Vegetable Juice vs Vegetables

amother

Fri, May 12 2023, 9:27 am

DH wants to eat healthier and have something easy to have for lunch.Easy to eat, easy to store in his office, no packing at home required.
He loves sardines
I wanted him to have a salad or some veggies to go with it. He turned his nose to that.
He asked me about vegetable juice
What’s IMA’s take on that or no vegetables

What other alternatives are there that he can
store in his office and eat quickly.
Not fruit since he has those for snacks
Not grains since he has his portion at breakfast and dinner

Amarante

Fri, May 12 2023, 9:35 am

Vegetable juice is not as healthy as eating veggies for two reasons - most of the juices contain a LOT of sodium whereas veggies don't contain sodium or contain minimal amounts of sodium. Also juices don't have the fiber content of real veggies which is one of the benefits of eating veggies.

Why is he turning up his nose at vegetables.

Does he have access to a refrigerator because I don't know of any vegetables that can be stored indefinitely at room temperature. Would he bring in a container of something like eggplant caponata/ratatouille which can be brought to work and would last a week in the refrigerator.

Obvious choices that are easy to eat are cherry tomatoes, baby carrots and celery.

What about roasted vegetables - most people love roasted vegetables and I used to keep them and eat cold or at room temperature. Parsnips, carrots, squash. I make a roasted string bean with a Szechuan sauce in large quantities so it is available to snack on.

Cole slaws keep well in the refrigerator and can be made relatively healthy - cabbage is healthy after all.

Maybe he would like freeze dried vegetables. I used to have these occasionally at work. They are "pure" veggies which are a bit crunchy. I don't know if they are an acquired taste as I tend to like veggies. The drawback is that they are expensive and I was able to go through a large quantity in one afternoon which was also high in calories. LOL

Last edited by Amarante on Fri, May 12 2023, 9:50 am; edited 1 time in total

amother

Dimgray

Fri, May 12 2023, 9:44 am

What Amarante said.
If you make your own vegetable smoothie in a blender that would probably be the best choice if he wants to drink his vegs. In my experience those taste vile unless you load them up with carbs, a banana, orange juice, honey, dates, at which point you defeated the purpose.
I have the same problem with dh who will only eat his vegetables hidden inside carbs or proteins. He looks at my suggestion he eats a cherry tomato the way I’d look at him suggesting I eat a spider.

amother

Fri, May 12 2023, 10:40 am

Amarante wrote:

He doesn’t turn up his nose to all veggies.
He DOESNT want to shlep anything with him at all. He leaves at 5am and doesn’t come home until 4pm -
Breakfast he has in Shul which consists of
1/2 cup plain instant oats
2 hard boiled eggs
1 apple
Coffee
Unsweetened Almond milk
Yes our Shul provides healthy options

He wants to drink and be done with it.
A salad, roasted veggies, raw veggies- all take time to eat. He wants something quick .
He wants something shelf stable that he can store in his office - no fridge available
He eats (not too happily) his veggies at home
He gets his fiber at other meals.
It’s just lunch time.
They sell low sodium vegetable juice

amother

Fri, May 12 2023, 10:51 am

lovecouches wrote:

Well shelf stable is canned vegetables but they take time to eat. Most of them can be eaten cold. If he's eating veggies for breakfast and dinner I don't think you need to be so worried about his veggies for lunch.

At breakfast he eats fruit
Dinner he not happily eats raw and cooked veggies

Is eating the sardines alone with no veggie juice a better suggestion

Amarante

Fri, May 12 2023, 10:54 am

amother OP wrote:

If vegetable juice is the only option, what is your question. 🤷‍♀️😂

He doesn’t need to drink vegetable juice as it isn’t particularly healthy but it isn’t unhealthy.

He obviously isn’t going to drink a veggie smoothie either as those require some effort and refrigeration.