Linda Goldfarb - 05/01/06

Beyond the Vegetable

As a young girl I spent three years in Ipswich, England with my family while my father served our country, proudly I might add, as a member of the Air Force. I can to this day recall many memories from my time spent across the “big water” and one of the fondest images that remain fresh in my mind was spent in a vegetable garden – picking brussel sprouts. For those of you who have never tried a “brussel” think of it visually as a small, no… tiny cabbage. It has the sweetest flavor (for a veggie) and is in fact very good for you.

I think that’s when I fell in love with the garden… and vegetables. It has something to do with actually getting in there and picking the produce and smelling the dirt. Yes, I am a true country girl at heart but if your not, don’t worry; today I’m going to take you on a journey “beyond the vegetable”. A trip for some that may last a lifetime, if we are lucky. I am going to encourage you to look at a new way of introducing your family to our friend the veggie.

My mother was big on preparing a balanced meal – she was right on target with the “pyramid” concept. As I recall every meal contained a meat, starch, veggie, bread and on occasion desert. I’m not the cook in my home – enough said -- but we strive to “offer” variety to the kids everyday without hanging the restaurant shingle outside. I embrace the “offer concept” as the key to encouraging our families to consume more vegetables and healthier food overall. Most children when given an option, over time will lean towards the healthy path. Our charge is to get them to even consider a vegetable as an option. I can’t tell you how many times I have had mothers approach me after a speaking session on health and nutrition and say “Linda, I’d love for my kids to eat more vegetables and fruit but they won’t!” My question is always the same “Who buys the food?”

I don’t mean to sound pushy but when it comes to making good choices for a healthy lifestyle, our children learn from example. We can say “you need to do better and eat the right things” but until we are walking the walk ourselves it won’t happen. So let me suggest an option you may not have considered. Take a look at the chart I have provided and taking it one vegetable (there are many more out there) at a time encourage your family to try all of them. As a matter of fact, if you have younger children, let each one choose which veggie to try and how they would like it prepared. There is such a variety of ways all of our food can be “offered” to our families and with vegetables there are more than most.

According to the new MyPyramid Food Guide we should consume 3-5 vegetable servings per day. There is such a variety of vegetables to choose from, just keep in mind the following for what is considered a serving size:1 medium sized vegetable, ¾ cup vegetable juice, ½ cup for chopped, raw, or cooked and 1 cup for the green leafy raw choices.

The following food grid provides nutritional information about vegetables

. Grams = gr. Milligrams = mg.

Boiled Potato        1 cup           114             3.2             25.7             0.7         5 0               0                     7             0.0

Corn                     1 cup           132             5.0             29.0            1.0          23                0                     1.4          0.3

Avocado                 ½               162             2.0              7.4             2.1          11               0                     11.6         2.5

Baked Potato       1 lrg.             220             4.0             32.8            1.2           6                 0                     0.1         0.1

Before you go crazy thinking the only way you could possibly get your kids, young and old, to eat all the vegetables is by covering them in melted cheese… stop! Every palette will acquire a liking for certain vegetables over time, as we age and as we try new things. But let me share what happens in most households, the only vegetable that is served is what mom or dad likes and grew up with or it’s macaroni-n-cheese and HEY! Macaroni-n-cheese isn’t a vegetable!

If you would give it a try for a month and “offer” your family a variety of vegetables I believe you will be surprised with the outcome. And if your kids are old enough let them figure out how to prepare the vegetable, maybe even do a once a week veggies only meal – you may grow to like it. And just like I said last month, if you are looking for natural sources of fiber in a user friendly form, not the stir in kind, vegetables can be your friend. Your colon needs the soluble and un-soluble fiber found in veggies to keep it working properly. The bloodstream benefits from the soluble fiber as it attaches to the fat and escorts it out the body.

I would love to hear about the choices you and your family have made and if you come up with some innovative ways to prepare your vegetables, send them to me and I may post them here or on my web site. Happy eating!

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Linda Goldfarb is a Certified Physical Fitness Specialist, Speaker and Syndicated Radio Talk Show Host. You can hear her live every Saturday morning from 8-9am on KSLR, AM630, as she hosts “Not Just Talkin’ the Talk”, a variety talk show that offers listeners the chance to “walk the walk” spiritually, physically, relationally, and emotionally each and everyday. Contact Linda to speak at your next event: linda@lindagoldfarb.com or visit her on the web www.lindagoldfarb.com