Update: My son is eating vegetables!!

Summer is the best season for fresh food. So many different and delicious fruits and vegetables are available, fresh from the garden. I am extremely fortunate to live next to people who have a garden, so large and successful that they cannot eat all they produce. In the past they have kindly shared their excess with me and my family. This year, as they are becoming too old for the shoveling and weeding, I have become their laborer in exchange for an even larger share of the bounty. Besides sitting down to a salad of fresh lettuces, spinach, carrots, and cucumbers, we are also harvesting peas (three different kinds), green beans, zucchini, raspberries, strawberries, potatoes, shallots, cilantro, basil, parsley, thyme, and dill.

But most amazing of all is my son's interest. As you may know from my book or a previous blog, my son does not usually show much interest in fresh fruits and vegetables. But this summer he is. He goes next door to the garden when he is hungry and picks some strawberries and raspberries. He is picking and eating snap peas, snow peas and green beans, stuffing them in his pockets. He searches for cucumbers and loves their flavor and crunch. He also loves to pull carrots from the ground, rinse them with the hose and eat them right then and there. Actually, all of these foods he eats at the garden. Once they are on the table, even if they are still raw and untouched by slicing, cooking or saucing, he doesn't show much interest.

So I am all smiles as he munches away, and my wonderful and generous neighbors are totally welcoming and supportive of his interest as he nibbles away at their garden. As I think back, my daughter never ate a tomato until she tried one freshly picked in our yard. She loves them now and even eats them from the store and served at the table. So no matter where you live, grow something--cucumbers and tomatoes grow well in pots, lettuce doesn't' take much room, and potatoes grow underground beneath their green leafy tops (kids love digging for these in the late summer). If you can't grown foods at home, visit a local farm that sells to the public or visit a farmers market. Most vendors give out samples and it is amazing what kids eat when it is a sample.

Enjoy the rest of the summer. I am looking forward to the harvesting of tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage, onions, apples, Asian pears, plums, more zucchini, and grapes. And I can't wait to see what my son will be eating then.

Just Eat the Food

Earlier this month the Los Angles Times reported that "Vitamins Aren't a Cure All," I whole heartily agree. This article sites many very well managed, long term studies involving tens of thousands of participant where increasing a certain vitamin via a vitamin supplement did not protect the participants from an increase in certain chronic diseases. Also cited where studies where an increase in a vitamin from a supplement increase the likelihood of developing the disease (remember the study where Finnish smokers given beta carotene had more incidence of lung cancer?).

Food is smarter than us. It has been around for millions of years, nourishing us and the other living inhabitants of this world. It has evolved to provide us with exactly what we need, in combination with other of the plant's properties to aid in enhanced absorption of the vitamins, minerals and other plant nutrients (phytonutrients). Even those we have yet to isolate and name. The plant knows what it is doing, all we have to do is eat it.

So why are scientist working to replicate a specific nutrient and put it in a pill? It doesn't seem to be working. We know a diet of fruits, vegetables, low fat proteins, high fiber grains and healthy fats (vegetable fats) produces healthy individuals around the world. So much time, money and other resources are spent trying to out-do nature. We don't need to dissect the food. Just because our scientists have not "discovered" and named every component of a plant food doesn't mean it's not there. It is and when we eat it we reap the benefits. Why don't we just spend all of those research and marketing dollars spent on supplements on getting healthy fresh food to everyone. We would all be healthier and happier for it.