I buy a veggie box a week - basically, there’s a local outfit that does the shopping for me, makes up a box that could contain anything. I never know exactly what’s going to be in it, exactly, which is great, but it’s generally mostly from local growers, organic and actually pretty good value.
This week, the box contained spinach, pumpkin, onions, potatoes, carrots, zucchini, tomatoes, capsicum (bell peppers), and a few other things. I get recipes from this place - they tend to be pretty straightforward to cook; I tend to treat them as a basis for experimentation.
As a rule, the less processed the better - and cheaper. Some snack stuff around the house is one thing and not so bad, but it’s nice to have some healthy options as well.
A few easy things that really helped me re-think meals:
A “portion” of food is about the size of your palm. Avoid eating more than one portion of the same food at a sitting. For example, instead of two chicken breasts and rice, have one breast, rice and green beans.
Focus on high-quality ingredients. If you “stay close to the farm,” as suggested above (fresh, minimally processed), you can stick with simple cooking methods such as grilling, steaming and stir-frying - or indeed don’t bother cooking at all - and it will taste good with a minimum of fuss.
Divide your plate into quarters. Fill 2 quarters (one half) with veg and/or fruit, 1/4 with protein and 1/4 with complex carbs (ie. brown rice, whole-grain bread, oatmeal, beans, sweet potatoes, etc.). Extra bonus if you are weight-conscious: use a salad plate instead of a big dinner plate.
Avoid white foods. Seek colorful alternatives, such as whole-grain bread and pasta, brown rice, sweet potatoes. One notable exception is cauliflower! Which leads to…
“Eat your colors.” In each serving of fruit or veg, Start with green, then add as much variety as possible - red, orange, yellow, purple. Get as many different colors as you can in a day, but always some green.
Drink water. Not Vitamin Water, not Propel, not soda. Upping your intake of plain old water is the best possible thing you can do for your health.
When I lived at home my mum would regularly feed me meals that would kill a horse, huge amounts of potato’s, fried meat, no vegetables and so on…what can I say I’m from a rural Irish family…
Its no surprise that Northern Ireland has the highest rate of heart attacks in Europe…
Now that I’m living on my own I grab a quick McDonalds far too often for my likeing but I make stirfrys quite often as well, however they’re usually chicken or beef with noodles and sauce, probably not that healthy either.
I specify the quick and easy to make part because due to my job I work irregular hours and often don’t have much time at home before having to head out again.
I had a check up at the doctor’s recently and the only concern they had was that my cholesterol level was a bit too high for their liking. I exercise regularly and I’m fairly fit, though I don’t get as much exercise as I would like. Usually just a twenty minute run or half-hour on the bike when I can fit it in.
Thanks for the help and advice everyone!
btw I said ‘not too exotic’ because the local supermarkets seem to just have a fairly standard range and nothing too out there.]
