Many of us know the nutritional value we’d get out of eating fresh fruits and vegetables, and yet, we still don’t eat enough of them. And it’s even more difficult to convince kids to eat them.
But a new book released late last week aims to teach kids — and adults — that veggies and fruits are delicious, and that eating more of them can save the planet.
Written by author Mabi David, Paano Kumain ng Kulay (“How Can You Eat Colors”) aims to encourage kids and their parents to eat more plant-based foods. Published by Adarna House, Greenpeace Philippines, and Me & My Veg Mouth, the book also features whimsical illustrations created by artist Yas Doctor.
Priced at PHP99 (US$1.88), it identifies the characteristics of different plant foods in two languages: English and Filipino.
According to David, the book was suggested by Greenpeace’s Food and Ecological Agriculture Campaigner Virginia Benosa Llorin and Media Campaigner Angelica Pago. David said she wanted to teach how the food that we eat causes global warming.
While most Filipinos believe that saving the environment is a complicated exercise, the book shows that simple lifestyle changes — in this case eating more plants — could do a lot of good for the planet.
She said: “Largely implicated in raising global temperatures is factory farming or animal agriculture, specifically the production and consumption of meat and dairy products. In fact, global calls for mitigating the impacts of climate change include lowering the consumption of meat and dairy and shifting to eating more plants.”
According to a recent study released by the academic journal Science, raising livestock for meat produces 60 percent of agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions. It suggested that having a vegan diet is the single biggest thing that a person could do to minimize their negative impact on the environment because doing so minimizes the production of greenhouse gases. Converting land for agriculture also leads to the loss of wildlife.
This is one of the reasons why David believes in teaching people to eat more plants and vegetables. She also believes that children should be taught as early as possible.
She said: “I personally believe that eating a plant-based diet is a habit that needs to start as early as possible. Children aren’t born with a dislike with fruits and vegetables, but a steady diet of convenience foods high in salt, fat and sugar tends to condition their taste buds to prefer these unhealthy, processed alternatives.”
“Children are very curious about the world around them, and we can direct some of this curiosity to fruits and vegetables, and let that curiosity be the start of a journey to healthier eating,” she added.
David believes that eating healthy could be achieved by eating plants with different colors.
“[T]he easiest, most effective strategy is to eat the rainbow. Fruits and vegetables are colorful because of different phytonutrients, and these colors/phytonutrients are responsible for numerous benefits. Eating the rainbow is the easiest way to ensure that we are getting a broad variety of nutrients with our meals,” she said.
The book is also complemented by plant-based recipes which will be posted on Greenpeace and Me & My Veg Mouth’s Facebook account.
According to David, the book isn’t just for kids, but for adults, too.
“The book also contains activities for parents and teachers to make healthy plant-based eating enjoyable. Ultimately, the activity section is also an invitation for the adults to welcome eating more fruits and vegetables because if our children see that we don’t enjoy it, then they themselves won’t enjoy it,” she said.
The book is available at Adarna House’s bookstore located at 109 Sct. Fernandez St. Cor. Scout Torillo St., Barangay (village) Sacred Heart, Quezon City. To inquire, call +63 (2) 352 6765 for more information.
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