Veggies Equal Love…And It’s Been Proven!
I absolutely loved a little article in a recent IDEA publication, entitled “Serving Up Veggies = Serving Up Love”.
According to the piece, in a recent study, published by Public Health Nutrition researchers discovered that meal preparers were rated higher on qualities such as “loving,” “thoughtful,” “attentive” and “capable” when they included vegetables with the meal.
- In one part of the study, participants evaluated the tastiness of the entree and the entire meal. When vegetables were included, the food received higher ratings. For example, steak by itself was rated as a 7.00, while steak with broccoli scored 8.08.
- In the second part of the study, participants evaluated the personality of the unknown cook who either did or did not include vegetables with the dinner. Cooks who served vegetables were seen as less “lazy” and better at “making the meal,” both for the experience and for the taste quality. The nonvegetable chefs scored 7.00 for “loving” and were rated higher for being “neglectful,” “selfish” and “boring,” while those who included veggies scored a 7.92 for “loving.”
It concluded with a sad statement that over 70% of vegetables are consumed at dinner, and only 23% of those dinners include vegetables.
- When are we going to let it sink in that veggies are not a ‘lunch food’ or a ‘dinner food’ but a ‘food’? Food is food, any time of day. (With the one exception of not right before a track workout or Cross Fit Session. Admittedly, a large bowl of broccoli followed by a set of 40 x 400 m repeats is not recommended),
- How have we gotten to a place where preparing a nice meal for ourselves and our family is something we can brush off our to-do list as though it were no more important than folding the laundry, nothing more than a pesky chore?
- What is more important than our health and those of our loved ones, for whom we should be preparing food in a loving and well intentioned manner? Of course, I’m not suggesting we quit our jobs in favor of allocating three hours to shop at the gourmet market every day followed by three more in the kitchen… but guess what? It doesn’t take nearly that amount of time anyway! If the average American is watching 34 hours of TV per week, can 6% of that time (2 hours) not be set aside for two one hour weekly sessions in the kitchen where we steam some veggies, bake some chicken and fish and sort our kitchens so healthy food is at the ready?
It’s really, really not that hard…
Spread the love- give your family veggies!
Guess what? If you eat veggies throughout the day and share some with the little ones, that will grow to be their norm, over Goldfish crackers or squeezy tubes of fruit puree. Implement health, exude it, and the whole family will automatically do so as well.
