's motd Monday April 11, 2011

[Guest guest]

THREE WAYS TO

BUY 'EM!

Monday, 11 April 2011

Well look, it's Monday, the start

of a brand new week. Now, I want to ask you just one

little thing about your weekend. And that is...did

you eat your vegetables? Ya' know, to this

day, I still can't understand why some people don't

like vegetables...at all! I mean, not only

are they so good for you but I love the taste of those

veggies, too. Those of you who come here to read my

daily messages know that, for years, I've been

preaching about the importance of getting those

vegetable servings in everyday.

Okay, I do want to ask

you a second question and that is, did you ever visit

a vegetable farm? Oh, there must be thousands of them

here in California. You can be driving down one of

the highways outside Los Angeles and see row after row

of cabbage, corn, carrots, broccoli and so many other

veggies growing in that bright California sunshine!

When you see them, you have to appreciate how hard

farmers work to bring all of those wonderful

vegetables to your kitchen. Once you've seen one of

those huge farms, you'll never again take your

vegetables for granted.

In fact, I think that maybe someday I'll have my own

vegetable farm. And okay, the only thing I'll

grow is spaghetti squash. LOL! (You know how much I

love it!)

After all of their hard working tending those

vegetables and helping them grow, the farmers sell

them to companies that sell them to you...three

different ways.

One way the food companies sell

those veggies to you is canned. You can

walk down the aisle of any supermarket in America and

see l-o-n-n-n-g aisles of canned vegetables.

But you've gotta be careful when buying them.

You should take a look at the ingredients label before

tossing that can of niblets corn into your grocery

cart. Why? Well, because there may be added

ingredients like salt or preservatives that didn't

grown on the vine with the vegetables you're buying in

that can. Canned vegetables are alright but I have to

admit, I'm not a big fan of them. They're a little

mushy to me and I like for my vegetables to crunch!

Farmers also sell their vegetables to food companies

that sell them to you frozen. There's

another big department in your supermarket, the frozen

foods section. And I don't have to tell you, you're

gonna see a lot of those little boxes and bags of

frozen foods lining that aisle, too. But again, be

careful. Some of those vegetables are sold in a cream

sauce that may contain a lot of fat and sodium. (Hey,

doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of eating your

vegetables?) So again, read the labels...before

you buy! I do keep some frozen vegetables in

my freezer for..."emergency" use!

And now, the third way farmers

sell their vegetables is directly to the

supermarket...fresh! And oh yes, that's the

way I like to buy my vegetables. I just love the care

some supermarkets put into displaying their produce.

I'm telling you, sometimes those tomatoes are stacked

so pretty, I don't want to take one and mess up the

display! LOL.

I always stock up on fresh broccoli, spinach, string

beans, carrots, beets and lots of salad fixings. Oh,

I just love the smell of fresh produce. I love to

steam my veggies to that perfect crunch I love. I try

to get in six servings of vegetables everyday and

always have two kinds of vegetables at dinner. Last

night, I had carrots & onions and French-cut

string beans. I enjoy the way they look, the way they

taste and, of course, the way they crunch! And every

time I have them, I know I'm eating something that's

really healthy for my body.

So I want you to be careful the

next time you're buying vegetables at the supermarket,

especially if you're buying them canned or frozen.

Read those labels and always remember...fresh is

best!

Love,