Fruits And Vegetables!

[dhiltonlittle]

i have realized that i'm not eating near enough fruits and vegetables. what are some of your favorites that pack a lot of nutrients and are easy on the belly?

[K8ling]

I LOOOVE Bananas and grapes. Also, I eat Larabars which have 1/4 your daily allowance of fruits (dried). Ginger snap is really good and always soothes my tummy.

[AlysounRI]

If I don't get my daily sandwich baggies of carrots and green beans, I feel like I have had an incomplete day.

I start my day off with a banana and I love spinach greens.

Vegetables and herbs that soothe the stomach are bananas, ginger, mint and basil, among others.

Be careful though with eating too many fruits that are high in sugar. Fructose can act as an irritant for your stomach. Too many raw veggies to can act as an irritant too, so steaming them is often easier to make them digest more easily. But it's good fiber and the best kind for your insides, much better than starches.

The one thing that is really marvelous about having to give up gluten is that you really do eat more fruits and veg.

And that is a very, very good thing.

[kayo]

I like the fruit that comes already cut up because I'm lazy like that. If it's already washed and cut into bite size pieces I'm more likely to eat it. I like fruit but I don't crave it so for me it needs to be easy. I usually buy strawberries, cantaloupe or fruit salad already prepped. I also buy bananas, mangos and apples.

I love veggies and do crave them so I eat a lot of them. I bought a small steamer that goes in the microwave from Amazon for $12 that I love! I cook broccoli, green beans, brussel sprouts, potatoes, etc. in just a few minutes.

For snacking I love petite carrots, red pepper and cucumber slices with hummus. I'm also on a jicama kick. I like to make a mango guacamole with tortilla chips for snaking too.

[MagpieWrites]

Fruit spring rolls - easy peasy ways to shovel in more fruit during the day. Cheap too (since I get the rice/tapioca papers at the local Asian market for about $2 for 30+ wrappers!) and quick to make.

Soak the wrappers in warm water until soft. Slice up whatever combo of fruit looks good and is in the house (if using canned - drain really well.) Slice thin, and roll up in the wrapper. No need to cook. I also do the same thing with veggies. For the fruit - I'll make either a caramel, a chocolate, or a fruit based dipping sauce. The veggies... any salad dressing I am using at the moment works great.

Added bonus - they last well in my husbands lunch box, so I'm getting a LOT more fruit and veggies into him as well!

[kareng]

Fruit spring rolls - easy peasy ways to shovel in more fruit during the day. Cheap too (since I get the rice/tapioca papers at the local Asian market for about $2 for 30+ wrappers!) and quick to make.

Soak the wrappers in warm water until soft. Slice up whatever combo of fruit looks good and is in the house (if using canned - drain really well.) Slice thin, and roll up in the wrapper. No need to cook. I also do the same thing with veggies. For the fruit - I'll make either a caramel, a chocolate, or a fruit based dipping sauce. The veggies... any salad dressing I am using at the moment works great.

Added bonus - they last well in my husbands lunch box, so I'm getting a LOT more fruit and veggies into him as well!

OMG! I think you have changed my life! (Maybe a little exaggeration). I didn't know these papers existed. That is the exact thing I need. I loved veggies & dressing, maybe left over rice or stir fry in a tortilla. Fruit with a little cream cheese to stick it together. Yeah!

[tictax707]

Bananas & grapes are my go-to fruits when my system is mad but can at least handle fruit. Strawberries, blueberries, & blackberries are good because the rich color indicates lots of antioxidants to battle any inflammation you might have going on when your system is out of whack. You can blend 'em up to make it a bit easier going down.

As for veggies - steamed carrots & green beans are a favorite. I second what another poster said about too much fresh stuff, but steaming them silly makes it easier on my system.

YAY fruits & veggies!!

[MagpieWrites]

Glad to help!

Just make sure to double check the ingredient list (yeah, yeah - I know. S.O.P for all foods once you have to go gluten free... still, a reminder never hurts! ) - really should only be rice flour, sometimes tapioca starch, water, sometimes salt. They can be found as : spring rolls wrappers, summer roll wrappers, or just rice paper. They look rather like a thin plastic film and take a little fiddling with the first few times to get used to working with them. Soak for 20-60 seconds in hot water and they get really pliable and easy to roll (and firm up enough after to pack for later).

I LOVE these things. Stuff with fruit, veggies, meat, even noodles (the tofu Shirataki noodles work great, without adding many calories). Have them as snacks, meals, everything. VERY helpful when having to eat gluten free!

[K8ling]

Oh goodness now I am hungry

[i-geek]

We've started eating chard this winter. Super easy: hack the leaves into smaller pieces, then saute in a little oil with seasonings of your choice. My favorite flavor combo so far was coconut oil with minced garlic and garam masala (one of the blends in Indian curry).

I'm also loving beets. I buy fresh ones, wrap them in foil, and bake them in the oven like I would potatoes (although put the beets in a dish because the juice will leak out). Then I peel them, slice them, cool them, and either use them as green salad toppers or dress them with just olive oil and feta for a quick salad.

I love fruit, but it doesn't always love me, especially on an empty stomach. In general, high-sugar foods give me stomachaches.

[Nor-TX]

Glad to help!

Just make sure to double check the ingredient list (yeah, yeah - I know. S.O.P for all foods once you have to go gluten free... still, a reminder never hurts! ) - really should only be rice flour, sometimes tapioca starch, water, sometimes salt. They can be found as : spring rolls wrappers, summer roll wrappers, or just rice paper. They look rather like a thin plastic film and take a little fiddling with the first few times to get used to working with them. Soak for 20-60 seconds in hot water and they get really pliable and easy to roll (and firm up enough after to pack for later).

I LOVE these things. Stuff with fruit, veggies, meat, even noodles (the tofu Shirataki noodles work great, without adding many calories). Have them as snacks, meals, everything. VERY helpful when having to eat gluten free!

OMG this sounds wonderful. Ok... new thread here.... Let's have fun with this. What kind of wrappers would you make? There are some great ideas already. Here is an idea I am going to try when I pick some up. Sprouts has avocados for 3/1.00 this week. So I am going to try avocado, smoked salmon and some crumbled cooked bacon. Maybe some rotisserie shredded chicken, sauteed mushrooms and beansprouts.

I never knew about these wrappers... thanks so much for the suggestion!

[i-geek]

OMG this sounds wonderful. Ok... new thread here.... Let's have fun with this. What kind of wrappers would you make? There are some great ideas already. Here is an idea I am going to try when I pick some up. Sprouts has avocados for 3/1.00 this week. So I am going to try avocado, smoked salmon and some crumbled cooked bacon. Maybe some rotisserie shredded chicken, sauteed mushrooms and beansprouts.

I never knew about these wrappers... thanks so much for the suggestion!

Oh gosh, the first one sounds almost like a Cobb salad wrapper! YUM.

[WheatChef]

Best way to get the most bang for your buck is to only buy fresh items while they are in season (frozen year round). Here's a helpful chart for Open Original Shared Link Unfortunately if you're living in any super hot area the seasons are drastically reduced when you try and buy local.

A fun way to expose yourself to new fruits and vegetables is to find your local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) center. These are places where you pay something like a monthly subscription fee and each week get a new bag of freshly picked produce from a local farm(s). The nutritional quality of fresh picked local produce is unmatched by anything you can find in the store and the depth of flavor is so much more complex.

[kayo]

You had me at cobb salad roll!

I use these wrappers too but haven't made fruit rolls yet. That's on my must do list for this weekend. What a great idea. I'm thinking a coconut-yogurt based dip with mint might be good with them.

I have used them to make classic fried spring rolls because I was having a craving. I sauteed cole slaw mix (easier than chopping cabbage and carrots) with garlic and ginger and tossed in some ground pork and some no-soy soy sauce. Then lightly fried them in peanut oil.

I also used them to make fresh spring rolls with cooked shrimp, lettuce, mango, cucumber, basil and mint. Just roll and eat. I make a sweet and sour sauce with apricot jam, hot pepper flakes and a bit of water. Just toss that in the microwave to warm and loosen the jam.

At first the papers are a bit of a challenge to use. I soaked some too long and some not long enough. I got the hang of it after a few rolls.

[JustLovely9216]

This wrappers are absolute genious and I am making them this weekend...all of them...every single one you all have mentioned!

PS: Best fruit dip ever - sour creme, powdered sugar, amaretto liqueur.

[bridgetm]

I'll have to pick up some of those wrappers. Sounds perfect for snacks in my kayak or to bring to work. I love fruit, but sometimes it just needs a little something extra.

[sb2178]

Canned pineapple and pears (in juice, not syrup). Gets me through the first bit of morning. Baked apples, delicious.

Kale, well cooked, is both digestible and awesome source of bio-available nutrients. The flat leaf varieties are easier to deal with. In soup, with potatoes, perhaps? Or simmered for 20-30 minutes with a smoked turkey wing and rice. Summer squash is less nutrient dense, but maybe easier to digest.

Brassicas (broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, kale, etc) have a reputation for being hard to digest. They are generally *really* good for you, so make sure you try them pretty well cooked before giving up on them. Turnips can be mixed with potatoes and mashed to dilute them if you want.

Taro, if you can find it, is yummy and gentle. But cook it well. Winter squash is very easy to digest, and easy, especially if you buy it in frozen boxes or already cut. Puree it and add broth for soup, or puree with white beans and sage for a winter dip or spread. I have been doing lots of herbs-- parsley especially is supposed to help with stomach/intestines/liver and is quite high in vitamins A, K, C, iron, and folate. It does have some oxalic acid, though, so if you have a history of kidney stones don't go too crazy.

I've also found that anything pureed goes down easier. Soup is my friend. (As to absorption, well... who knows.)

[Skylark]

Bananas and apples. I love eating apple slices with peanut butter.

[i-geek]

Brassicas (broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, kale, etc) have a reputation for being hard to digest. They are generally *really* good for you, so make sure you try them pretty well cooked before giving up on them. Turnips can be mixed with potatoes and mashed to dilute them if you want.

And for gluten-free newbies, if you're having problems with brassicas, wait a month or two for your gut to start healing and try again. The brassicas are my favorite group of veggies and by the time I was sick enough last fall to go gluten-free out of desperation, I had developed digestive intolerances to all of them. A couple of months later I was able to add them back in my diet.

[allisons]

Here's a link of nutrient dense foods:

Open Original Shared Link

Summer is coming, and MAN I CAN NOT WAIT FOR BERRY SEASON! Do you live in a place that has good farm produce and berries? Berries are incredibly nutrient dense and super delicious. Blueberries especially. Last year I bought 2lbs of blueberries, planning to eat them over the course of the week. I ate them that evening. All of them.

I live in Washington and I'm slowly watching the progression of the season in the strawberries "grown in this city" label as they travel north from California.

[MagpieWrites]

And for gluten-free newbies, if you're having problems with brassicas, wait a month or two for your gut to start healing and try again.

THIS! THIS!

I actually thought I was ALLERGIC to the brassica family - made me so sick to eat them, that by about 14 I flat out refused to touch the dread veggies. Just the smell made me want to curl up and die from the associated thought of how ill I felt when I had tried to eat them.

Than about 4 months into gluten free - the weirdest thing happened. I had been buying broccoli and all the rest for a long while for my husband, so they were always in the fridge. I found myself hungry one afternoon... and next thing I knew, I was munching a head of broccoli as if I had a giant green lolly! I still don't care for them cooked all that much - but now my system can handle them with none of the stress it used to place on it to try and eat. Once your body heals - hundreds (it seems anyway) of foods just open up to nosh on. Just takes some time.

Still not eating liver though. THAT is one childhood refusal I'm keeping!

[eastvangal]

I love those rice wrappers too. I like to double them up for added toughness, but they are surprisingly resilient for such a fragile looking sheet. I like to fill with refried beans, ground beef, lettuce, salsa...I love the fruit and dip idea. I'll try this soon.

[MartialArtist]

Fruit spring rolls - easy peasy ways to shovel in more fruit during the day. Cheap too (since I get the rice/tapioca papers at the local Asian market for about $2 for 30+ wrappers!) and quick to make.

Soak the wrappers in warm water until soft. Slice up whatever combo of fruit looks good and is in the house (if using canned - drain really well.) Slice thin, and roll up in the wrapper. No need to cook. I also do the same thing with veggies. For the fruit - I'll make either a caramel, a chocolate, or a fruit based dipping sauce. The veggies... any salad dressing I am using at the moment works great.

Added bonus - they last well in my husbands lunch box, so I'm getting a LOT more fruit and veggies into him as well!

OMG! This sounds AWESOME! I SO can't wait to try this out! (I'm only a little more adventurous with my eating than your average child, but this sounds like something I would love and even my kids would eat happily!)

[BethM55]

Here's a link of nutrient dense foods:

Open Original Shared Link

Summer is coming, and MAN I CAN NOT WAIT FOR BERRY SEASON! Do you live in a place that has good farm produce and berries? Berries are incredibly nutrient dense and super delicious. Blueberries especially. Last year I bought 2lbs of blueberries, planning to eat them over the course of the week. I ate them that evening. All of them.

I live in Washington and I'm slowly watching the progression of the season in the strawberries "grown in this city" label as they travel north from California.

Oh YEAH! BERRIES!! Our local farmers market opens next week, and I am hoping to dive into berry season. I figure that with everything I can NOT eat, I can splurge on all the berries I want. I freeze them for later, too. We belong to a CSA that contracts with a marvelous berry grower. Can't wait!

[Nor-TX]

This weekend I tried the rice wrappers for the first time. They were a total success. I sliced some fresh mushrooms thinly and chopped some cooked shrimp and sauteed them in dairy free margarine. I added about 1 1/2 cups of sticky rice and added some gluten-free sweet chili sauce and a bit of Chinese hot mustard. I prepared the wraps one at a time by dipping them in hot water and laying on a linen towel. I added a scoop of the rice mixture and topped with a couple of slices of avocado. I rolled them up. It made 9 rolls. I ate one just the way it was and dipped it into some sweet chili sauce mixed with a bit of gluten-free soy sauce. It was delicious. For dinner I pan fried a couple of rolls in a tiny bit of oil, turning them over - excellent results. Next time I will forgo the oil and just spray the pan with Pam. I wrapped the leftovers in plastic wrap separating each roll. The next day I tried baking them, but the results weren't great. They got a little tough and the sides split so some of the avocado came out. I think the best way to eat them is fresh or pan sauteed. I am definitely going to try more recipes using them.