Happy eater

New research says people who eat more fruit and veg are happier. Jane Pikett says, bring on the greens (and reds, and oranges, and...)!

For five months until recently, a friend of mine – a physically fit vegan with a healthy diet – worked away from home during the week, staying in hotels and eating in pubs.

He was doing an active, outdoor job, so his physical fitness wasn’t too badly compromised by the lack of a local gym, but his mental wellbeing did suffer.

He quickly began to feel out of sorts - down and out, just horribly fed up for no discernible reason. Come Sunday evenings, after a couple of days at home eating homecooked food, he began to feel brighter, but as soon as he returned to microwaved meals at chain pubs, the physical and mental sluggishness returned.

In the end, he gave up the job for the good of his health and has quickly returned to his old self, fuelled on good, homecooked meals.

This set me thinking about the growing evidence for the mental health benefits of fruit and veg. Lettuce be Happy, the latest in a series of studies internationally linking mental wellbeing with fruit and veg, comes from the universities of York and Leeds. It analysed data from more than 40,000 people in the UK, and showed a positive association between the quantity of fruit and vegetables consumed and people’s self-reported mental well-being.

Specifically, the findings indicate that eating just one extra portion of fruit and vegetables a day could have an equivalent effect on mental wellbeing as increasing physical exercise. The research builds on previous work in Australia and New Zealand and followed participants over a period of time, adjusting for age, gender, occupation, physical activity etc.

Convinced? Why not? Here are some recipes to put a smile on your face!

Grilled Radish, Fennel and Asparagus Salad with Caper Dressing

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the salad

1 tbsp olive oil

150g radishes, halved

1 large bulb fennel, sliced

200g asparagus, trimmed

For the dressing

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp sherry vinegar

½ red onion, finely chopped

2 tbsp baby capers

salt and pepper

To serve

small bunch dill, chopped

Method

Preheat a large griddle pan and lightly dress all the vegetables in olive oil. In a small bowl, mix together the olive oil and sherry vinegar, add the onion and capers, season with salt and pepper and set aside. Grill the vegetables on both sides in a single layer in the griddle pan until the bar marks start to appear. This usually takes a couple of minutes. Arrange on a serving dish, season with salt and pepper, drizzle over the dressing and scatter with the chopped dill. Serve at once.

Roast Beetroot Dip with Chantenay Carrots

Makes 2 small jars

Ingredients

500g medium beetroot, cleaned, trimmed and left unpeeled

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

200g Greek yoghurt olive oil

2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

1 tsp caster sugar

juice ½ lemon

sea salt and black pepper

Chantenay carrots, to serve

Method

Preheat oven to 200C/Gas 6. Wrap each beetroot in foil and place in a baking dish. Roast for 45-60 mins until tender. Leave to cool, unwrap and peel off skins. In a dry frying pan, roast cumin and coriander seeds over a low heat until they pop, taking care not to burn. Crush seeds in a pestle and mortar. Place all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse till smooth. Season well, taste and add more lemon juice if required. Serve with raw Chantenay carrots.