Eat Your Veggies

Eating Healthy Today Keeps the Doctor Away!

According to the Center for Disease Control, just nine percent of Americans get their daily recommended vegetable intake. We were surprised to hear it too! With fresh, affordable (even free if you need them) vegetables all around us, we should at least be reaching for one serving per day, let alone the recommended three servings. Light on calories and full of cancer fighting compounds, vitamins, minerals, and fiber, a sufficient vegetable intake could be your ticket to lifelong weight maintenance and disease prevention. 

We felt HDAE staff members shouldn’t be missing out, so we challenged them to up their veggie intake with the two weeklong Veg Out Challenge. Participants received emails with tips and recipes, and had access to a tracker. To celebrate the end of the challenge we had a healthy food tasting with flavor packed recipes to send them off right. The tasting was open to everyone in the department, and more than 40 people attended.

Veg Out Challengers reported they found the recipes and encouragement helpful, and some even said they like vegetables better than before. Participants of both events were surprised veggies could be so delicious! 

Keep an eye out for more HDAE Wellness Program events to help you stay on track for your health goals. For more information, please contact Leslie at x2870 or lesliecramirez@ucsb.edu, and make sure to watch the Wellness Program video.