Tempting as it may be after a long day in the office, it is not acceptable to throw tantrums as an adult. With age, most of us somehow manage to control our tempers and defuse anger in more mature ways. If we don’t, our professional and romantic luck will be rather limited – tough but true. But when it comes to what and when we eat, we remain rather childlike. Let me explain why.

My three-and-a-half-year old son is desperate to go on holiday in a caravan. Every time he sees one, he says in a practised and beseeching voice, “I want to go in that caravan.” My reply, that we may consider going on holiday in a caravan in the summer (or maybe not, but I don’t mention that), does not placate him and his demand becomes more querulous, “But I already really wanted to go in a caravan when I was three, not just three-and-a-half.” Head tilting sideways, I see in his narrowed eyes, that waiting for the wanted thing is just as much a failure as not having it at all.

Because we live in an age of gigantic fridges, takeaway-filled high streets, and globally supplied, 24 hour supermarkets, as adults with spare cash in our pockets, we don’t have to wait for food. Strawberries for breakfast though there is snow on the ground, coffee in an underground, rat-infested tunnel (on the tube), pizza in front of the TV, goji-berry ice cream in the bath: we can have what we like when we like. At the slightest niggle of hunger, we immediately fulfil our stomach’s desires – and so we end up overeating and usually on the wrong things.

Then, podgy from satiating every craving, we embark on regimes which promise to immediately fulfil another desire – losing weight (hence the popularity of the fad diet). A day in, we want to see that the dial is one mark lower when we step on the scales. As in business, where everything was supposed to have happened yesterday, we expect to see the curve shifting in the ‘right’ direction and quick. Anything that requires sustained effort and the patience to hold out for longer term benefits is soon deemed a failure and scrapped. A touch of the flailing fists and stamping foot, no? “But I already wanted to be thinner when I was thirty-three, not thirty-four.”

So what’s to become of us infantile gobblers? Well, we either accept that we’ll get fat and/or unhealthy, whilst sporadically spending a fortune on various fitness and food regimes, or (my preferred option), we grow up, and try to distinguish between what our body really needs and what it just ‘fancies’ because it knows it can have it …

And then your inner beseecher with the might of a three-and-a-half year old says, but it’s winter, and it’s cold, and I really really really fancy a big plate of hot stodgy food for dinner – not celery and a boiled egg again. My advice? Tell it to stop whinging, and try eating this instead: you’ll undoubtedly feel happier and won’t need to resort to colonics. 

Sweet potato salad – or winter comfort on a plate 

Ingredients

• Sweet potato
• Carrot x 2
• Spinach (3 handfuls)
• Feta (50g)
• Olives (5 or 6)
• Seeds of half a pomegranate
• Pumpkin seeds (a small handful)
• Cayenne pepper (1/2 tsp)
• Cinnamon (1/2 tsp)
• Olive oil (roughly 1 tbsp)
• Cider vinegar
• Parsley
• Salt and pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C. Whilst the oven is warming up, peel the sweet potato and carrots, and cut into 2cm cubes. Put the pieces on an oven tray and sprinkle with the cayenne pepper and cinnamon. Drizzle with olive oil, and then use your hands to turn the vegetables until each piece is well coated with both oil and spices.

Into the oven they go for roughly 30 minutes – or until both the sweet potato and carrot are soft. You can check this by piercing a piece of each with a fork, leaving them to cool for a moment or two and then eating. Any crunch and they need a little longer in the oven. Ideally, after 30 minutes at least a few pieces will have become browned in places, creating a lovely chewy casing.

Use this roasting time to wash the spinach thoroughly, and take out the pink seeds of your pomegranate. Halve the pomegranate and use a small spoon to scrape out the seeds, or simply use your fingers to break out chunks and brush the seeds off (my preferred method) into a bowl. Then chop the feta into small cubes, slice the olives (not too thin) and whisk together your vinegar, olive and parsley (chopped using the kitchen scissors) in a small glass.

There should still be time to toast the pumpkin seeds. Place these in a dry, non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Give them an occasional shake to prevent sticking and toast until they start to crackle. I tend to toast lots at once to have a good supply for future salads or mueslis.

Finally, assemble your dish. Put the spinach in a bowl, throw in a couple of spoonfuls of the roasted vegetables (the rest you can save in the fridge for another day), add the feta, olives, pumpkin seeds, and last of all the pomegranate. Drizzle over your dressing, sprinkle with salt (a little) and pepper (as much as you like) and gently toss. Delicious and warming.