If we’ve heard it once, we’ve heard a thousand times: Eat Your Vegetables! From the day we moved onto solid foods until we moved out of the house, we heard this culinary command at least three times a day. Yet at some point, we tuned it out.

A new study American Journal of Preventive Medicine confirms this: Americans are eating fewer vegetables than ever. Researchers evaluated data from two large national health surveys and reviewed how many people ate three or more servings of vegetables a day. (French fries counted!).

In the first survey, 35% met the goal; in the second survey, 10 years later: 32%. So, why are we ignoring the most consistent message of our childhood? I have a few ideas.

In the many years I have been teaching vegan cooking classes, I have discovered that so few of my students know what to do with a head of broccoli or a bunch of kale. Many don’t know why white rice is white or that vegetables contain protein (38% of the total calories in asparagus, for instance, is protein). Most of us were raised on a meat-centered diet, where vegetables played a minor role and either came from a can, were boiled to death, or were drowned in cream sauces and butter. It’s no wonder we didn’t get hooked on veggies.

We’re also ridiculous creatures of habit, and as the researchers discovered, most people demonstrate very little diversity when choosing vegetables. Here’s a secret: when I switched to a plant-based diet, I actually found more options. With meat, dairy, and eggs out of the way, a world of plant foods opened up. There is an inaccurate assumption that a plant-based diet is limiting, and vegans are often asked – in exacerbated tones – “What do you eat?” The implication is that non-vegetarians eat a huge variety of foods, but in truth, most of us rotate the same dishes over and over - and over again.

We tend to look in one direction when it comes to how, what, and who we eat. We order the same things in the same restaurants, we prepare the same meals at home, and we rarely use those spices that are collecting dust on those cute little spice racks hanging on our kitchen walls. We're often completely unaware of what's even in the other direction. That's one of the reasons the transition to a plant-based diet can be daunting and exciting at the same time: an entire world of new foods, cuisines, ingredients, menu items, and recipes open up that weren't in view before. People often feel overwhelmed by the process, but that's what's so exciting about it: the options are endless.

I've seen so many people discover how much more expansive a plant-based diet is than an animal-based one, as they realilze that animal-based products continually displaced plant foods in their daily meals. They discover that every time they chose meat, dairy, or eggs, they were not choosing healthful plant foods.

In the many years I've been doing the work of empowering people to make informed food choices and debunking myths about veganism, I have had the pleasure and privilege of witnessing thousands of people change their diets, change their minds, and change their lives. And as I guide them through this process of transformation, I remind them that as we begin to make new food choices, not only do our options expand but our palates (as do our perceptions and minds) change as well. When we get heavy, fat-laden, processed products out of our diets and replace them with healthful, whole vegetables, fruits, mushrooms, nuts, seeds, grains, herbs, and spices, our palates become resensitized to taste and we begin to crave the things we never thought we would.

Here are a few other tips and tricks I give to my students and podcast listeners about incorporating more plant foods into their diets:

1. Shop by color. (Ketchup doesn’t count!) The health-promoting antioxidants are in the colors of plant foods.

2. Add diversity. Try a new vegetable from the farmer’s market each week.

3. Buy a steamer basket. Steaming veggies is a healthful age-old method of cooking vegetables.

4. Make vegetable-rich stews. Add a can of beans (rinsed and drained) and a veggie bouillon cube.

5. Prep in advance. If we chop up vegetables before storing them in the fridge, we’re more inclined to eat them. Take 10 minutes to chop when you arrive home from the market.

6. Prioritize. We all complain about how we’re too busy to cook, but I wonder: if we don’t have just 15-30 minutes a day to nourish our bodies and create healthful meals for our families, then perhaps we need to re-structure our priorities.

7. Re-sensitize your palate. Our palates may need some time to become re-sensitized to less fat and salt. Remember: it takes 3 weeks to change a habit. Just stay committed and trust that a process is taking place.

8. Keep essentials on hand, including various vinegars, tamari soy sauce, dried herbs, dried spices, fresh herbs, garlic bulbs, fresh ginger root, lemons. Simple ingredients are all you need for delicious vegetable preparation.

9. Increase pounds. Aim for a pound of raw and a pound of fresh vegetables every day; even if you fall short, you’ll be way ahead of the curve.

10. Be reasonable. Though fresh is always best, frozen vegetables (and sometimes canned) are better than no vegetables at all.

Finally, call your mother and give her the opportunity to say “I told you so.”

(Visit Compassionate Cooks' website for resources and recipes on healthful eating.)