10 Ways to Add More Veggies to Your Diet

You don't have to be a vegetarian to benefit from eating more vegetables. Here are 10 ways to improve your diet.

By Charles Stuart Platkin

Eat Local

Research substantiates the claim that populations who consume plant-based diets have less chronic disease, such as hardening of the arteries, heart disease, some cancers, diabetes, and obesity, says Anne VanBeber, PhD, RD, a nutrition professor at Texas Christian University. In addition, plants contain vital health-promoting compounds in the form of pigments, phytochemicals, and antioxidants that reduce the onset of disease.

I'm not suggesting that everyone become a vegetarian; however, we all could benefit from eating more vegetables. So here are 10 ways to increase the veggies in your diet.

1. Join Something

Look into a Community Supported Agriculture program (CSA) where you support a local farm and get shares of the produce. Or look for an organic buying club.

www.localharvest.org >>

Or try one of the following:

www.ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets -- for a list of more than 4,300 farmers' markets >>
www.eatwellguide.org -- to find foods that are healthful, humane, better for the environment, and that support family farmers >>
www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/csa -- for listings of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) >>