One of the reasons we tend to not eat a lot of vegetables is that we get lazy about preparing them or because we only think of boiled vegetables and find the taste boring. We might be a bit shy of adding spices to vegetables but are quite happy to add them to meat and fish. Yet, vegetables are so good for us that we should be making the effort to enjoy them more.
I have been making lovely salads all summer and have enjoyed the fact that I have been able to grow my own salad leaves and herbs and pick them from the garden. This gives food a real live taste and smell. There is nothing like the pleasure of growing your own and eating your own produce. You can all do this to a degree as everything grows faster in the hot Gulf climate. Even if you only have a sunny windowsill, you can grow some herbs.
Meat eaters tend to only think of vegetables as a side dish; however, they can be a very tasty center dish. I am not a vegetarian, nor do I think I ever will be. However, recently having had a fall and hurting my arm, I have developed a huge craving for vegetables, particularly broccoli.
I too have to persuade my family that vegetables are not too difficult to prepare, and I would love to persuade you to eat more vegetables and less meat. Why? Because vegetables are the foods that do us the most good and are healers. Just ask yourself: Do you know anyone who might be in danger of eating too many vegetables?
On the contrary, many of us are eating too much meat. The demand for cheap meat is so high that there are a lot of factory chicken farms and intensive livestock units that produce it. However, it is not always the best quality meat, as the animals are kept in unnatural conditions.
Affluent societies tend to eat too much meat for their own health and far too much for the welfare of the many millions of animals raised for food. As countries become richer, they tend to eat more meat until all meals, except maybe breakfast, end up based around meat.
Meat has become so familiar, so convenient and something that the family easily recognizes as a “proper meal.” Nonetheless, there is absolutely no reason why we can’t embrace vegetables in the same way. A while ago, I suggested going meat-free once a week. Even with my own family, I had difficulty getting them to accept that a proper meal could be meat or fish-free.
Contrary to what you might think, a meal based around vegetable dishes needn’t require much work. You only need a couple of “prepared” things for a family meal, which you can complement with simple good bread and a salad of ripe cherry tomatoes. In many Middle Eastern homes, meze dishes tend to be prepared and consumed in a sort of rolling relay from meal to meal.
I recommend eating simple food made from fresh ingredients as the secret to good health and weight control. Follow me on Twitter @AlvaCarpenter for a daily healthy tip!
Buying ready-made meals rarely provide good leftovers, but if it is a simple meal that you have cooked yourself, you will find everyone is keen to have some more the next day. Leftovers from yesterday’s supper can be a part of today’s lunch. It’s a relaxed way of cooking and eating.
Try to have two meat and fish-free meals every week and decide to buy lots of colorful vegetables to have with each meal. You can e-mail me for the fact sheet: “What to do if your children do not like eating vegetables.”
Well, the general recommendation is that you should consume at least five servings of fruits and vegetables per day. I think, in general, though the serving size is relatively modest: a cup of leafy greens and a half cup of fruit.
