Raw vegetables were on the menu when staff at the Port Macquarie Community Health Campus took part in The Big Vege Crunch on March 1.

Mid North Coast Local Health District health promotion coordinator Trish Davis encourages people to eat more vegetables.

“It’s easy if you plan it and think about it,” she said.

“That’s really all it takes.

“We’ve got so much choice of vegetables in our area and they are beautiful, tasty, fresh and really yummy.”

Ideas to boost vegetable intake include adding vegetables to your breakfast smoothie or omelette, having a salad at lunch and completing your recommended vegetable intake at dinner.

“It’s just having it [vegetables] there and making the healthy choice easy,” Mrs Davis said.

Mid North Coast Local Health District runs the Big Vegie Crunch each year in early childhood centres and primary schools across the area in an effort to encourage children to increase their vegetable intake.

This year, as part of local health district’s commitment to the Make Healthy Normal campaign, the Big Vegie Crunch included all local health district staff.

Woolworths provided vegetable boxes for staff at hospitals and community health centres across the Mid North Coast.

In 2015, only seven per cent of Australians aged over 18 met the guideline for daily vegetable intake.

Increasing your daily intake of vegetables reduces the  risk of developing a range of chronic diseases.