Did I say that? — Vowing to consume quantities of veggies - Acorn Online

Did I say that? — Vowing to consume quantities of veggies - Acorn Online

Written by Joe Pisani
Thursday, 11 February 2010 09:45

This far into the year, I’m hesitant to write about my New Year’s resolutions just in case I fall flat on my face and end up returning to my old habits. You see, the odds are against me since 30 percent of all resolutions are ancient history by March and 75 percent are eventually abandoned. I didn’t vow to save for retirement, I didn’t vow to recycle more plastic bottles and I didn’t vow to swear less. I vowed to eat five to 10 servings of fruits and vegetables a day, which is a lot of fruits and vegetables for one stomach to accommodate. The U.S. government recommends we should consume vast quantities of fruits and vegetables because it’s a sure strategy for good health — so good it should be included in the health-care reform plan.

This crusade, however, is costing me a small fortune. I buy fruit salad in the morning and vegetable salad with salmon in the afternoon for the price of a sirloin steak at The Four Seasons.

Until now, my fruit-and-vegetable diet largely consisted of banana splits and barbecue potato chips, but I decided to change my ways after reading about the world’s oldest people.

Whenever someone turns 100 and is asked how she did it — eight in 10 centenarians are women — she usually says her secret was drinking moonshine or smoking a corn-cob pipe or getting rid of her husband.

It’s not that I expect to reach 100 because the odds are one in 4,000. I’ll be happy just to see 65 and collect a Social Security check or two before the system totally collapses.

But these old-timers shared dietary habits that we could learn from. The people of Symi, wherever that is, and the people of Campodimelani, which is probably in South Jersey, eat more fruits and vegetables in a day than many of us eat in a week, and they eat real stuff like figs and dates and not Del Monte cocktail in a can.

Fruits and vegetables have anti-aging properties with high levels of antioxidants which prevent heart disease and cancer and keep those notorious free radicals under control. I’m not entirely sure what a free radical does, but it sounds a little left-wing.

Anti-aging guru Dr. Richard Cutler has said, “The amount of antioxidants that you maintain in your body is directly proportional to how long you will live.”

It makes you wonder, though. If this diet is as effective as Symiots claim, why do Americans crave bacon double-cheeseburgers more than Brussels sprouts? Fewer than 25 percent of Americans eat five daily servings of fruits and vegetables, and more than two-thirds of adults and a third of children are overweight or obese — defined as 30 pounds or more over a healthy weight.

Obesity costs an estimated $147 billion a year, which is twice the amount it was a decade ago and nine percent of all health care spending. Even worse, experts predict that in 10 years, 43 percent of American adults will be obese.

See you at the salad bar.