Why are we vegetable deprived?

In the newspaper today, I came across an article about a survey the cancer council had done about eating vegetables. Reportedly 'cost and time' is preventing 'vegetable deprived Victorians' from consuming their 5 servings  a day.

I am sorry but this is a load of garbage. How pathetic have people become? lets look at two of the claims.

A third of respondents said they would increase their vegetable intake if they had more time - more time to do what exactly? Shop, cook, eat? Clearly they are still eating and shopping as they must be buying and eating food other than vegetables. Is it no time to cook and prepare meals with vegetables? Is it more time consuming to use vegetables as opposed to grain, dairy and

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meat. I think not, unless you are simply eating takeaway, ready meals or living on toast. Steaming some veg, whipping up a stir fry or a salad is so quick! Putting veg in curries, stews and pasta sauces is easy!

Almost three quarters of respondents said if vegetables were cheaper they would eat them more. Good grief, veggies are not expensive. Takeaway food, ready meals, processed foods and meat is expensive! Just about everyone has a big brand supermarket or two close to where they live. The fruit and veg departments are usually extensive and so cheap at times, the poor grower makes a tiny margin. In cities and the country, markets are becoming more and more common and fresh vegetable produce is cheap and fresh!

The problem is people are lazy, they have lost touch with why we eat and how to cook food from scratch. Simply stop buying crap from packets, buy less foods based on grain, dairy and meat and just put more veg in your basket! Find some recipes that contain more veg that are quick to prepare. Learn to cook! Educate yourself about why eating a nutritious diet based on veg (doesn't have to be all veg) is imperative. Where do you think most of our vitamins and minerals come from?? Not from fish and chips. At least half of your dinner plate should be vegetables. Or you can just keep eating the same crap and Australia will get even more obese (we are already the most obese in the world - yep more than the USA), and the incidences of type II diabetes, cancer, and heart disease will just continue to skyrocket.

Rant over!