EMA health tip of the day Fayetteville, N.C.

We all know that we need to eat more vegetables. We, as parents, also know that we are key role models for kids and they are watching and learning from our behaviors.

According to the latest USDA guidelines, we should actually being filling half our plate with fruits and vegetables. And actually a bit more vegetables than fruit. So how do we get ourselves to eat more vegetables! That is a good question and this study may be the key with a pretty simple solution. By adding more variety of vegetables to your meal, adults were more likely to eat more vegetables. The study found that adults actually ate about 1/2 serving more of vegetables if there was a variety of vegetables.

Instead of serving one type of vegetable, like broccoli or spinach, try mixing them up with other vegetables.

Here are just a few easy ways to prepare mixed vegetables:

salads - you can easily add many types of delicious fresh vegetables to salads

stir-fry - chopping up different vegetables and sautéing them with some onions and fresh herbs

steamed vegetables - choose different vegetables and add some herbs and spices and lightly steam them

soups - my mom added so many different types of vegetables into soup and it always tasted good

of course you can add more vegetables into casseroles and sauces.

Don't forget color. Vegetables come in so many different colors and that adds another dimension of interest to the food.

So enjoy!