Week One of the New Year starts on 5 January for me, and the first thing I am doing is going for the 5 a day. The NHS recommend that we eat five portions of fruit and veg every day, as a way of warding off cancer and other disease. So I started there, a governmental health department that is pushing healthy eating to try and reduce having to pay for diabetes, heart attacks and cancer. The NHS guidelines are here.
I was a bit low. I was hoping to try and get my five a day easily. Not a chance. Breakfast was easy. I normally am barely conscious until 10am, so breakfast is a packet of unbuttered oatcakes. Right, add a tablespoon of raisins and that will be an inexpensive, tasty add on and there is even extra nutrition in the form of iron there. Portion one sorted. I could have a glass of juice (further glasses may be taken but wouldn't count) and I can get pure juice from Tesco, their Everyday pure orange is 65p for a litre, and that should manage me and bear at least. I could have an apple with my lunch and I was sorted, and I'm always generous with veg at dinner.
That is when I came up against it. The standard portion of something like sweetcorn is something like 3 tablespoons. It wouldn't all fit on the plate! I found a few places, but this one here looks okay. The NHS guidelines are here. A portion of celery is three sticks. I will never manage three sticks of celery! I'm not that keen on one.
I'm going to go away and think about this some more. I will, of course, share.
Financial resolutions have started now. We are going to have to find a lot of money to replace the car. It is going to wipe us right out, and we already have one holiday already booked and to pay for. We had years left in a really good, reliable car and now we will have to top up the payout, pay any excesses, run round and get hire cars and generally have a drain. It is a great focus to concentration - and I am looking forward to it!
Some things to think about concerning fruit and veg. Sweetcorn and potatoes don't really count - too much carbohydrate, so ignore them in your five a day. Ditch your stock cubes of any sort and use celery sticks and carrots instead - far more flavour. Add diced celery to every mince, stew and soup dish you produce - you won't taste it but it will add flavour to whatever you're cooking. Add sweet potato or butternut or acorn squash to anything you might add parsnip to if you have non parsnip eaters in the family. Conversely, if you have traditional palates who will eat parsnip but turn up their noses at "foreign" veg, sweet potato and squash can be added without introduction. Add garlic and ginger to everything savory to boost the immune system and get the circulation going. Remember to crush your garlic and leave for 15 minutes to 30 minutes before cooking to retain 90% of medicinal values. If you have arthritic painful joints you may need to forgo all the nasturtium family (potatoes, peppers and tomatoes) as they will inflame the condition. Two portions of kale per week will give you sufficient leicethin (sp?) to prevent development of dry macular degeneration for which there is no cure. Have fun!
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