A growing body of evidence shows that the western diet is making us ill. The assumption that food should be cheap has led to the industrial production of food much of it highly processed and far removed from any thing grown in soil. Look at a food label, if it has more than five ingredients and has ingredients you would not have in a home kitchen then you can be pretty sure that what you are holding is Ultra Processed Food (UPF).
A diet comprising good nourishing food is not cheap and we may have to change our priorities in order to eat well. As a society we eat more meat, especially processed products such sausages and bacon, than is good for us and at great expense to the health of the soil and ourselves. All things being equal current evidence suggests that a diet based around organic fruit, vegetables, whole grains, beans and pulses is full of the nutrients and micro-nutrients necessary for a healthy life.
Along with exercise we need to appreciate that the food we eat is crucial to our well-being and how we age. There is a lot of great advice on the internet but we need to be discerning. One reliable source from scientists working at the cutting edge of health and diet research is ZOE (Chief scientist is Professor Tim Spector), ZOE is a healthcare science company using data-driven research to tackle the world’s health issues. You can find their podcast channel at ZOE.
If, like me, you are fortunate enough to have an allotment or other growing space then it is a priviledge to grow food whilst caring for the soil and the organisms that create and maintain it. I find it deeply rewarding to sow seeds, tend the plants as they grow and then harvest and eat the produce. At the same time I have a feeling of responsibility to the small piece of land of which I am the guardian.See below for some growing resources.
I would like to share some ways I maintain a healthy organic diet on an income that is less than half the national average. The key is not to buy convenience food or ready made meals but to cook from ingredients using whole grains, beans and pulses, fresh veg, salad, fruit, wholemeal pasta and home made wholemeal bread. Typically I spend around £55 a week on food in the winter and around £40 in the summer when the allotment is abundant. Even in the winter there are leeks, kales and chard to be harvested.
I have cooked from ingredients for over 50 years but what now comes easy to me now was once hard but by giving our full attention to the task we soon learn and there are many great recipe sites with clear instructions. It will become a piece of cake!
These are some examples of my diet:
Breakfast is usually a five grain muesli with seeds
and dried vine fruit which I put together myself and I
add full cream natural yoghurt, milk, a banana and
Kiwi.
Lunch is typically a green salad to which I add olives,
tomatoes, Florence fennel or celery and home made
mustard. Followed by four slices of home made wholemeal bread with yeast extract or peanut butter.
Dinner might be a bean stew, curry and rice, vegetables in cheese sauce with roast potatoes, egg fried rice, baked potatoes with cheese, lentil bake, nut roast, roast vegetables. Usually with some variety of green vegetable. So nothing clever but all nourishing. I often bulk cook a bean stew in the slow cooker so that there is always something to eat in the freezer.
Snacking can be a problem as I seem to have inherited grazing genes so I can’t resist at least one bag of crisps a week, I also snack on nuts and fruit. I won’t mention my love of liquorice.