With quite a jump in topic from the previous blog post lets distract ourselves from the Easter sweet treats now that we’ve recovered from the long weekend liquor, buckle down and focus on fruit and vegetables- in honour of National Garden Month of course! I’ve grown up with a vegetable garden at home and (between the Woolies prepacked fresh vegetables) enjoy a home-grown meal of parmigiana di melanzane or spanakopita when the energy for meal prepping is high. This amongst the ’organic-looking’ peppers, tomatoes and chillies rolling around the fridge and array of herbaceous species.

If a vegetable garden isn’t your thing maybe you have fruit trees or you’re a seasonal shopper and you have noticed in winter more vegetables are available suitable for warm soups, in summer sweeter fruit and vegetable options to boost energy rich in sun protecting carotenoids.                                                                          

Quite literally shopping in season not only:

• Supports your nutritional needs for each season with a well-rounded balanced diet

But also means:

• Fresher, tastier produce naturally ripened and harvested at the right time.
• Supporting local farmers at the lowest consumer price, better for them & better for us.
• Lower demand for out-of-season produce reducing our carbon footprint!

As a dietitian when fruit is brought up, people generally (regardless of their medical diagnosis) also voice the issue of sugar content. There is always the forbidden VS favoured argument with fruit and thank goodness for portion control being the mediator of it all. But fructose is the instigator giving fruit its naturally sweet flavour with these ‘fruit sugar’ levels differing between varieties throwing everybody off. We need to stop putting fruit in the same category as confectionaries. Because you’ve never heard a doughnut have ‘superfood’ status like a blueberry does. High in fibre, rich in antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and source of energy- fruit has it all. Even as a diabetic where sugar control is of greater concern it is still a snack of choice for dipping sugars or better sugar control in general. Let us sweet tooth people have one deliciously sweet gift from earth we can enjoy guilt free and let that be fruit (in the correct portions). When it comes to dried fruit or fruit juice, firstly don’t forget we are commemorating National Garden Month thus you can’t pick a guava fruit roll or squeeze a fruit tree. Jokes aside try not to replace fresh fruit with dried fruit or just the juice, as the skin is where the fibre lies, which increases satiety and promotes gut health and fruit juice often contains “added sugars” too. The big boss (World Health Organization) states that one portion of fruit or vegetables is 80g, recommending we eat a minimum of 400g of fruit and vegetables daily to lower risks of serious health problems. To add practicality to this guideline the National Health Service (NHS) developed the “5 a day” campaign motivating us to eat at least 5 servings of a variety of fruit and vegetables daily. But the issue is we don’t all walk around with a scale in our pocket so how do we determine what is “one serving” when comparing a giant watermelon to 1 minuscule grape. Check out this visual to help guide you when building up your dietitian approved 2-3 fruit servings a day to accompany your vegetable intake.

Now to shed some light on vegetables which are typically split into those “free vegetables” which we can have a mountain of and the starchy veg which the Karens of the world deem too “carby” to include into the diet as a vegetable. Orange starchy vegetables like half a cup of mashed pumpkin only contains 3.9g of carbs and is rich in vitamin A adding nutritional benefit alongside that carb like satisfaction to our meals. To put this into perspective, by excluding these from our meal we risk feeling dissatisfied and a trip to the Easter treat stash to down a packet of chuckles which is 160g of carbs later. As a dietitian myself I’ve had to understand the value of not just having the lunch toastie in isolation but adding on that half a plate of salad. We should never see this as unnecessary and just adding on extra calories as vegetables add weight to your plate, pack the fibre, vitamins and minerals and increase satiety. I personally tried to get into the habit of starting with the salad or vegetables at mealtimes when I’m more ravenously hungry and then moving onto savouring my starch and protein on my plate whether at home or eating out. If the salad is your meal, then keep a look out for our Midline way of building a fully balanced salad with starch, protein and fat added to the mix. However, when just adding vegetables onto your plate then keep it simple. Maybe some balsamic and olive oil dressed tomatoes, steamed broccoli with lemon juice, jarred beetroot or dressed rocket leaves. Bulk up that plate as we need at least 3 cups of vegetables daily!

I hope I’ve given all credit that is due to these gems (fruit and vegetables) of the earth and have inspired you to also stop overthinking the wrong food groups but rather embrace their variety of flavours, colours, and nutrients for us to enjoy. National Garden Month is here so enough reading and more planting! Comment your favourite fruit or vegetable recipes below or even some green finger tricks for building a successful vegetable garden for some of the newbies out there!

Written by Courtney Human RD(SA)