of a week,with the assumption that having
(24:36):
a range of colors will also meangetting an array of all the
different phytochemicals thatplants can provide to us.
These can contribute to reducinginflammation, which is at the
core of many disease processes,and in turn can mean improved
health and longevity.
So eating the rainbow means thatwe'd.
(24:56):
Strive to get servings of red,orange, yellow, green, kind of
blue, violet, fruit, andveggies, white, and also brown
foods into our diets.
We're talking about veggiesprimarily today, but when we're
eating the rainbow fornutritional benefits from a
diversity of different, uh,sources for calories.
(25:18):
getting the full complement ofphytonutrients.
We can also look to fruit andteas and spices and herbs and
nuts and seeds to, um, give usmore hits of those plant based
nutrients.
And this variety will definitelydo us good, but back to veggies.
Here are some of the mostnutrient dense vegetables out
(25:39):
there.
According to wonderful friend ofthe podcast, Marty Kendall.
The first listings are ones thatare most nutrient dense per
calorie, so adding them in, uh,won't add too much energy to our
intake.
Uh, they include spinach, bokchoy, watercress, asparagus,
kimchi, chard, kale, broccoli,endive, which might be endive
(26:06):
depending on how you pronounceit, along with salsify, salsify.
Lettuce, brussels sprouts, whichwe keep hearing about, also
cauliflower, mushrooms, andgreen beans.
And then another few come with alittle more energy or a few more
calories, but absolutely can bepart of our balance plate on a
(26:27):
regular basis.
Or a vibrant rainbow, dependingon how you're looking at it.
And these would include sweetpotato, potato, So, sweet
potato, and also regular potato,and avocado.
From these listings, I'm sureyou already have some favorites,
so maybe you want to startthere.
Though diversity might be a goodlong term goal for some people,
(26:48):
we should all start where weare.
So, sticking with what we lovemight be the best strategy for
us right now.
Finding a similar veggie to onethat we like might be a next
step.
for somebody else.
Or if we're finding that we'regravitating mostly to sweet
veggies and we want to try toget some more diversity in,
then, you know, maybe we canconsider revisiting some of the
(27:10):
bitter vegetables for morediversity of nutrients and other
benefits.
Remember, it's not always easybecause our brains were
literally wired to do theopposite, but we can make a lot
of headway and it's really worthour while.
So.
Maybe we can start doing thosefive a day that we know are good
for us.
So, you know, bridging that nodo gap, and then we can go from
(27:32):
there.
Thanks for spending time with metoday.
If you're enjoying WellnessWhile Walking and would like to
leave the show a review oniTunes, that would be so
appreciated.
There are instructions for howto do this in the show notes, or
you can just email me and I canhelp you do it.
Thank you so much forconsidering that and take care
of yourself until we're togetherand again next time a reminder
(27:58):
that neither I nor my podcastguests are doctors or health
care professionals of any kindand Nothing on this podcast or
associated content should beconsidered medical advice The
information provided by WellnessWhile Walking, Whole Life
Workshop, and Bermuda RoadWellness LLC is for
(28:19):
informational and entertainmentpurposes only.
It is not intended to be asubstitute for professional
medical advice, diagnosis, ortreatment.
Always seek the advice of yourphysician or other qualified
health care provider before Withany questions you may have
regarding a medical condition ortreatment, and before
(28:40):
undertaking any new health careregimen, including walking.
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com