Message from the Director - Mary McCluskey - 9/3/08
Did you know that many experts are now saying we should be eating something like 10 fruits and vegetables per day to stay healthy? How do you do that if you dislike them? How do you get your kids to buy in as well? I'll tell you:
It's simple. Don't try to get someone who is resistant to vegetables to eat canned, frozen, or store-bought produce. Get yourself to one of the area farmer's markets and buy up this luscious bounty right now. And next year put in a few plants yourself. There is nothing like a vegetable grown to full ripeness and eaten quickly at it's peak. This can't happen if the thing has traveled from 1000 miles away! It takes time to travel that far and the huge factory farms that grow that produce have to grow greatly altered varieties that can withstand the travel. Read: tasteless. The tomatoes right now are worth a trip to the farmer's market all alone. But you will find an abundance of gorgeous produce in a big variety that taste so good you can't believe it.
Adults can retrain their tastes by eating a little bit of the new item. I used to hate beets! I refused to eat them since childhood. Most other vegetables have become friends, but beets were horrible to me. Then I read that they are about the best thing you can eat for your liver. And, of course, the liver is about the most important organ I have so I'd like to encourage it to stay healthy. So, I hesitantly set out to change my tastes. I still don't love beets, but I do enjoy them fresh, steamed and dressed with red vinegar. I also have come to love a grated, raw beet salad with grated raw apple, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. It's the easiest thing to whip up with a food processor and it's full of health!
Children will do what their parents do. Don't make it easy for them to avoid veggies. Get them growing them, cooking them, and selecting which "weird" ones they want to try. Make it fun, a game. Expect them to eat veggies and they will. Do not make fast food an option. I heard a mother say one time, "I just don't know what to do with my kids, we have to go to (the fast food restaurants) every night because they won't eat anything I cook." Huh! What has our society come to? Who are the adults in charge? Years ago you ate what was put in front of you or you didn't eat (especially dessert.) From the waistlines of most of our kids these days they could stand to miss a meal or two while you are enforcing new expectations! Gentle pressure is required for change. A loving, benevolent dictator is the right course to set with eating expectations.
Look at that picture of veggies above. They were all grown within 20 miles of my house. The cucumbers are crunchy and refreshing, the tomatillos are bursting with tart flavor, and the tomatoes, ah the tomatoes. I could go on and on about the sweet and meaty tomatoes. No extra fuel was used in procuring these lovelies and I know each of the growers: a neighbor, my dad, my brother. These nutrients are readily absorbed and used by my body, and greatly enjoyed by my taste buds. I challenge you to become a vegetable lover and to model it for a child within your sphere of influence. It's fun and yummy and this is the best time of year to do it!