Romance with vegetables

I guess I am proof that you can grow up healthy eating unhealthy. I was a very picky eater as a child and grew up eating jelly sandwiches on wonderbread. I hated peanut butter. I would only eat tuna salad on potato chips as a kind of dip. The closest I got to vegetables was canned corn and I ate a banana, apple or orange about once quarterly. My parents were accepting and unpushy about food, and I slowly began the journey into the wonders of vegetables, fruits and healthy eating all on my own.
When I was 11 or 12, a younger couple moved onto our street. We were the post war baby boomers with rather old parents, so it was new to experience a young couple who soon had a baby. We were a whole flock of girls at just the age when we thought babies were the most wonderful experience on earth. Our own mothers were too old to have more babies, but now we had a baby to play with. Her mother enjoyed having us around, and we quickly became a stable team of babysitters sometimes babysitting in pairs, sometimes alone. Her mother would leave us a chef boyardé pizza mix that we could make and party with after the baby was asleep. But part of the experience of being in this family was watching the mother in the kitchen. She had a way of preparing food so that everything looked delicious. When she started cooking vegetables for her toddler, I found myself drooling over carrots and broccoli. So that’s when my romance with vegetables began.
SALAD
One of the best ways to eat vegetables is in a salad which also goes with almost every meal. Or add tuna, or leftover meat and have a whole lunch.
The key to a good salad is the salad dressing.
Here’s my recipe:
8 T. olive oil
2 T. balsamico vinegar
2 t. french mustard
salt and pepper
I also use salad dressing, instead of butter on steamed vegetables.
SAUTEED VEGETABLES
I usually fry in a good olive oil.
Onion and garlic are almost musts. Plus whatever you like- the seasons vegetables: carrots, broccoli, squash, beets. Add some turmeric or curry to spice them up.
Or add an egg and make an omelet.
Note about Loosing weight
I really believe that healthy oils are essential for nutrition, plus they help you feel full and satisfied from a meal. I believe eating lots of vegetables are the key to loosing weight, but you don’t have to skimp on the salad dressing or be afraid of sautéing them. The key to loosing weight is feeling satisfied with each meal, at the same time you choose to eat the right foods- only healthy carbs and not too many of them. I once lost 16 kilos doing this.
Right now I am unfortunately in a eating for consolation phase and eating lots of unhealthy carbs, but I know how to loose weight again when I am mentally ready.