 |
| Fresh Fruit are an important source of vitamins and minerals and should be eaten daily! |
In 2008 I had the incredible opportunity to visit a fascinating community of African Americans, who had settled in Dimona, Israel. The founders of this community moved to Israel from the United States of America in the 1970s, based on the belief that most slaves which were sold from West Africa to the Americas, were in fact of Hebrew descent. This group of very interesting people had committed themselves to living according to God's Laws in the Old Testament and in fact, were serious about trying to live a lifestyle as originally intended by God. One of the laws they follow is the human diet outlined by God in Genesis 1.29-30:
"God said, “I am giving you all the grain bearing plants and all the fruit trees. These trees make fruit with seeds in it. This grain and fruit will be your food."
And so they have gone to great lengths to adopt a vegan lifestyle. I was deeply impressed by their commitment and their creativity in preparing delicious vegan food. And with the fact that the large majority of the people who I met in that community was slender, energetic and had lovely smooth skin, despite the quite harsh climate of the Negev area in which they live.
This was not the first time that I had been pointed by life in the direction of living a vegetarian lifestyle. When I was 25 years old I had returned from a journalism internship in Germany with some useful experience and sadly an extra weight of about 15kg. Fortunately for me, I found a book titled 'Fit For Life', written by Harvey & Marilyn Diamond, and this became my source of nutritional information and guideline for a healthy diet. I managed to lose 13kgs in 8 weeks and the remaining 2kgs during the next four months. (Click on the book if you would like to buy a copy).I also have maintained my weight by returning to the basic dietary philosophy in the book, whenever my weight has gotten a bit out of control because of too much travelling, sitting at my desk and writing and too little exercise!
'Fit For Life' was the first book that I read that actually explained to me WHY we need to eat certain food groups: Carbohydrate for fuel or 'energy'; Proteien for building muscles and organs; Fruit and veggies for the vitamins and minerals that our body and our brain needs to be strong and to function properly.I learnt about Calcium for the bones and teeth, Vitamin A for the eyes, Vitamin E for the skin, and how each vitamin and mineral has a different critical purpose in keeping us healthy. I also learnt that we need to try to get our veggies and fruit from organic producers and that we should avoid nutritional products. Since then, however, I have realised that so much of our food in the supermarkets and even from organic producers loses its Vitamin and Mineral content during packaging, shipping and in storage, that our body sometimes is unable to gain sufficient of these nutrients from our food.
And so I started appreciating the importance of excellent quality nutritional products. In fact, I now make available such a range of nutritional products to make sure you know where to find them, since I realized it is very time-consuming and quite confusing to choose an excellent quality nutritional product from a drugstore or supermarket shelf.
Of course, our first choice should always be to eat fresh fruit and vegetables to get the optimum amount of vitamins and minerals in our bodies. But fortunately for our generation, which is struggling to always have access to such organic veggies and fruit, we may supplement our diet with excellent nutritional products which have been researched and proven to help.
One final tip about getting in enough fruit and veggies that I found in 'FIT FOR LIFE' is to invest in a blender.
 |
| Invest in a blender now. It will add huge variety and flexibility to your diet. |
You can find different types of blenders in your local appliance shop, but for a proven brand I have added a link above, where you can order your own 'Oster' blender.
Breakfast
I use my blender in the morning for fruit juices. Simply peel three different types of fruit, remove seeds, pop into the blender and add a cup of water for two 'Smoothie' glasses for breakfast. This is probably the best kept secret to health: don't drink coffee or eat cereals until half-an-hour after enjoying your smoothie and you should never have any digestive issues again. You can use any kind of fruit and in any combination, so you never have to get bored by the same taste again. Nico and I usually use a banana for a bit of body, and an apple, then combine this with any other fruit in season. God specifically made fruit to be suitable for the varying seasons, because each contains specific vitamins and minerals that the body needs. For instance. citrus fruit in winter with high Vit C keeps colds away. Tropical fruit in summer help to cool our bodies down. I've never found a fruit combination that doesn't work. They're always delicious!
PS: Nico and I vary our breakfast over weekends. On Saturday we enjoy going out for a Cafe Latte and a buttery Croissant. And on Sundays we love a big breakfast around the table either before or after church, preferably with family or friends and have muesli, yoghurt, eggs, toast, butter and jam with coffee or tea. Yum!
Lunch
When I have time to eat lunch at home, I often use my blender over lunch for a fresh veggie soup, especially in winter, served with wholewheat bread. In summer I try to have a salad and some wholewheat bread. Here are some variations:
a) Tomato Soup
I chop some onions into a pan, fry them in a bit of olive oil. Then I take 3 tomatoes per person and cut an 'X' or cross over the stem section. Put them in a bowl and cover them with boiling water, so that the skin pops open where the 'X' cut is. When the onions are ready, remove them from the pan to cool a little. Use a knife to pull away the tomato skin, cut them into quarters and put them into the blender, adding about half a cup of water, just to get the mix going. Blending for no longer than 1 minute I then pour the thick tomato juice over the fried onions in the pan, add a bit of salt or vegetable stock and stir it until it starts bubbling. I let it bubble up once more, then serve it in soup bowls. Sometimes I add a dash of cream (if I have any) or of Soya milk (if I want to eat 'vegan') for colour and I always sprinkle freshly grounded black pepper on top. If I have fresh herbs, I will also use these for garnish or even add a sprig of parsley or celery to the blender for a taste variation.
b) Pea Soup
I simply buy a small pack of frozen green peas and cook them as per instruction in water for a few minutes - about 4-5 minutes, adding some organic vegetable stock. I then pour the peas with the water into the blender and turn it on for about 1 minute. If everyone is seated at the table, I pour the soup directly into soup bowls, but if he is still pottering about the house, I pour it back into the pot and let it bubble up once more, then turn the heat down. It is very important to cook your veggies for as SHORT a time as possible, in order to retain the maximum vitamins and minerals. Also, the good thing with eating veggies in the form of soup, is that you don't throw out the water - often valuable vitamins and minerals are leached into the cooking water and thrown away, instead of being available for your body. Again, I will either add a dash of cream or a dash of soya milk to decorate the soup and serve it with freshly grounded pepper sprinkled on top. Parsley and coriander both work well as herbs to serve with Pea Soup. Sometimes, when we need a bit more body, or if I make the soup for dinner, I will fry Vegan sausages (in South Africa we have a great brand known as 'Fry's which is available at all main supermarkets) in some olive oil, chop them into small pieces and add them to the pea soup. PS: This recipe also works for potato soup, which is not as nutritionally valuable as other veggies, but tastes great in winter. Here add some one or two celery sticks to the boiled potatoes in the blender. Turmeric also works as a spice for potato soup.
c) Vegetable Soup
Again, buy a small pack of mixed veggies and prepare as you would the pea soup above.
d) Broccoli and Cauliflower Soup
These great veggies can also be bought in frozen packs. Prepare as for the pea soup, but instead of adding cream or soya milk, add a spoonful of peanut butter for a delicious, creamy consistency and a nutty taste that gets people to keep asking for more!
e) Pumpkin Soup
Using fresh pumpkins, peel them, chop them and boil them until soft. Use one cup of pumpkin per person and half a cup of water per person. This takes about 20-30 minutes! Then add the boiled pumpkin with the water into the blender, turn it on for 1 minute, and voila! Pumpkins are naturally creamy, so you don't even need to add any cream. Just spice them up with a bit of cinnamon or turmeric and you will have a winner on the table.
Of course there are many other ways to serve your veggies, but I thought I would encourage you to start making fresh soups, instead of buying powdered or canned versions, which is really 'dead' food. Fortunately, frozen foods have been proven to retain a high vitamin and mineral content, often even more than fresh veggies, which are exposed to storage in sub-optimal temperatures and transportation challenges.
Instead of investing in an expensive medical aid programme, rather invest in a pro-active, healthy diet and exercise! Nico and I are in or near the second half of our century of life, and during the past 10 years we have had hardly any flu or other health issues, despite having gone through extremely stressful periods at times. A hospital plan to take care of accidents when surgery may be required is a good idea, and keeping your teeth in good shape is also a must (for a variety of reasons). But by avoiding lots of animal fats, carbohydrates and sugar-overload, as well as staying away from alcohol, except for the odd glass of wine, really is the secret of a healthy, energetic life!
NOTE: A completely vegan or even vegetarian diet is possible, ONLY if you have the time to take great care in ensuring that you eat sufficient vegan or vegetarian proteien or vegetables which are high in iron, such as spinach or broccoli. This is usually very difficult for people working away from home or travelling a lot. If you want to move away from animal proteien, avoid meat, but enjoy an organic, free-range egg 1-3 times a week and eat fish once a week, to avoid iron shortage. Taking iron supplements is only a short-term solution and should not become a lifelong habit.
No comments:
Post a Comment