Let's be honest, most of us could use more vegetables in our diet.
In fact, studies show that a mere 27 percent of adults get the recommended three servings of vegetables per day. Kids get even less! A past study found that only 22 percent of children ages two to five met recommendations for vegetable intake, and in children ages six to 11, only 16 percent met recommendations for vegetable intake. In addition, a recent study found that between a third and half of all the fruits and vegetables served to youngsters at some school cafeterias last year, wound up in the trash. Similar situations are occurring at schools nationwide, as well.
What gives?!
Oftentimes, encouraging the addition of vegetables to one's diet results in a rolling of the eyes or a patronizing, "Yes, Mom," but what if there was an easy way to consume more veggies and lose weight, even if you didn't like the taste of veggies?
A study out of Pennsylvania State University incorporated puréed vegetables into participants' meals, effectively doubling their fiber intake, lowering the caloric content and adding nutrients without sacrificing taste! Researchers served 41 volunteers breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner on three occasions; each time they provided the same meals, but the main dishes contained different amounts of steamed and puréed carrots, squash or cauliflower. When given a dish that was 25 percent vegetables compared with one that had none, the participants consumed 360 fewer daily calories on average but reported no differences in hunger -- and fewer than half realized that the dishes had been altered. Consuming 360 calories per day less equals roughly a pound of weight lost in just 10 days without even dieting!
The cookbook author, Jessica Seinfeld, who has encouraged parents to sneak vegetables into foods like spaghetti, had popularized this strategy. However, it is important to keep in mind that when serving the foods to young children, you must continue offering whole vegetables on the side so children develop a taste for vegetables.
If you're striving to help your family live a healthier lifestyle, you've probably already made some reduced-calorie swaps, like low-fat in place of whole milk or veggie burgers for quarter-pounders, but there may still be some food substitutions that you haven't tried. I have also included some of my favorite strategies to cut calories but keep the taste, including easy ways to add puree vegetables
 to your diet:
At Restaurants:
If I order a salad at a restaurant and none of the dressings seem appealing, I will often ask for a little dish of salsa on the side. This non-traditional topping adds a lot of flavor and is usually less processed than industrial salad dressings.
At Home
:

Buy puréed vegetable baby food or frozen vegetable purees and add them to sauces, soups, casseroles and even lean ground-beef burgers!
When it comes to baking, the possibilities for cutting down on fat while retaining flavor abound. If a recipe calls for a half-cup of oil, try replacing the oil with canned pumpkin, applesauce or puréed prunes. Although it sounds a little odd, puréeing dried prunes and a little hot water in your food processor is an easy way to add sweetness and reduce calories in baked goods. 
 

Another favorite baked snack is the onion. Chop an onion into quarters without cutting all the way through in order to create the "blooming" effect. Drizzle on a little olive oil and season with a little salt to taste. Wrap in aluminum foil and roast away! When its done just separate the layers one by one and eat them like chips.
Olive oil is a healthy fat, but you can have too much of a good thing. It's easy to add two-plus tablespoons of oil while making a stir-fry -- and that can add up to 250 calories. Instead, try sautéeing your veggies in a little chicken or vegetable broth.
Follow Joanna Dolgoff, M.D. on Twitter: www.twitter.com/joannadolgoffmd
David Perlmutter, M.D.: Olive Oil Cuts Stroke Risk?
Oftentimes, we both hear and read about diets that tend to guarantee us that by partaking in the program, we will lose X amount of pounds over a given period of time.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2333966/fat_free_diets_can_be_downright_dangerous.html?cat=51
Some good reminders in this article. Funny, we used to shop at a nice little grocery owned by a Mrs. Dolgoff.
Every week I buy a four glass bottles of organic tomato juice, and divide them into 7 bottles. I then puree radishes, kale, collard greens, dandelion greens, celery, ginger root, spinach and whatever fresh herbs I can find (cilantro, parsley, basil) to add to the tomato juice. I keep one bottle in the fridge and freeze the rest. My husband and I go through a bottle a day.
Every morning I pour a glass, add a squeeze of lemon juice and ice and call it my "Virgin Mary".
It really is delicious and I can't tell you how it's kicked up my energy levels and eased digestion and elimination issues.
I don't get all health nut self righteous because it has the appearance and festivity of an alcoholic drink.
Win. Win. Win.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/138944-psyllium-husk-fiber-side-effects/
Why can't we stop blaming people for their illnesses? There's currently a huge Republican effort to suggest that if we'd only eat better and take better care of ourselves we'd never be ill. Shame on us--we don't really need a healthcare program. Right?
Wrong. Illness and eventual death are part of the human condition. And it's ultimately eco-friendly that we go. Years ago Susan Sontag wrote a small book on the topic of the various ways we blame others for their illnesses. It gets us off the hook of having to behave as humanely toward those suffering.
The notion that we deserve the bad things that happen to us is unfortunately imbedded in the world's major religions, even new ageism. Don't buy into today's cruel right-wing propaganda--which is only moderately true--in the TV ads, etc.
These notions also give us a false sense of control.
One other note: I didn't see any suggestions for eating more dark, leafy greens, the "superfoods" of the vegetable kingdom. All of us could benefit from finding a way to eat more spinach, kale, broccoli, chard, bok choy, etc. The darker the better!
Part of it's an infrastructure problem, too: you can't just go to the neighborhood market: even if you get a part of a share from community agriculture, it tends to come all at once, and even for two it's either not going to last or will go bad. Unless you want to drive some miles when you want a fresh pepper, you've got all the rest of how life's arranged to deal with: some people wrap their whole lives around eating, but a lot of what they call 'modern life' just isn't arranged for this.
I don't happen to think it's a great idea, of course, that things *should* be arranged that way, but even if I grow my own vegetables and make some sauce to freeze, you don't necessarily *get* to have fresh veggies year round.... We're spoiled even in this by things going around the country in plastic on trucks...
We need to cut back on the refined carbs. Dr. Atkins was right.
To play devil's advocate, when I see that including the pureed vegetables caused people to consume 360 fewer calories, it makes me wonder if they just didn't eat less because the vegetables made the food less appealing. I'm sure that's not true, but that's what I would believe if I hated vegetables!