9 Cups of Veggies a Day

The last little while I have been trying something new--eating 9 cups of veggies a day. Yes, that's right. Call me crazy, call me a goof, call me whatever but, please do so while I sit here chomping down some cauliflower.

How many cups of vegetables do you eat a day? I thought I was actually getting pretty good at vegetables. I was eating a veggie at every meal--greens for breakfast, broccoli or cauliflower for lunch and asparagus or mushrooms or kale for dinner. I thought that was pretty spectacular. But let me tell you that all looks like a drop in the bucket when I stare down a day and think of consuming 9 cups of vegetables all within a 12 to 14 hour period. There is a lot of roughage in that amount of veggies. A LOT. Trust me, I've seen it go in and . . . well, you don't want to know.

Of those 9 cups of veggies, they are broken down in to 3 cups of greens a day, 3 cups of deeply colored vegetables, and 3 cups of sulfur-rich vegetables (like cabbage, onions, kale, and mushrooms). I have been working away at this for several days and I think I am getting a little better every day. I try to get several cups of greens in a smoothie each morning, eat a big salad with multiple veggies for lunch and eat more greens and two or three or four other veggies for dinner. One night this week dinner was cauliflower leek soup, the next night was a big a salad, roasted broccoli and asparagus and lamb chops. The next night was sweet potatoes, spinach, onions and hamburger in a skillet hash with a side of kale chips. I also made a big pot of veggie broth last weekend and I have been sipping 8 oz of that every day too to dial up the nutrition and give my body a chance to adjust as I work up to 9 cups a day.

All in all? It's a challenge. But it is a challenge that feels good right now. I am sleeping better, waking up faster, having better energy all day long. Beyond spinach, kale and red leaf lettuce, I've never done a lot of exploring in the greens family with chard, collard greens or mustard greens. That means there are foods to explore, recipes to collect and meals to savor ahead of me. Cross your fingers for me as I brave this new challenge.