Salads, snacks and sneaky ways to increase your vegetable consumption

Small salads can be made at any time of the day as a light snack, you could even stuff them into a wholemeal pitta bread if you were exceptionally hungry, and here are some possibilities:

• Tuna and beans: 1 tin of tuna in water, 1/2 tin of kidney or other beans, 1 small diced orange, 1 tablespoon of dressing (low fat).

• Avocado and grapefruit: 1 avocado, 1 grapefruit, 1 teaspoon of ground ginger, balsamic vinegar.

• Red onion and cherry tomatoes.

• Carrot and beetroot.

• Broccoli and beans: 1/2 tin of kidney beans, 2 spring onions, celery, cashew nuts and dressing.

• Red cabbage and raisin salad: finely shredded red cabbage, handful of raisins, handful of hazelnuts.

• Coleslaw: cabbage, onion, carrots – 1/3 of each plus some protein.

To get extra servings of vegetables into your day try juicing fruits and vegetables to have with your breakfast, or buy some V8 or organic tomato juice and have that instead.  Quick fruit salads and yoghurt make an ideal snack, as do chopped vegetables dipped into low fat humus or guacamole.