If you are looking for what to have for lunch, try peaches and banana˳ Not only will they fill you up, you will take in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants and still not add appreciably to your weight˳ Not bad if you are like me, not so young and watching everything you eat˳
Why not? After all, the body is not what it once was, the food-grinding machine of a sixteen-year-old – or a twenty-six-year-old, for that matter˳
Cheeseburgers or Egusi/Melon soup with pounded yam are yummy food, but you don’t always need to eat them – unless, of course, you are lucky enough to be into manual labor˳
But I am not so lucky, as I mostly do a sedentary job˳ Not that I don’t like my job, but I wish it came with some real physical activities – just enough to break sweat and keep the weight perpetually off, but not so much as to tire the ankles, the knees and the bones˳ I’ll be needing those when I hit age ninety, like my nonagenarian friend˳ Well, that is by the way˳
For a start, peaches and bananas complement each other like water and cement˳ In combination they will quench your hunger and satisfy your appetite˳
If you are wondering where to get fresh peaches and bananas, stores like Big Y, Stop and Shop are my favorites˳ Locate a store close to you, where you can get easily get your supply of fresh peaches and bananas˳
Until I began to write this article I never knew that peaches could refresh the body, the face, the appearance of the skin, and may even slow the ageing process˳ You don’t need any more reasons to include peaches in your menu, do you?
One particular afternoon I was searching for what to eat for lunch in place of almond nuts˳ Normally I skip lunch because I think lunch is unimportant, especially if you are like me, with a sedentary lifestyle˳ I sit around all day, occasionally getting up to stretch a hand, but quickly sitting back down on a chair˳
The point is that I don’t do much and therefore do not deserve much food˳ Some days, however, when I felt hungry (not without a sense of guilt), I would drive to a nearby store and buy a sachet or two of almond nuts˳ Immediately I got back to the car, my finger would rip open the small plastic bag and decant nuts, three or five at a time, until I was done˳ After that I would face the other pack and deal it a blow just like I did the first˳ Each bag was a walloping 130 calories, so together this little snack gave me 260 calories˳
Most times my hunger would vanish, allowing me to continue through the day with my sedentary lifestyle of sitting on my stool, occasionally standing up if I have to stress a point when talking to parents and their children, doing the best I can to alleviate, even if only temporarily, their physical and sometimes their mental afflictions˳
Don’t misunderstand me˳ There are times I will go from one consultation room to another, across the short hallway to the refrigerator to select a vaccine or stretch out a hand to rummage through the wall cabinets for a needle, syringe or gloves˳
Nobody in their senses would call any of these activities anything but sedentary, for which a heavy load of food, such as pounded yam or Garri, or rice or goat meat or soup or French fries or hamburger or sandwiches, would be unnecessary˳ That is why I tried to keep my lunch very simple and limited to almond nuts˳
So, that afternoon when I was searching for what to eat in place of almond nuts, my mind settled on banana and peaches˳ Well, it wasn’t that I never ate banana or peaches, but I never knew it could be such a good replacement for my two packs of almonds at about 260 calories˳ Somewhere in my brain, banana and peaches had been hiding in plain sight since I saw my son Jermane bite of a wedge of banana and my daughter Amy bite of a chunk of peaches˳
“Is that all the peaches you bought?” I had asked Amy, when I saw her eating a big peach˳ ”Yes, Dad, sorry,” she said˳
Next day at lunch time, instead of purchasing two packs of almonds at the corner store, I went to the ‘Stop and Shop’ food store and selected two ripe but firm peaches and a bunch of four ripe, firm bananas˳
Back in my car I searched under the seats and found a half-full bottle of water with which I washed the peaches˳ I set one peach on a clean napkin on the front passenger seat and held the other one, reexamining it for dents and soft spots, which I dislike in fruits˳
Satisfied, my teeth bit into it and took a chunk of juicy peach˳ What a delicious, refreshing, slightly tangy flavor! The velvety feel of the skin made me want to hold the fruit a little longer, but hunger was getting the better of me˳
Peaches are nutritious, with plenty of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants˳ I don’t think they are given the respect they deserve among the fruit family˳
Banana is a very popular and ubiquitous fruit, so there is no need to discuss it in any detail, only to say that I take time to choose my banana since I want it exactly the right way, not overripe or under-ripe, just ripe, and strong and easy to peel from the top, not squishy˳ Like peaches, bananas contain vitamins, minerals and antioxidants˳
As usual the banana did not disappoint, and I ate two of the four˳ Soon after my hunger went away I began to suffer from post-gluttony despair˳
Perhaps I have overindulged in food, sweet food which I still remember my grandmother warning me against when I was a young boy˳ I had run away to stay with her in my village at Akokwa, because I wanted to escape the scrutiny of my parents˳ My mother in particular would come so often to my room to check on me and ask, “Are you okay, my son?” even though all she wanted to know was who I was hanging with˳ Grandmother never bothered with any of that; she would bring some bitter leaf soup with dry fish to me, her eighteen-year-old grandson: bitter leaf soup, cooked with dry fish˳
Oh, I miss Grandma˳ Forgive me where I have digressed, but I thought you should understand the kind of person I am – at least a little bit of what I was as a child˳
Forced by the kind of person I have become, I added up the calories and the cost of two peaches and two bananas˳ A peach, the size I ate, was about 70 calories, two of them, 140 calories˳ Say a humongous banana contains 150 calories, two would contain 300 calories˳ Together, two large peaches and two humongous bananas add up to about 440 calories; not so expensive either – all for the price of just $2˳00˳
Peaches and bananas fill the stomach better than two small packs of almond nuts˳ Next time you are wondering what to eat for lunch, try two peaches and two bananas˳ I promise you will enjoy them˳ If you are a weight watcher, don’t feel guilty; you will have had a healthy meal and only consumed about 500 calories˳
END
Source by https://ezinearticles˳com/?What-to-Have-for-Lunch?-Try-Peaches-and-Banana&id=9981229
