How to incorporate more fruit + veg into a vegan diet?

I've been vegan for about 2 months now and I know I need to eat more fruit and vegetables but I just can't figure out how. All we have in our fridge right now is tomato and lettuce, and the only fruit we have is bananas and apples. I need ideas !!

Thankyou!How to incorporate more fruit + veg into a vegan diet?
Buy or borrow a good vegan cookbook to give you ideas. A really good one that I like is the "Idiot's guide to vegan cooking". There's heaps of great recipes that will ensure you will include lots more veggies %26amp; fruit into your diet %26amp; it will taste great too!How to incorporate more fruit + veg into a vegan diet?
It might be easier than you think...keep veggies like celery, carrots and broccoli in the fridge and keep hummus to dip the veggies in.
I've had the same problem. What's helped me a lot is to have a vegetable stir-fry quite regularly. My local supermarket sells a chinese style stir-fry that has about 5 different types of veggies in it. Pop in some rice noodles and you have a quick and easy dish that you can have probably once or twice a week without getting bored with it.How to incorporate more fruit + veg into a vegan diet?
it's easy. Buy more fruit and eat them. Do you also need to be told how to chew?
Try also clay and algae and shrooms. Grow your own herbs too.How to incorporate more fruit + veg into a vegan diet?
I have not long become a Vegetarian and am also finding it difficult to add lots of fruit and veg into my diet.. however what i found helpful is preparation! and time! make sure that you set aside lots of time to prepare your food, i found making smoothies (Understandably you won't be able to use milk but there are many smoothie recipes using fruit juices instead) etc is a very good way, especially now strawberries and raspberries are in season, but make sure u have enough time to make them, its so simple!

Hope this helps
Breakfast: fruit salad. Buy a bunch of different fruits, slice them up, and combine them into a salad. You might like granola along with it or mixed with it.



Fruits for salad: fresh organic apricots, peaches, pears, pineapple, bananas, apples, kiwi, mangoes, grapes, plums. If there aren't a lot of fruits currently in season, you could mix canned organic fruits in with the fresh fruits you have, but try to get fresh organic fruits if at all possible.



Lunch: A large salad, made of: lettuce, tomato, grated carrots, sliced celery, chopped cilantro, watercress, garbanzo and/or kidney beans for protein, chopped cucumber, grated beets (optional), sliced avocados (optional).



Dinner: Cooked vegetables (choose a different one or combinations of veggies each night, plan ahead for the whole week), potatoes or couscous or brown rice (mix teriyaki sauce or spaghetti sauce into the rice to flavor it), and a dinner salad (leftover small bowl from lunch).



In between meal snacks: any kind of fruit you like, and vary it; pure organic fruit juice with nothing added; Odwalla or Naked Juice's Superfood green drink (for lots of vegetables, fruits in the drink, plus protein from Spirulina and superfood antioxidants).



Use fruits or fruit salad as a desert in place of sweets.



List of dinner vegetables to choose from:



summer squash, mixed with fresh tomatoes, bottled organic spaghetti sauce, Italian Seasoning Blend, sliced or chopped onions and green bell peppers, and Spike seasoning.



zucchini squash fixed the same as above.



asparagus, cooked plain, flavor with Spike seasoning, serve with potatoes, rice or couscous and salad.



yams, or acorn squash, baked or boiled sliced, flavor with brown sugar or honey and Spike, add chopped apples or pineapple and cinnamon if you like. Serve with frozen organic mixed vegetables (ie, corn, carrots, Lima's, green beans, peas).



frozen cooked organic spinach, serve with cooked organic carrots sliced, and brown rice flavored with teriyaki sauce.



frozen organic broccoli mix that also has cauliflower and carrots with it.



stir fry: cook the following veggies in olive oil: broccoli, mushrooms, water chestnuts, carrots, celery, green beans, pea pods (if you can find them). Add teriyaki sauce to flavor. Serve over brown rice.



Green beans cooked with mushrooms and onions.



There's more to choose from, but that's all I can think of at the moment.



Remember to add beans and tofu to your diet for protein. You can mix beans and/or tofu into your brown rice if you like. If beans taste bland, mix into them some bottled organic spaghetti sauce. You can buy canned organic beans of various types. Safeway grocery store has a line of organic beans and all kinds of other organic items called the "O" brand.



Vegetable snacks: organic celery dipped into organic ranch salad dressing, carrot sticks, avocados drizzled with Italian salad dressing, cherry tomatoes.



Remember that you can "drink your fruit and veggies" using fruit juices and vegetable juices and superfood veggie/fruit drinks. Just make sure everything is organic and pure.



That's all I can think of right now off the top of my head.



P.S. After I wrote and posted all of this, it suddenly occurred to me that maybe you are a vegan who only eats raw foods? If so, I just today found out about this web site, from someone on Yahoo Answers, which is all about how to eat a raw vegan diet: http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/



Also, I thought of a few more ideas for you: (1) Make veggie wraps: combine lettuce, garbanzos, cucumbers, cilantro, tomatoes, mix in Italian salad dressing, and then on a flour tortilla, or on a wrap, lay out 2 slices of Veggie Slices Pepper Jack soy cheese, top with the salad mixture, and roll up the wrap or tortilla, closing on one end, and eat with your hands like you'd eat a burrito. Really delicious, and raw, and very healthy! (2) If you do, in fact, cook vegetables, you can make your own vegetable soup, as follows: Dump the following into a big pot: frozen mixed vegetables, sliced onions, sliced russet potatoes, sliced zucchini, canned beans (kidney, black or other); fill the pot with filtered water to cover vegetables, bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, cover pan, and cook for about 2-3 hours. Mix in the following for flavor: spaghetti sauce, Spike, Italian Seasoning Blend. Mix some cornstarch with filtered water in a tiny cup, and add to soup to thicken, cooking 5 mins until soup is thickened. It's easy to fix, healthy, and can last you for several days.
Eat fruit and veg as snack and get 5-day-easy =)
Stock your counter and fridge with bananas, mangoes, papayas, watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, peaches, plums, oranges, pears, pineapple, vine ripe tomatoes, grapes, grapefruit, cherries, avocado, cucumber, baby coconut, etc.

You need to buy more sweet fruits that are easy to digest, and think colors! Buy the kinds you really like, such as tropical fruits, melons, berries, peaches, etc. You also merely need to buy more and have it ready so you can grab it when hungry. Buy organic when possible. Start making green smoothies.

Personally, I find things such as carrots, bell peppers, broccoli, salads, etc hard to digest. I prefer to juice hard carrots and celery and apples, and I choose leafy greens (spinach, red and green kale, watercress, dandelion, red and green leaf lettuce, romaine, chard, Italian parsley, etc) and blend them in smoothies with my fav fruits for easier digestion. Even salads are hard to digest unless really small amount. Stick with sweet whole organic fruits, juices, and green smoothies.

Start juicing at home for fresh juice that is hydrating and energizing if you have or get a juicer.



Books I highly highly recommend:

80/10/10 by Dr Douglas Graham

Green for Life by Victoria Boutenko



fredericpatenaude.com (check out his articles and sign up for his free emails which are very informative).



The first 2 books will change the way you understand how to eat as a vegan. These are both based on lowfat natural hygiene raw vegan diet concepts. Trust me, read them.



Example of fav smoothies:

6 leaves kale, red or green (deveined)

3 sweet, ripe bosc or bartlett pears

1 pint fresh raspberries (a couple handfuls)

H20 for blending.

Blend well.This gets better when allows to sit in fridge for a few hours. Store in plastic covered 24 oz or larger containers. You can make it the night before and enjoy the next day.



Half a head of dandelion leaves or romaine

2 honey mangoes

1 hawaiian papaya

2 or 3 bananas



4 sweet ripe pears

handful fresh Italian parsley



Look online for more green smoothie recipes and in the Green for Life book. Again, the trick is getting fruits you really like, buying organic, and buying bulk. Ripe fruits should smell sweet and strong. When you go to your natural food market or farmers market, stop, look around, see what colors draw you. Smell as you walk around. What scent really draws you?Your senses will automatically cue you in to what your body is craving and needs. I'm often immediately drawn to the dark leafy greens. Sometimes it's berries I need, or bananas, or grapes, etc.Green smoothies are great for getting those greens in, and juices are great for hydration and energy.

Buy Debbie Meyer green bags from your natural food store and use them to keep fresh organic fruits, lettuces and veggies fresher much longer.

Keep a journal. Record what you eat (no need to record how much), how you felt afterwards, and what you were craving that day. This gives you an idea what makes you feel good and what doesn't, what you are missing in your diet, etc.
Banana smoothies, (add cinnamon sugar because it taste better).



A juicer and add heaps of fruit %26amp; veges.



Pita bread pizzas- add tahinni and vegan cream cheese, bananas, pineapple, onion, tomato paste, broccoli. yummy!



Grow a fruit tree, i ate fruit all the time as a kid because my parents grew their own fruit and veges and you can just pick it off the trees.

They had plums, figs, grapes, peaches. I don't eat as much fruit as i should because its quite expensive and i have no garden to grow them.



Maybe get things like mixed nuts with sultanas. Dried fruit.



Simple vege pasta with tomato pasta sauce, fresh basil, sliced zucchini, grated carrots and optional mushrooms or broccoli.



Also vege burgers are good and easy. Very good for kid vegetarians or kids in general who don't eat their veges.



Tofu burger. Tomato slices, lettuce, Slice firm tofu so it makes a rectangular/square Pattie and fry it in a little oil. Fry some onions. add tomato sauce etc..
i'm not vegan, but i'm vegetarian and i have the same problem...



basically everything healthy that is vegan involves fresh veggies and fruits. you should buy the book "how it all vegan". i know someone who has that and it has a lot of recipies from soup to salads to making your own veggie burgers.