GrumbleSmiles

This is a continuation of the fruit and veg theme (click on the “EMFV” in the TAG CLOUD for the other posts).

When it comes to healthy eating, bananas are a no brainer.  Full of potassium, therefore good for blood pressure.  Presumably that means lowering it not increasing it.  Got to be careful though, a large banana contains seven teaspoons of sugar.  Oops!

My childhood view of bananas was they made great doorstop bread and butter sandwiches, liberally sprinkled with added sugar.   Strange that you don’t find them in trendy sandwich shops like Pret a Manger or Upper Crust nor in the Sealed Box, Cost-a-lot, sandwiches of M & S.

Still, these must now be just childhood memories.   Bread, butter and most of all, sugar and all fruit-non-gratis.  Banana sandwiches have had all the fun taken out in pursuit of the serious business of healthy eating.

However, bananas are the most convenient of convenience foods, they come in their own wrapper and fit easily into a pocket or a handbag.    The problem only comes when you eat the banana.    What do you do with the skin?    You can never find a bin when you want one and you can’t put it back in your handbag or pocket.    If you drop it on the pavement you will be liable for a fine from the litter police patrols.

Or worse still, if someone slips on your cast off banana skin, you could be caught up in a no-win, no-fee personal injury claim that could run into millions of pounds.

So be extra careful.    Your healthy eating regime could be expensive.

 There is many a slip between banana and lip 🙂

This is a continuation of the fruit and veg theme (click on the “EMFV” in the TAG CLOUD for the other posts).

The next delicacy on my healthy eating menu must be tomatoes.

Bright red, juicy, plentiful tomatoes, available in the supermarkets all year round.   Of course the winter ones are grown in Israel or Morocco or somewhere, so there will be a little damage to your carbon footprint, but maybe its OK to overlook climate change in the interests of your health.    The other minor problem is the winter tomatoes don’t taste like tomatoes, but they are probably still full of nutrients.

Summer tomatoes are easy to grow in your own garden in pots or in the ground, although they need quite a lot of attention, especially watering every day.     Still, the exercise will all add to your healthy living regime.   It is not necessary to talk to them unless you are  Prince Charles.

Watch out for slugs, snails and caterpillars, they can be added to your salad if you want some variety and fancy a “bush tucker trial”.

Tomatoes are ideal for sandwiches with lashings of salad cream, except in the interests of healthy living you should maybe leave out the bread and the salad cream.   Just one tomato counts as one of your seven.    They are rich in lycopene, and you can never get enough lycopene, it is a nutrient that protects against cancer.    They also contain 40% of your daily requirement of vitamin C, so if you suck a lemon at the same time, that should do the job.

Finally, tomatoes do not last for long, so before they go too soft, make another of your seven by juicing them in a blender adding tabasco, Worcester sauce and a large vodka.

Bloody Mary’s are not on the Government healthy eating list, but who cares  🙂

This is a continuation of the fruit and veg theme (click on the “EMFV” in the TAG CLOUD for the other posts).

My second easy to eat tip towards “Seven a Day” is baked beans.    A can of them counts as two – the beans are one and the sauce another.  Don’t eat the can unless you’re Desperate Dan !

Of course you won’t be able to have them for breakfast because “The Full English” is not so high up there on the healthy scale.    Certainly not the three rashers of bacon and two sausage.    Definitely not the black pudding.    The hash browns are also a no-no and eggs are full of cholesterol.

I guess following up the beans with toast and Frank Coopers extra thick marmalade is also not recommended by my new-found health advisers.

“Stay healthy and lead a frugal and miserable life for longer” – could be a new Government slogan.

One other useful money-saving tip with beans, since the tins probably have a sell by date of 2050, would be to buy a years’ supply.    Better still if you can find a “buy one, get one free” offer, buy two years supply.    Perhaps if you are now more confident about your longer life you could take a calculated risk and invest in say ten years supply.

That  should cost around £3,000 (half that for “buy one, get one free”).    But think of the saving on inflation.    Baked beans will no doubt be a lot more expensive in ten years time, especially when their healthy virtues have been fully appreciated.

Storage of all these cans might be a bit of a problem, but I have thought for that.    Andy Warhol made cans of Campbell’s soup an iconic image, so why not decorate your lounge with tins of beans all around the walls.    Save on wallpaper – save on decoration.    Make chairs, sofas and tables out of the boxes of tins of beans.    You could be featured on the “60 minute makeover” programme on TV, or “Grand Designs”.

And who knows, you could win the Turner prize for a new art installation!

Then again this blog could just be a bag of wind 🙂

Much has been written recently about the healthy virtues of eating more fruit and vegetables.  “Five a Day” has been the slogan for the last few years, although all the evidence is that not many people manage to reach that goal.    Now the latest Government advice is that “Seven a Day” would be a better target!

To read more on this subject, click on “EMFV” in the TAG CLOUD.

That’s quite a challenge, but let’s get started:-

An apple a day.  Easy to do, easy to buy and does not deteriorate quickly, so a weekly shop will do.    Could also be the saving of the Health Service, if an “apple a day keeps the doctor away”.    There will be less pills taken and lower admissions to hospital.

Also no cooking involved so helps save the planet in terms of energy conservation.   Several virtues into one.

Don’t peel the apple because the skin contains most of fibre and that’s good for you.   However, be careful, if you no longer have your own teeth, you may have to chop the apple into little pieces so you will miss the “crunch” of the advertising campaign.

Oh, and don’t eat the Union Jack sticker   🙂

Eating more fruit is already beginning to transform my world.

See what vegetables can do in the next blog.