5 serves a day
Our regular Sunday columnist, Peter Goers, has written this week about how we consumers are "constantly assailed with contradictory information about health and diet."
He goes on to say,
"almost everything you buy now is 97% fat free, yet we all put on weight."
"butter will kill you faster than margarine, but isn't butter better?"
"dark chocolate is good for you."
Except now someone has decided that it isn't.
(Probably because we're scarfing it down by the block instead of the recommended two squares a day.......)
But this is what got my attention;
Here's what Peter says about vegetables:-
"I have long maintained that it may be ideal but it is actually impossible for anyone to eat two serves of fruit and five serves of vegetable every day. Not even vegetarians can do that. Are there five vegetables?"
Are there five vegetables?
ARE THERE FIVE VEGETABLES?
Dear oh dear.
Peter, this is for you.
Oh, there's artichokes, asparagus, beans and beets and broccoli;
cauliflowers, cabbages, carrots, corn and celery;
capsicums, eggplant, endive, fennel, ga-ar-lic;
horseradish, jalapenos, lemongrass and lettuces.
mushrooms, nasturtiums, okra and onions;
watercress, watermelon, yams and zucchini.
Okay, I've included some fruits, and technically, some of those are herbs, but if you include them, they'll spice up your veggies.
He goes on to say,
"almost everything you buy now is 97% fat free, yet we all put on weight."
"butter will kill you faster than margarine, but isn't butter better?"
"dark chocolate is good for you."
Except now someone has decided that it isn't.
(Probably because we're scarfing it down by the block instead of the recommended two squares a day.......)
But this is what got my attention;
Here's what Peter says about vegetables:-
"I have long maintained that it may be ideal but it is actually impossible for anyone to eat two serves of fruit and five serves of vegetable every day. Not even vegetarians can do that. Are there five vegetables?"
Are there five vegetables?
ARE THERE FIVE VEGETABLES?
Dear oh dear.
Peter, this is for you.
Oh, there's artichokes, asparagus, beans and beets and broccoli;cauliflowers, cabbages, carrots, corn and celery;
capsicums, eggplant, endive, fennel, ga-ar-lic;
horseradish, jalapenos, lemongrass and lettuces.
mushrooms, nasturtiums, okra and onions;parsnips, potatoes, peas, peppers, pumpkins;
radishes, spinach, swedes, turnips, and tomatoes.
watercress, watermelon, yams and zucchini.
Okay, I've included some fruits, and technically, some of those are herbs, but if you include them, they'll spice up your veggies.And really, 2 plus 5 serves a day is easy.
Banana with breakfast, salad sandwich for lunch, stirfry or veg soup for dinner. Roasted veg if you prefer.
Mashed potato needn't be plain old potato. Mash together with almost anything else; pumpkin, garlic, carrot; the choice is yours.
Fruit for dessert.
As Jamie Oliver would say; Easy-Peasy.
(Yes, nasturtiums are edible.)
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You should print out this particular blog article and hand it over to him next time you see him :)
ReplyDeleteKath; he's read it. I always let him know when one of his articles inspires a post. He loved it.
ReplyDeleteI buy vegetables to decorate my crisper and when they die I throw them out. But there is a variety of at least 5 serves I throw out every week.
ReplyDeleteWe have more than the 2 fruit & 5 veg each day, most nights the tribe more than 8 different veg on their plates!
ReplyDeletePfft, men!
Vegetables are okay but they're not a feed.
ReplyDeleteA nice looking little chickie told me recently she's a vegan. That's all she eats. I knew straight away there'd be no chance of funny business, not in that religion.
Lorna; buy the decorative variety, you know the ones I mean? Plastic or polished wood, or even wax; then you'll never have to throw them out and you'll save money. or you could just eat them.
ReplyDeleteJayne; eight on a plate! Impressive. I'll usually get three on a bad day, when I don't really feel like cooking, but good days will see six on my plate.
R.H.; veggies are feed enough if you load your plate, but they're better with a small steak or chunk of chicken, maybe occasionally a sausage or two.
Lorna; I meant eat the real stuff, not the wax ones, they tend to clog up the teeth.
ReplyDeleteI'm the worst vegetarian ever unless wholemeal bread is a vegetable. Do salad sandwiches count?
ReplyDeleteAnd the day I eat only two squares of chocolate means I've dropped the rest of the block in the lav.
We love vegies here (well, I do and the kids suffer through my huge serves of salad).
ReplyDeleteJahTeh; salad sandwiches most certainly do count. How can you drop chocolate in the lav? Leave it in the other room.
ReplyDeleteTiff; I prefer veggies over salad, but I've been known to eat a fruit salad plate with a bit of lettuce on the side as a summer lunch several times a week. Sometimes the fruit doesn't even make it to the plate, I just slice and eat where I'm standing. But then I don't have kids here so there's no need for table manners.
Figure of speech, River. In other words it's the only place I probably wouldn't drag it out of and still eat it.
ReplyDelete