Writing on the Doorposts

Five a day is a slogan I’ve heard since I was a kid. It refers to the recommendation that each person eats at least five portions of fruit and vegetables every day. I’ve never been terribly good at this, for a variety of reasons: creating a meal full of veggies can be time-consuming with all the cutting required; although I’m not a fruit hater, there are few I enjoy just picking up and eating by themselves; my first child, Prince, has a strong aversion to the texture of most fruit and veggies; fruit and vegetables tend to be expensive. But more than any of those reasons, I lacked a strong enough motivation.

Recently my mother-in-law started talking to me about the immense health benefits of eating raw, living foods. My interest sparked, and I decided to look into it a bit for myself. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much time for research, so I can’t provide you with a 100% accurate and detailed report of my findings. However there were two things that came up in my limited research which I will share:

• When you cook fruit and vegetables you can lose a large percentage of their nutrients (note that sometimes certain nutrients are enhanced by cooking)
• Fruit is easily, quickly and effectively digested when eaten in isolation from other categories of food (e.g. fats).  Their benefits can be compromised if eaten alongside other food.

Armed with inspiration and motivation, I decided to make an effort to improve the diet of my family. I haven’t made any drastic changes, as I would need to do a lot more detailed research before doing anything major. Still, we have made some changes, and overall I am much happier with our diet now. Here are some of the simple things we do to take advantage of the things I learned:

There are many exciting ways to get your ‘five a day’!

• I start the day with a hot honey and lemon drink every morning, before eating anything else.  This was not directly inspired by my recent research, but by stuff I had read a long time ago. I find this to be a deliciously refreshing way to start each day, and it (in theory!) is a good detox drink.
• I try to eat mainly raw fruit or veggies until lunch time. When I’m hungry (usually 1/2 hour to an hour after my drink) I mix up a homemade ‘green’ smoothie for breakfast. They are called green because I add in celery and some green leafy veg like spinach, rocket or Romaine lettuce. I also put in frozen berries, banana, kiwi, apple and water.
• The kids mostly have a fruit breakfast (Princess likes whole fruits, Prince shares my smoothie). If they are hungry I will give them bread, cereal or porridge after that.
• Lunch is mostly veg based, though I often have fish too (tinned mackerel, sardines or tuna). I usually give the kids some raw veg  like carrots, cucumber, green beans etc., followed by bread or nuts or something similar if they are still hungry (depending on how hungry they are I try to space out the veg from the bread by about 1/2 hour)
• I keep nuts and seeds in bowls around the house to snack on, as a healthy source of protein and fat. We also snack on rice cakes, popcorn (not the mircowave bag type, but rather fresh kernels popped on the stove and mixed with some coconut or olive oil), fruit or veg.
• I make the last meal of the day a cooked one. This varies, but some of the meals we have more regularly are eggs, pasta (wholemeal) and fish.

This list is not a set of strict rules. There are times when I skip my honey and lemon drink, or have toast for breakfast. Rather, this is a general trend, and the way that we eat most of the time. Whilst it may sound silly, I really have found that I feel much healthier after having kept this up for the last month!

The most noticeable difference for me has been that I have a lot more energy. I have always found myself lacking in energy, and needing a minimum of 10 hours of sleep at night to feel even vaguely alert during the day (and I preferred 12 hours if I could get it). I was someone who would be always yawning – many times a day, and even when I didn’t feel tired. But over the last week I have noticed that I don’t yawn much at all now. I have been getting up earlier, too. Instead of forcing myself out of bed at 8:30 or 9am, I am getting up at 7 or 7:30am easily – and this on top of going to bed at the same time or later than before! Whereas I used to be constantly tired, the past 3 days I have not felt tired at all during the day.  This is a major change for me, and a wonderful benefit of this new lifestyle diet.

As you can see, I have no precise science behind my new love for the ‘five a day’ slogan.  I don’t even count my fruit and veg portions!  But I have found that eating this way is a really great thing.  Tomorrow, I will share some advice on the costs of eating like this, and ways to make it economical.