Day 3: Which food group don't you eat?
Posted by kathryn in Uncategorized
Today’s task in the 31 Days to a Better Diet is one aimed at increasing the variety of foods you eat. If you’re following this group of posts, they’re marked by the picture on the left.
Today’s task
There are so many different foods. Fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, meat, fish, dairy, legumes, grains.
And then within each group there’s even more variety.
Fruit comes in fresh and dried forms. You can buy oily fish like salmon, or white fish like cod and flathead. In the vegetable world we eat roots like carrots, but we also eat leaves and flowers, such as rocket and broccoli.
While chickpeas and lentils may be the most commonly eaten legumes, this group also includes black-eyed beans, mung beans, tofu, tempeh and other soy based products.
There’s so much variety. So many different options available to us. Why eat the same foods every day?
Therefore your task today in 31 Days to a Better Diet is to think of a food group you rarely or never eat, and eat something from it.
Why can’t I eat what I always eat?
Variety is a hugely important nutritional concept. Eating a variety of foods is the best way to ensure you’re getting all the vitamins, minerals and antioxidants you need. No complex nutritional analysis required.
However most people tend to get into a a rut with their diet. Breakfast, lunch and dinner all end up looking a bit same-y. You buy identical foods at the supermarket each week, have a selection of 2 – 3 lunches you buy and stick to a limited range of dinners.
If the only choices you make are between lamb and beef, or broccoli and cauliflower, then it’s time to branch out.
So for today’s task: think about a group of foods you rarely eat. Select something from that group and include it in your day.
Some examples of how to choose different foods
- Maybe you’re not a fruit eater? Then today is the day to buy yourself a delicious banana, a punnet of strawberries, or some dried figs.
- If nuts are something you only have after several pints of beer, then purchase a packet of almonds, or a handful of pistachios.
- What about fish? If you rarely eat the stuff then buy a tin of tuna, some smoked trout or some flathead fillets for dinner.
- For some people chicken forms part of every meal. If that’s you, then branch out and have a steak, or some lamb chops. Or why not try a vegetarian meal instead?
- One of the food groups many people miss out is seeds. But I love these little suckers. One of my favourite uses is to toast some pumpkin seeds and sprinkle over salads or risottos. They provide a contrasting crunch that’s just delicious.
Which food group are you going to include in your diet today?
Cereal photograph by lusi.
Shopping basked photograph by claudecf.
03 August, 2008
Comments
In thinking about this task I realised how rarely I eat dried fruit. I occasionally have it in muesli. If I make muffins I’ll add some sultanas. However, it’s still a rarity in my diet. So today I’m going to eat my two fruit serves as dried fruit. I’ll let you know how I go.
For me, it’s always dairy that I don’t eat/drink enough. :-)
Seeds…yes…they sit there and I rarely use ’em. Seeds it shall be.
My negelected food group is legumes. I have a can of chickpeas that has been seriously neglected, so I shall find myself a recipe and get cooking!
Dairy it is. More specificially yoghurt. Yoghurt is one of those things I know I should eat and I go through phases of eating. Currently in a not eating it phase.
So today a tub of yoghurt for afternoon tea it is.
As I didn’t see this post until late this afternoon it was difficult to factor in this task – my blog reading is usually done at either end of the day.
I have been thinking about this a lot since your dairy post, and planning a greater variety of meals around it. I don’t eat a great variety of grains so have been factoring that in. Likewise legumes. In fact i’ve never been a fan of either much.
I don’t really like dried fruit or sweet yogurt so don’t eat them but when i remember try to factor in a curry and some natural yogurt (logic?)
And then seeds I guess I forget about. I’ll have to work on this tomorrow.
I don’t think there is a food group that we don’t eat regularly, especially since I try to use new foods when I learn about them. (LOVE tahini!) There is a package of quinoa sitting in my pantry that is begging to be used though. I’ve never tasted quinoa and am interested in trying it.
Definitely seeds. I hadn’t even thought of them until this post.
Whilst we do try to have variety in our diet. I do tend to get obssesed with certain things specially for breakfast and will eat constantly for a while e.g. at the moment its oatmeal for breakfast, last week it was toast with vegemite tomato and avocado? Is this bad?
I guess I’m stuck with seeds, as I can’t remember the last time I ate any.
Can anyone suggest some that go nicely in or on porridge?
i am most definitely a fruit avoider. grocery shopping is happening tomorrow night so i’m going to make sure we get some extra fruit that i can eat, maybe for dessert each night.
Yesterday I had my dried fruit. We did some grocery shopping, including a trip to a Lebanese grocer. So during the day I ate dried apricots and figs. But I also bought some dried persian figs and stewed them up last night with cinnamon, orange peel and honey. There’s about four portions and these are going on my breakfast for the rest of the week.
How did everybody else go?
Gwyneth – LSA is a good addition to porridge and it contains both linseeds and sunflower seeds. Alternatively whole pumpkin or sunflower seeds would be delicious.
Sue – while you may eat one breakfast for a week, it sounds like you’re varying it around regularly – so there’s no problem with that.
I think I will try to eat more meat. I don’t often cook red meat or fish at home and tend to eat meat when I go out. Maybe it’s time for some meat and 3 veg for variety!
I found a recipe for a curry with chickpeas, pumpkin and cauliflower. The flavour was nice, but I still didn’t really like the chickpeas. I find with any lentils that it’s the texture I don’t like. Not sure how to remedy that.
^
Rachel, could you use a stick blender and blend them into a soup?
Mine is seeds too. I have them (and like them) in my breakfast bars but I must start adding them to salads and stirfries and roast vegetables.
Count me in on the challenge! Just making my way through the posts now – I must be psychic because today I bought trout for a meal later in the week (I’ve never cooked this before!) and tonight I had roasted fennel… again a first for me. So far so good – the roasted fennel with some vegetable stock, wine, lemon rind, salt and pepper – delicious!! I also bought some blood red oranges (inspired by your recent post on oranges!)
I am going to eat more fish, starting tomorrow when I buy some tuna for my sandwich. I’ve always steered clear of it because of the smell, but I guess I have to try it at least once to know if I actually like it or not. Wish me luck!
Rachel: well done for including a new food, shame you didn’t like it. But it’s worthwhile persisting, as legumes are so very good for you. As Fiona suggests, why not add them to soups and then blend. Or make them into fritters? Or you can add white beans to mashed potato? If it’s the texture you don’t like – then blend them into other things.
Renee: isn’t roasted fennel delicious? And glad to hear someone else is contributing to my orange mania.
I’ve actually been trying to avoid dairy, as I’ve heard a lot about how it’s actually bad for you and that the human body wasn’t meant to process it. This morning I added 1/2 cup lowfat all-natural vanilla yogurt to my morning fruit – will see how it makes me feel.
I got my seeds in :) remembered my muesli had some sesame and sunflower seeds, so had some for breakfast, plus sprinkled some more sesame seeds on asian-style baked chicken for dinner on Tuesday.
As a vegetarian I really shouldn’t be avoiding them but I hate eggs no matter how they are prepared. I loathe the smell, taste and mouth feel more than any other food.
If a recipe contains them then I will not make it, such is my intense dislike of them. The only time that I would consume them would be in cakes because it is almost impossible to avoid them … and I love cake!
I also avoid brussels sprouts, turnips and swedes as I cannot abide them either.
Mirandagirly: If there’s something you really don’t like and it sounds like your reaction to eggs is pretty strong, then don’t worry. Yes eggs are good protein, but as a vegetarian there are plenty of other choices.
Given your list of disliked vegetables though, you might be interested in one of the other challenges from the 31 Days to a Better Diet series: to retry a vegetable you don’t like.
Yes but my dislike of eggs is one those childhood things when I was forced to eat them even though I never really liked them. At age 5 I vowed never ever again. I’ve tried but I still don’t like them.
I will eat just about any fruit or vegetable available and do love trying something new or just a new variety of something when I find it. The last really good find was native limes. I’d love to have a tree but I don’t live in the right climate.
As for protein I happily eat tofu, tempeh, various kinds of nuts and dairy foods and all greens. Occasionally I let my vegetarian state lapse have fish or oysters if I find myself eating out a really nice restaurant. I’ve never really lost my taste for fish but I find it hard to eat meat on the rare occasions that I’ve had it in the last 20 years. That said, I have been tempted by kangaroo which I like because it actually tastes like something worth eating.
Leave a comment