Getting your 5 fruit & veg a day

SatNavSaysStraightOn

SatNavSaysStraightOn

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I'm starting this because I often feel like I'm not getting my "5 a day". Sounds mad given I'm almost totally vegan but tonight hubby reheated the egg curry and didn't add extra veg and was upset when I asked where was the veg?

I can't eat much fruit, never have been able to because of something called a geographic tongue. It's a kind of psoriasis but in the mouth. Fruit, and some veg, anything acidic like yoghurt and vinegar, ever cheese when I could eat it, burn holes in my tongue and blisters form. It's painful and is genetic. There's no treatment, only management.

So I'm conscious that I don't always feel like I'm getting the 5 a day. (If you're Japanese, I believe that it's 12 a day there! )...

So I'm using the NHS guidelines.
1 portion is
  • 80g of fresh fruit or veg
  • 30g of any dried fruit (does dried veg count? No idea)
  • 150ml of fruit juice/veg juice or smoothie and only counts as 1 even if you have more.
  • Beans & lentils only count as 1 portion no matter how many different ones you eat during the day.
  • Potatoes, bread, starchy veg (tapioca,yams etc) don't count
 
So

Breakfast did include ½ portion of raspberries
Brekkie also included a glass of grapefruit juice
(1½ total)

Lunch included hummus which does count thankfully, but tofu doesn't count :( However I did include a kiwi fruit
(3½ total)

Does my hot soya milk count? I'll have to assume no for the moment.

Evening meal included ½ portion of tomatoes, ½ portion of onions and ½ portion of asparagus.
(5 total)

A snack that counts that I usually eat every day are dried dates, so another full portion there.
(6 total)

I can't think of anything else that I actually are today that counts. Nuts don't count sadly.

OK, I did better than I realised but still I think I can do a lot better.
 
I can safely say that despite the fact I eat very little meat, I don't meet these guidelines. I suspect I never have! I do eat a lot of salad leaves and tomatoes but not enough to meet anywhere near the amount specified. I think though that tinned vegetable things count, even things like tomato soup - though I know you don't really eat tinned food SatNavSaysStraightOn.
 
To me there is a some nonsense on the website. Dor example potatoes and yams don't count but:
Sweet potatoes, parsnips, swedes and turnips do count towards your 5 A Day because they're usually eaten in addition to the starchy food part of the meal.
Click to expand...
Are they? Not in my experience and why, anyway is it OK if they are eaten 'in addition' to starchy food, given they are starchy themselves!

Well, actually swedes and turnips are low starch for a root. But the implication here is that if you pile on some of the above, plus potatoes then that's fine. 🤷‍♀️
 
Great thread. I've also been failing this. Lately I've been eating mostly foods that have a lot of sauce and I feel like they don't go well with vegetables on the side. I do include vegetables on the sauce (like tomatoes, onions, or celery) but I'm definitely nowhere near the recommended daily dose.
 
Oh, I’m sure I don’t, and it’s mainly a mental thing, as I still have that mentality that most fruit and vegetable are things to be eaten for the health of it, and not for the enjoyment of it. The latter is for things like cake and chocolate and beer and meat lover’s pizza.

I mentioned it earlier in another post, but I have to almost force myself to eat more than one piece of fruit a day; I’ll have a banana around 10AM for a snack, and later, if I’m hungry around 2PM, I’ll look at the bowl of fruit on the table and think, “We’ll, I could eat an apple, but I’ve already had a piece of fruit today…where’s the bag of cheesy poofs?!”

Probably comes from being a farm kid and eating fruit and vegetables (way more veg than fruit) morning, noon, and night, with something like potato chips/crisps or a candy bar being a rare treat. You always want the treat over the usual food, y’know?
 
TastyReuben said:
Oh, I’m sure I don’t, and it’s mainly a mental thing, as I still have that mentality that most fruit and vegetable are things to be eaten for the health of it, and not for the enjoyment of it. The latter is for things like cake and chocolate and beer and meat lover’s pizza.

I mentioned it earlier in another post, but I have to almost force myself to eat more than one piece of fruit a day; I’ll have a banana around 10AM for a snack, and later, if I’m hungry around 2PM, I’ll look at the bowl of fruit on the table and think, “We’ll, I could eat an apple, but I’ve already had a piece of fruit today…where’s the bag of cheesy poofs?!”
Click to expand...
Same. And I have this particularity that I absolutely hate fruit in any shape or form. Only fruit I can ever tolerate is apples, and if you notice I say I tolerate them, I don't enjoy them.

I've gotten better with eating vegetables over the years, but not with fruit. I think it stems from a subconscious childhood trauma as my dad used to force me to eat fruit. He would open my mouth, stuck bits of fruit inside it and didn't allow me to leave the table until I ate said fruit. It was awful and didn't make me like fruit any better.
 
Can´t say I consciously eat "Five a Day". When the idea came out, I have to admit that I thought it was a bit of a waste of time; I´ve never been a burger or pizza addict, I rarely eat any meat, I don´t snack all day long, I buy processed food very infrequently, I´ll eat any fruit or vegetable you put in front of me (unlike many, MANY of my carnivorous friends) and, Like Yorky, I believe that Beer is Life, the rest is just details. :laugh: :laugh: I´ve been very careful to balance my diet over the past 40 years because a largely vegetarian diet needs to supply carbs, protein, vitamins, etc. and if you don´t get it right, you may suffer.
 
Here in NL the food pyramid looks different, it's a disk for one and we don't have a 'five a day' recommendation. Instead it's recommended to consume 2 whole fruits or portions of fruit, and 250 grams of vegetables of your choice a day. Variety is encouraged but not in the way the 5 a day system works.
I always get my fruit intake, often more because due to my lack of colon I can't digest all vegetables well. My plate recommendation from my RD is 1/2 carbs, 1/3 protein and 1/3 vegetables. While normally your plate should be 1/2 vegetables, 1/3 protein and 1/3 carbs. This is also because my illness requires more energy than most.
92838

It's called the 'schrijf van vijf' (disk of five) but the five are the five main food groups. It says 'Eat healthy food' on top. And the numbers say the following:
1) Be mindful of variety
2) Don't eat too much, and excercise
3) Eat less saturated fat
4) Eat more whole grains, fruit and vegetables
5) Keep things hygiënic

I personally have some issues with this, as a person with an ED this disc makes me feel like eating as little as possible and moving as much as possible are more important than eating healthily because that is placed in the center and the outside of the ring is used for the food groups. But that's a discussion for another topic.
 
I know I don't regularly get my "five" fruits and veggies. Some days I get one, maybe, and other days I get nothing but fruits and veggies. It depends on what I am hungry for. I usually have grapes in the fridge to snack on throughout the day, and when in season, some strawberries and cantelope.

CD
 
Today, I had Raisin Bran, which was chock full of both raisins and dried cranberries, and I’ve had a banana, and some potato chips/crisps. About to have a pear, I think.
 
TastyReuben said:
Today, I had Raisin Bran, which was chock full of both raisins and dried cranberries, and I’ve had a banana, and some potato chips/crisps. About to have a pear, I think.
Click to expand...
If the combined total of the dried fruit is 30g or more then it counts as a full portion. Potato crisps don't count.

Morning Glory said:
Are they? Not in my experience and why, anyway is it OK if they are eaten 'in addition' to starchy food, given they are starchy themselves
Click to expand...

I guess guidelines have to be drawn somewhere and it does make sense to me. With sweet potatoes, parsnips and other root vegetables that count, they contain more vitamins and minerals plus fibre than they do starch and that's why potatoes don't count, they contain much less in the way of vitamins, minerals & fibre even with their skins (which is where most of the vitamins and minerals are) than they do starch which is a carbohydrate. It's the same reason that tofu doesn't count despite being made from soy beans and a calcium salt (can't remember which calcium salt it is, salt as in a chemical salt, not sodium chloride). It counts towards protein, not vegetables & fruit.

Windigo said:
Instead it's recommended to consume 2 whole fruits or portions of fruit, and 250 grams of vegetables of your choice a day.
Click to expand...

That's not actually that different. The UK system simply breaks it up into 80g chunks because it is variety that counts. There isn't as much to gain from having 250g of cauliflower, and 2 fruit as there is 80g each of cauliflower, broccoli, carrots (total 240g) & 2 fruit. Just adapt to your needs and if you've been set a lower target because of your issues, set your aim to that instead.

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The original message stems from the World Health Organisation saying to aim for 400g of a mixture of fruit & veg. The aim is variety because too many people don't eat different veg each day, but rely on the same thing day in day out. And it has been known for a long time that there is a link between (bowel) cancer, heart disease and lack of fibre and lack of variety of fruit & veg.

Eating your 5-a-day: Easy ways to eat more fruits and vegetables

I can't remember where I read it, but there has been a study (Canadian study I think) that also shows that people who eat the same fruit & veg day in day out, compared to the people who switch a portion of peas, for green beans, for snow peas, for broad beans, for runner beans during the course of the week also have a much more robust and better gut health (microflora/microbiome). (This is a good but short read with plenty of references 9 Ways to Improve Your Gut Bacteria, Based on Science )

But the aim of this thread is to track what you eat during the day, rather than discuss the merits of the system and how each country has implemented it, and for us to monitor and track with the aim of helping those who want to, consume more variety and reach what should be an obtainable target. It isn't to judge but to help and encourage.
 
We’ll be having salad in a bit, probably two cups each, and then I’m planning on finishing up some sauerkraut, maybe a cup of that (assuming that counts).
 
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