If corn, peas, and green beans are your favorite vegetables, you're in trouble. Those are grains and legumes, not vegetables; and they are carbohydrate heavy. It's time to learn to love veggies. In our experience, most patients are not consuming nearly enough vegetables and fruits. While a vegetarian diet isn't necessary to be healthy, we should all try to increase our fruit and veggie intake. Here are 5 tips to pump up the produce in your meals:

1. Homemade smoothies - this is a great way to add more fresh fruits and veggies, especially for picky eaters. Use fresh or frozen produce with a spoonful of flaxseed oil or meal for good fats, protein (from a high quality powder, organic yogurt, or clean pasture-raised eggs), tasty spices if you like (cinnamon, vanilla, etc), and water or ice for the consistency you prefer. Smoothies are preferred over juices, because they maintain all the fiber and good nutrition. Vegetables that blend well include carrots, celery, beets, squash, and dark leafy greens.
2. Sneak them in - there are lots of foods you can hide fruits and vegetable in: casseroles, soups, meatloaf, meatballs, eggs, sauces...the options are endless and there are plenty of books and websites to help you.
3. Use tasty dips and dressings - enjoy your veggies more AND get more nutrition out of them by adding some healthy dip or dressing. An easy one is olive oil, vinegar, spices (garlic, herbs, seat salt).
4. Ready to go - as soon as you haul your fresh produce home, get cleaning and chopping. Having them ready to go in containers makes your week that much easier and make it more likely you'll eat them instead of a faster unhealthy alternative. If you need even more help, buy the produce already chopped and cleaned. It loses some nutrition, but it's a lot better than nothing.
5. Make veggies fries - slice some tubers or root vegetables into strips (sweet potatoes, rutabaga, beets, turnips, carrots, parsnips, etc.), coat with a healthy oil like coconut oil, sprinkle on a little sea salt and bake. Just make sure you pull them out before they turn to mush.
6. Stir fry night - stir fry is one of the simplest recipes you can make and tastes delicious. Start by cooking some good quality meat with a little coconut oil or butter, then add your favorite chopped veggies and sea salt or other good seasoning.
7. Eat veggies instead of pasta - cook sliced veggies with butter, garlic and sea salt. Then top with sauce and meat for a great meal.
8. Try kale chips - you'll find all kinds of recipes online for tasty kale chips. They make a great alternative to potato chips. Coat with a healthy oil, add seasoning, and bake.
9. Wrap it in pasture-raised bacon - problem solved.

Stop blaming mom and dad for passing along bad genes and start looking at your own health habits, because you control your health more than your genes do. It's the start of a new year and a fresh start to improve your health. You can choose to believe that you can't control you health and continue down the road of declining health and more medication every year...or you can empower yourself with the latest science. Human genetics have barely changed in thousands of years, yet our health problems have skyrocketed in only decades. What's really going on? If genes haven't changed, what has?

As scientists gain a better understanding of genetics, they are learning more about how our habits actually control the function of our genetics. They have discovered that most health conditions are not the result of bad family genes. They come from bad habits. Our habits actually switch genes on and off, leading to increased risk of health problems or health improvement. This area of research is called epigentics; studying factors that control DNA. The infographic below helps simply explain how this occurs. Researchers studying epigentics have seen how smoking, diet, and exercise switch genes on and off. A stressful lifestyle or other environmental factors can also switch genes on and off.

Are you switching on good genes or bad genes?

Think about this: A young man with bad habits switches his genes to "unhealthy" mode and then passes them on to his first son. Then the father wises up with age, improves his health habits, and switches his genes back to "healthy" mode. He has a second son and passes these "healthy" genes on to him. The genes could theoretically be the exact same in both children, but the genes in the first son are switched to cause more health problems than the genes in the second son.
Now consider: The first son could potentially take up good health habits to switch his genes back to "healthy" mode, while the second child takes up bad habits and makes his genes worse.

Take control of your health for you and your children

The bottom line is: You control your health. You also control the health of your children and grandchildren by switching on bad and good genes and passing them down. You are not an innocent bystander of your  inherited genetics. Don't accept bad health and try to medicate your symptoms under control. Take control of your health with good habits. Watch for our helpful tips for these 5 major causes of health problems to control your genes: diet, exercise, posture, sleep, and stress.