I went to stores, people’s homes, fancy restaurants and pubs and found a wide variety of vegetables.

For example:

Stores:

At Marks & Spencer’s basement, there are not only vegetables, but also some of my favorite fruits beautifully presented.

Vegetables included lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, red and green peppers, celery and avocado; prepared salads included couscous; frozen edamame (soybeans that look like peas in a pod) which you boil and sprinkle with salt, then suck the beans out of the pod.

The fruits were every day types like bananas, apples, strawberries and blueberries of course. Then there were fruits I have missed since I left South Africa eleven years ago: lychees (peel off the brown skin and eat the juicy fruit around the pip) and passion fruit (which I know as granadillas) from Zimbabwe.

People’s Homes:

If you’re staying in a flat (apartment) with a kitchen, prepare some meals at home. My hosts, Navaid and Nyame Farooq, good friends of my older son entertained me. Nyame cooked red and yellow peppers, carrots and mushrooms in a noodle and chicken dish.

A colleague of mine invited me to her home in Hertford for a barbeque. Here again there were numerous vegetables, grilled and in salads, together with meat, fish, chicken and many starchy dishes.

Restaurants:

Eat Asian, Indian or Vegetarian, for your vegetable quota. These restaurants are everywhere, from casual takeouts to hip eateries. Some foods I tried were udon noodles and vegetable curry with tomatoes, onions, carrots, red pepper and potatoes.

Delicious appetizers include vegetable dumplings. A vegetarian dish of noodles, tofu and vegetables boasted of being freshly prepared. I find it difficult to enjoy tofu in these stew-type meals and tend to look covetously at my friend’s beef, but I had a mission, and needed to show you how to load up with vegetables.

Pubs:

If you’re going to blow your healthy eating plans, there are many great opportunities to have traditional steak pie, bangers and mash (sausages, mashed potato and gravy) and fish and chips. Although the thickly battered, fried fish served with tartare sauce (flavored mayonnaise) is tasty, you could take the fish out of the batter and avoid the fat fix. If you ask for vegetables on the side, many pubs will bring you a plate of steamed broccoli and carrots, even if you didn’t ask for them steamed, and cauliflower with cheese sauce. That was impressive. Of course, once you’re going through your decadent stage, finish off the meal with toffee pudding - absolutely mouthwatering and the tastiest flavored lard you can imagine.

Now for the bonus that makes digestion easier. Service is included and you don’t tip. No, never. When I was with Londoners, they didn’t leave a cent. I felt terrible; you know the guilt we would feel if we didn’t tip. Once I ordered a drink and left a tip, I thought the bartender was going to flip he was so excited. My friends thought I was daft but said I made his day.

Exercising

What about activity? Well, all the walking in the world won’t work off your pub and pudding meal, but it’s a start. There’s plenty of opportunity to walk. Cabs aren’t available when you need them, like in many big cities. When you walk to the tube (metro/subway), make the extra effort to take the stairs. Just so you know, these are some of the longest stairways I’ve ever seen, going up several floors. After a few days, you’ll feel your thighs trimming up.

When you travel to London, plan salads and strolls.