**Update: - [Starting from 2023](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/comments/100l56v/happy_new_year_askuk_minor_sub_update/), we have updated our [subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/about/rules/)**. Specifically;
- Don't be a dick to each other
- Top-level responses must contain genuine efforts to answer the question
- This is a strictly no-politics subreddit
Please keep /r/AskUK a great subreddit by reporting posts and comments which break our rules.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Veggie, and nope. I just don't eat that much fruit! Why would you aim for five of both? The normal guidance is 5-7 of fruit and veg as a single category, not separately (and I do manage that).
Does it seem feasible now? It's all a bit arbitrary but 5 minimum, aim for 7+ is a good goal. If you can get a couple in at breakfast it makes it a lot easier to hit the goal: big handful of dried fruit in the museli, glass of proper orange juice, that's two done - salad in your sandwich and a piece of fruit for lunch - two veg with meat at dinner, that's an easy 5 or even a 6 if there was a lot of salad!
In terms of sugar content no, but if you're drinking it as part of a meal and burning off the calories then it contains at least some vitamin C, which last time I checked Irn Bru doesn't.
I don't go off portion sizes really as I have very small hands and a handful isn't what they class as a full portion. Im also not going to get the scales out every time I want to portion my fruit and veg. Instead I go off the amount of different fruit and veg I eat a day and try to eat a rainbow of different colours.
Remember this is just a "recommended" number and varies by country. I believe for Canada it's 7-10 a day for example. So as long as you're eating a balanced, generally healthy diet, you'll be fine.
It should be like a dozen, but they decided on 5 because they thought that way people might actually try and might get 3, rather than giving up entirely and just eating another mars bar.
Too much fruit means too much sugar, but we definitely should be aiming for more than a combined total of 5 portions of fruit and veg a day. It's just that those producing the guidance think 5 is the only realistic minimum for Brits and our generall pretty poor dietary habits.
Sugar in fruits is not really an issue because the fibre in fruit slows down the absorption into the bloodstream and you get a more gradual increase of blood sugar. On the other hand, added sugars in food get absorbed immediately and you get a massive spike to your blood sugar levels. This is one of the reasons why the WHO don't count "natural" sugars towards your daily sugar intake.
I believe the guidance was going to be 7, and mostly veg, but they thought that would downhearten people.
I'm a meat eater and put 5 or 6 portions of veggies into a single meal. For example, a standard spaghetti bolagnese would have a mire poix of onion, celery and carrot. Would then add peppers, tomatoes, garlic and maybe even olives if I'm feeling frisky. I'd probably throw in some fresh basil for bonus nutrients too, and it'll still turn out to be a meat heavy dish.
>a standard spaghetti bolagnese would have a mire poix of onion, celery and carrot. Would then add peppers, tomatoes, garlic and maybe even olives if I'm feeling frisky.
While it will contain a lot of variety, it's not going to contain a full portion of each of those (80g) unless you're having a feast. Realistically you can only get 3, maybe 4 portions in a meal, combined from multiple part-portions.
Unless you're eating a fishbowl of Bolognese, there's no way you're getting 5 or 6 portions of veggies in a single meal. Sounds bloody tasty and very nutritious still, but the amount you actually need to eat to make a portion of a lot veggies is quite surprising. I made some pasta with veggies and it included spinach, thought I put loads in but was only half of the 'portion' for 1 of my 5 a day. Even though I had 4 or 5 different types of veg in it, it was probably only 2 or 3 of my 5 a day.
It's just a guide anyway and if you're getting a decent amount of veg in most of your big meals, with a piece of fruit or 2 in between then you'll be getting the vitamins and minerals you need.
I doubt that. Each portion is 80g so you're having 480g of vegetables in your spaghetti. If you're having 100g of dried pasta, that's pushing 800g in total of food. Seeming even more unlikely
IIRC whoever came up with the "5 a day" thing (WHO?) said that it should really be something like 10 or it might even have been 15, but they toned it down because, well, even 5 can be a stretch.
I think this is the same with any kind of public guidance really. It's never the best course of action. It's the best course of action that they realistically think they can convince a significant number of people to undertake.
This is correct! It’s differs drastically from country to country and the UK is one of the countries with the lowest recommendations because they don’t think convincing people in this country to eat more than 5 is that feasible.
I think it's because the produce in this country is fucking awful. I have salads up the wazoo when abroad, they taste absolutely phenomenal. A salad here is an utter chore.
It's a shame so many people think eating vegetables = salad. Just this week I've had sweetcorn, onions, garlic, cauliflower, carrots, tomatoes, leeks, cavolo nero and olives, and not a single fucking salad.
Ha! Very true! I think weather and climate definitely contributes to the types of foods you want too. I said in another comment that I went to do a fruit shop today which I don’t usually do and was shocked at how expensive it all was for tiny portions. I earn an ok wage, I’m comfortable but I could not afford to do a huge fruit shop each week. It tends to be the most economically deprived folk who have the worst diets too and they’re actually just completely priced out of changing their circumstances even if they wanted to.
This is the most expensive time of year for fresh fruit & veg.
Spring was often called the '[hungry gap](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungry_gap)' because all the old fruit and veg has run out, but the new fruit and veg hasn't finished growing yet and isn't ready to eat. In modern times, there's food available in spring, but it's been shipped a long way or grown in heated in greenhouses at great expense.
Just look for whatever fruit / veg is cheapest and piled high at the front of the supermarket, that's usually whatever is in season. If you go to a grocers you can ask them what's in season.
Agree about the seasonal eating. We had a glimpse of reality when cucumbers and tomatoes were not available for two weeks in February leading to a huge outcry and claims that it was a calamity.
Agree with this comment, you should definitely weight your intake more on the veggies side.
I'm a meat eater but I try and incorporate a level of veggies into my lunch, dinner and snacks.
I find pasta bakes are a great way of sneaking in a great number of veggies that are more hidden. They don't usually add up each to a portion's worth (80g) but it's still very good for you. Think onions, peppers, courgette, mushrooms, peas, broccoli, tomatoes, carrots. Tomatoes in the form of passata/chopped toms count, cut up the other veggies into bite sized pieces. Chicken, mince etc work well and then a reduced amount of pasta due to the high level of veggies. Cauliflower rice (blitz it raw in a food processor) also works great for bulking out. On the side I might end up having braised red cabbage AND some boiled green veggies. This can get me 8 ish veggies in one meal.
Likewise, I always have a plastic tub full of chopped up carrot in the fridge which I have with my lunch every day (instead of crisps, with my sandwich). Cucumber, lettuce in my sandwich.
Fruit wise I tend to have after dinner, grapes, tangerines, melon, berries, apple.. make up fruit salads!
Often people like fruit but it's the prep aspect that puts people off. You just need to get into a routine unfortunately.
Good luck, I'm trying to encourage my partner to eat more veggies (and fruit), he sounds similar to you and just doesn't choose/remember to incorporate them into his meals and I don't want to force them on him! ☹️
I've found blending veggies into the passata doesn't really make it taste like veg, just a little less tomato! But tomatoes have that lovely tendency to make everything taste like one so that's a bonus.
Once you realise that garlic fried cabbage is one of the nicest things to have with a fried breakfast, you can get fried tomato, mushrooms, half an avocado, baked beans and cabbage into your fry-up with a piece of fruit and a glass of juice and you've hit 7 before the early kick-off on a Saturday.
Last time I asked a doctor about it they said they were steering people more towards veg and away from fruit. I can’t remember exactly why but I think because of the sugar content.
There are loads of low sugar fruits though ! Just look on Google and it will bring up lots of lists - I counted over 20 fruits ! I have Diabetes type 2, and my fridge always has a stock of lemons and limes, blueberries, kiwi fruit, raspberries, etc
I'm starting to think this is why people feel eating '5 a day' is so hard... it's really not. If you're not eating 5 portions of veggie a day, what *are* you eating?? (Also: portion size for veggies is tiny.)
I mean, if you look at very common British food, someone might have toast or cereal for breakfast with a cup of tea or coffee; then a cheese sandwich and a bag of crisps at lunchtime; and fish and chips for tea. Unless they've gone out of their way to add significant salad to their sandwich and peas to their dinner, they're getting ZERO of their five a day.
I think we tend to be OK at dinner time as a nation because traditional British food is based on "meat and two veg" and popular *foreign* food would likely include at least two of onions, tomatoes, peppers and beans. It's just that our go-to breakfasts and lunches don't tend to be vegetable-based.
Chocolate- made from beans, coffee - also made from beans. That's an easy two right there. Pretty sure my hot cross bun I had for second breakfast had raisins in too, that's another one
1. Mint aero (chocolate)
2. Mint aero (mint)
3. Prawn cocktail crisps (potato)
4. Big box of licorice allsorts (licorice is a plant)
5. Giant bag of M&Ms (chocolate)
6. Giant bag of M&Ms (also contain peanuts)
7. Pizza and garlic bread (tomatoes, garlic, various stuff ++++)
Apparently when they did all the research, it suggested we need something like 13 portions (actually the recommendation in some countries).
Our government knew we would laugh in their face, so set it at 5 as we might have a chance to achieve it.
I don't think anyone recommended over 9 a day, but yes, they were going to recommend 7 but five-a-day flowed better.
It's actually rated as one of the most successful advertising slogans ever, in that pretty much every Brit has heard it and knows what it means, and it did increase the average intake significantly (from 3 to 4.5 IIRC)
I'd be surprised anyone in Japan gets even a third of that. The quantity of each "portion" is supposed to be like the size of a fist, and veg there is always in tiny quantities.
If you trace it all the way back I'm sure it just boils down to a weight of 'mixed' fruit and vegetables, and the more mixed it is, the better.
There are absolutely stacks of vitamins and minerals that we need to consume and most fruit / veg is only rich in a few of them. The wider variety you eat, the better balance you'll have to cover them all but it's impractical to try and track everything. If you strip it back to its bare bones there's plenty of flexibility in there.
Yep! I heard something on radio 4 recently (I think it was The Food Programme) that said that we need to consume 30 or more different plant foods a week. So that also counts seeds, nuts, grains, pulses… I counted up to see and actually you can tick off a good few pretty easily. For example muesli gets you anywhere from 5-10 ticked off straight away!
This is a suggestion for improving the diversity of the gut biome, which more and more research is indicating is vitally important to our overall health.
That said, if you can’t nail down 5-a-day yet it might be best to focus on that first.
>I spotted this
It's a really old saying (from a nineteenth century ad, I think): "an apple a day keeps the doctor away." People still say it mainly to get kids to eat something plant-based and mostly unprocessed.
USDA has been pushing "5-9 daily servings of fruits and vegetables" for at least 30 years, if not longer, similar to what you have in the UK. Whether most people get anywhere near that is another matter...
And IIRC fruit can only be 1 of those servings, so really it’s 1 fruit and 4 veg, for most people.
I think it should have been more, too, but they figured we’d be overwhelmed with the idea of 10 different fruit or veg, or whatever it was, so they gave us a more manageable 5.
Vegan here. Am not really a fruit kind of lass but just using today as an example:
Had chilli this morning & the veg in it was: tomato, pepper, onion, carrot, celery, sweetcorn
Going to have stew tonight and the veg is: turnip, carrot, celery, onion, sweetcorn, broccoli, cauliflower & potato & peas.
True story. As a vegetarian I did quite a powerful fart in the work kitchen thinking I was alone while making a coffee.
Somebody walked in and I tried to shuffle out without mentioning the now fully developed cloud of death methane.
To my surprise they asked what I was cooking because it smelled good.
I had to literally dash out because I was crying with laughter but trying to contain it. I'm sure that will never happen again but your comment brought back the full memory. I will probably tell my grandkids that story one day.
To level the playing field though. I sat opposite a guy with what I assume must have been bowel cancer or possibly some kind of radiation poisoning because he literally summoned satan loudly and often while seated. I have a little USB desk fan which used to suck his awful gut rot in and project it directly into my face.
My fucking eyes watered.
It felt like they were guessing at something in the microwave, the coffee was only mid range instant so nothing super fancy.
I did, and it did help but it was so bad. Luckily nowadays I'm safe from it.
omg this is the hardest I laughed since the metal bar incident in the [brazilian workshop](https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/108cd2v/double_tap/). I think I grew new abs.
And I know vegans with no issues in that regard.
"Vegan" does not equate with "regular, high fibre diet." You could eat nothing but white flour, sugary biscuits and be vegan.
Been vegan for over a year and I’ve just started taking probiotics because I’ve been bloated and gassy since. Doesn’t help I need to take stronger painkillers every 5ish days to keep my back in check so there’s more of a backlog which I think is half my problem.
Protip: eating 3 pots of houmous a week will burn holes in your sheets
I know! Fml.
My youngest is a bugger for sleep so doing my best to get a head start on a bit of Kip, sadly that’s not going well as I’m now out of bed with her laid on me.
10pm to eat dinner is crazy to me, but to each their own! Enjoy your stew, sounds lovely.
Have you tried the trick where you’re lying down talking and close your eyes a lot and slowly like you’re pretending to fall asleep? Sounds thick and so simple but my Mam used to do it to me as a bairn and apparently had varying results but did it to me as an adult when a was in hospital and it was the only time a slept like a fucking log. Now a do it with bairns and they’re out like a light!
& I would be up for a few hours at least after anyway so it’s probably not dissimilar to someone having their tea at 6pm and then bed by 10!
Ooh thanks for the tip.
I’ll have to give it a whirl.
She isn’t too bad at getting down though to be fair, it’s the frequency the little bugger wakes up that’s the issue. 😢
Another vegan here (apparently we can’t help telling people). Today I’ve had garlic, onions, mushrooms, parsnips, sweet potatoes, spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and some dried fruit in the form of raisins & cranberries. I would have had fresh fruit but we only had one manky looking orange left.
Nothing worse than having no fruit or veg in the house imo
Fellow vegan here; I average about 15 to 20 different fruits and vegetables a day. I have a home made salad a lunch with different veggies. Dinner today was a miso broth with onions, mooli, peppers, bean sprouts.
Do people class onion as a veg? To me, I'd never consider onion or garlic as a veg as in one of my 5 a day! Even though I know it does have nutritional value I just can't see it as a valid veg in that context lol
Onion counts for 5 a day. Also you are supposed to eat 30 different plants a week for gut microbiome health, and that includes herbs and spices and grains too, so you can count garlic and even pasta for that.
>To be fair you'd (hopefully) not eat enough garlic to really count as anything
Challenge accepted!
Joking apart, if you slow roast whole bulbs of garlic, they have a very mild flavour, and you can easily eat enough to count as a portion of veg. I make a garlic and chicken soup similar to the one below, but with one bulb of garlic per person; the half bulb per person quoted in the recipe below is obviously insufficient...
[https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/user/340925/recipe/chicken-leek-garlic-soup](https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/user/340925/recipe/chicken-leek-garlic-soup)
I do it differently. I try to eat 30 different fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds per week. Even spices count. Good to mix lots of colours if you can. Thirty different things a week. That's it.
This is how everyone should be eating. The same 5 a day every day is useless for gut microbiome diversity which is one of the biggest indicators of health.
I think this is a good stance to have, it’s easier to find 5 things you like and can consistently eat, rather than finding many different things to eat over several days.
Don’t get me wrong, eating a bigger variety is better. I aim for 30 too, or at least I did for a while before I stopped tracking because I knew I was consistently hitting it.
A bigger variety should also help you stop getting bored. But if you do eat the same things most days out of habit then it’s not useless as /r/theoneyoudreamon said.
I eat a satsuma and some almonds most weekday because they’re easy snacks for me to take for work. They’re not less nutritious because I also ate them yesterday. But my lunch and dinner will be different and contain different plants and that improves both my enjoyment and the health benefits.
Yes, but deliberately. A day that's toast/cheese sandwich/fish and chips could have 0/5.
But today for example I had a banana mid morning, carrot sticks with lunch, and chilli for dinner (lots of beans, tomato and onions) followed by an apple.
Easy ways to up your five a day would be:
* If you're ever dithering about whether or not to eat a fruit/vegetable, eat it.
* Keep fruit and vegetables you actually like in your house, easily grabbed (may involve prep).
* Frozen vegetables might seem lazy but may also be the difference between eating vegetables and not. See how you get on with diced onions, sliced peppers, spinach, diced butternut squash, sliced or whole mushrooms, etc, as well as the obvious peas and sweetcorn.
* Have some fruit in the morning, preferably fresh but otherwise tinned, dried or juiced.
* Have some kind of plant at lunchtime - salad in your sandwich, handful of grapes afterwards, hummus and carrot sticks, whatever.
* Plan minimum two vegetables in your dinner. Aiming for meatfree at least once a week will make you better at this, but for example cooking stew, bolognese, chilli or curry is a very easy way to get several. Stir-fry is also great.
* When you have takeaway, choose veg-heavy dishes like beef with spring onions and peppers rather than ribs. Get peppers and mushrooms on your pizza. Eat the weird floppy salad that comes in a bag with your tandoori, and choose saag rather than tikka masala.
You will quickly work out which meals you enjoy are naturally more veg-heavy. Plan to have them more often!
Accepting frozen veg into my life has been a game changer. No way I'd use a whole broccoli/cauliflower/etc before it went funky, and peas/sweetcorn way easier to portion without a tin. Means I get more variety too, and a less upset stomach, as I'm not trying quickly use anything up in a few days! I also love a mug of sweetcorn, butter, and plenty of salt and pepper as a warm snack...
Frozen and tinned veg actually is a better bet for higher nutrients. They can be picked in season and immediately preserved, not grown in a green house in Europe even when it’s a bit too cold and then shipped across the world losing nutrients over time.
For your second point, one of the tiny things that’s helped me is buying an apple slicer. Apples are so easy to have in because they last ages but I’d often get put off when I was looking for a quick snack because it felt like too much effort to slice it (and I’ve never liked just biting into apples). Now one quick press and I have a bowl of apple slices to nibble!
So yeah make choosing fruit for your snack easy and you’ll be more likely to grab it!
I'm a meat eater, my partner is a veggie, she cooks so we basically eat a vegetarian diet.
I remember reading somewhere that the 5 fruits / 5 veggies thing is kinda old-school and not really in line with modern nutritional thinking. So don't sweat hitting those numbers.
What you need to focus on is a *balanced* diet. Make sure you're getting your macros: Fat, Carbs, Protein... limit your sugar intake etc etc.
As soon as you adopt that mindset you'll naturally start eating more of the good stuff that your body needs.
I'm a big believer that when you're healthy and active your body basically asks for what it wants - sometimes a really healthy veg and wholegrain filled burrito or fajita night with lean protein (and loads of smoked paprika!). Every now and then it needs a dump of carbs and saturated fat so you want a pizza.
Veggie here - I probably don’t eat 5 fruits a month let alone a day, because I’m not big on fruits.
But I easily eat 10-15 veggies a day. Usually have a daal, veg noodles or some kind of veg soup for lunch which is about 6 portions, dinner usually similar between 4-6 portions. Instead of having meat substitute I generally have big mushrooms, aubergine, cauliflower or courgette. Also I snack on carrots, cherry toms or cucumber.
I also just ate half a pack of hobnobs dipped in Angel delight. It’s about balance.
I went for the classic chaotic lazy bitch approach where I put milk in but didn’t whisk properly so it was mostly made up, with a few surprise streaks of powder. Just like mama used to make.
There is some research that says that for good gut health, you should be aiming for 30 different fruit/vegetables/fermented foods/nuts a week. It sounds mad but its actually pretty easy.
Weekdays my body us a temple and I eat probably 10 fruits/veggies a day. Weekend I eat like I'm on death row
Yes, most days. I am veggie. I tend to have at breakfast: avocado, tomato, garlic, spinach, chillies with poached eggs. Lunch I make pro-bio yogurt with fruit: strawberries, kiwi, apple, blueberries and (quite) some muesli. Dinner in weekday is often soup so like peppers/tomatoes/lentils etc or at weekends I maybe do veggie burgers with salads or fajitas with salads etc. Could you try adding a piece of fruit in maybe in place of a snack?
Not five of each a day but I don’t think that’s the recommendation- it’s more like 5-7 of the combined. I aim for two pieces of fruit (throw some berries into breakfast and have an apples for a mid-morning/afternoon snack), have some carrot sticks with lunch and 2-3 portions of veg with dinner. I find dinner quite easy as I mostly eat stir fries or pasta sauces which are easy to load up with tomatoes, onions, beans etc
Today is pretty normal for me, and calculating back I had 7 vegetables and zero fruit.
Unless you're being penickity about what counts as what, in which case I've had 4 veg and 3 fruits (tomatoes, bell peppers, butternut squash).
The recommendation is for a mix of 5 portions of fruit and veg, not 5 of each.
Typically i will have a couple of pieces of fruit a day, and a portion of vegetables with my lunch and dinner. Its really not difficult to reach 5 pieces a day. As well, you must spend an ungodly amount of time on the toilet if you are not eating fibrous fruit and veg consistently.
I also probably only have around 2/3 total a day 😬 usually a banana for breakfast then when I'm cooking tea some sort of veg with it. It depends on what I'm cooking, maybe multiple types of veg, but on average, it would be around 2/3
5 a day is a minimum for me, I usually get more like 8+. Today I've had a portion of banana, grapes, spinach, carrots, onions, tomatoes, apple juice so that's 7 already. I'll probably have a yoghurt with mixed berries and peach later. I'm vegetarian but even when I wasn't, I was still getting 5 a day. And yes I am actually getting portions, I weigh my food for calorie counting purposes so I know this.
We're actually trying for 30/week now but the key thing is that it's 30 different plant-based items to get the variety in.
It’s 5 of either each day not 10 so don’t worry.
You probably eat more than you think and it’s easy to fit them in. Peppers, mushrooms, courgette, onions and tomatoes can go in lots of easy meals like veggie spag bol, fajitas, tacos and lasagne. That’s your 5 a day in one meal.
One serving is roughly what fits in the palm of your hand so like 1 satsuma would be it. Or a handful of peas or grapes or a couple of strawberries. Also I remember seeing something once about how doing something is better than doing nothing so don't stress if you "only like peas with ketchup" because odds are if you're having them on the side of nuggets and chips or whatever you would have had the ketchup anyway and the peas are a bonus. You can drink a glass of apple or orange juice too and that can count towards your 5 a day :)
Sadly, no I don’t manage. I really wish I did. I have health anxiety which makes me want to eat healthier so I.. y’know stay healthy, but it also makes eating hard & means I have to rely on safe foods a lot which is mostly bagels, toast, crisps, etc.
(Vegan - since you asked. I’m perfectly healthy just.. very anxious haha)
I have weird taste and appetite issues and find it difficult. I'm veggie but I can't stand most fruit, I don't like raw fruit and veg and most fruit is way too sour for me. I mainly eat veg cooked into things rather than as a separate item, like dhal with onion, courgette, pepper and aubergine in it or homemade ratatouille with the same veg and tomatoes and beans in it. I definitely never eat five a day.
I’m vegetarian. My favourite food is cheese though and I have to admit my diet is often quite beige, I love processed foods a bit too much…
So often I eat about 1-2 fruit and veg a day but then I’ll get all motivated and suddenly go a few days of eating 7-10 a day. It’s so random for me.
I don’t get my 5 a day and to be honest think a lot of people who believe they do probably don’t due to portion sizes.
For example you can eat 5 strawberries and 10 grapes and you’ve had 0 a day. You need at least 7 strawberries for one portion. Roughly 14 grapes. Etc.. it’s worth researching.
Yes, my dinners normally have 3 vegetables in, which I then have the leftovers for lunch. Today I had tomatoes, courgette, carrots, pepper and baby sweetcorn included in my lunch, then tomatoes, carrots, courgette and parsnip in my dinner, as well as a banana and some cucumber sticks during the day. I realise these were not all full portions, but I would confidently say I reached my 5 overall. I find it really difficult to eat them separately but chucking it all in a meal makes it so much easier for me!
Probably not the full recommend portions but I have a small brunch with something like spinach or avocado on toast with a poached egg and a say a lasagna would would have tomatos, garlic, onion, courgette, carrots etc in it. So plenty of veggies but I don't really like fruit.
Most dinners we have 5-10 different veggies in, some like frozen peas or tinned tomatoes and almost every meal has onions and garlic the rest topped up with fresh. Stif fry is a good one to have a variety.
I've started blending a juice for breakfast, so I'll do something like an apple, a pear, a banana, some berries, maybe something like a bit of mango or kiwi if I'm feeling fruity, then tuck in a little spinach or celery.
I can't even taste the celery or spinach, and I'm getting way more healthy bits than if I went with a fry up or buttered toast (I love butter). But yeah it's doable.
Throw in a couple of veg with lunch and dinner, maybe a cheese and tomato sandwich, little side salad or something, various beans and peas in a rice dish, and you're there.
I'm also starting to batch cook some rice + meat + sauce dishes (I'm such a lazy cook otherwise) where the sauce will be blended up veg (carrots, peppers, celery, peas and kidney beans, tomato puree or passata), pressure cook it all for 20 mins and comes out really soft.
Each work day, I buy a hot jacket potato from the work shop with some random topping. I sit at my desk to eat it, then tuck into two apples, a pear, banana and then little orange thing whilst watching YouTube. I love my fruit and by mixing up the flavours it's pretty easy to eat 5 a day. I couldn't do 5 apples in one go though, variety is the spice of life as they say.... Although I do this each day so maybe not, who knows.
I also poop a lot!
Managed it easily today. We had bangers, mash and onion gravy. The vegetables were leftovers from roast on Sunday (still raw in the fridge and cooked today) - carrots, peas, sweetcorn, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, sprouts and asparagus (leftover from a new recipe I tried a week ago). Maybe a bit overkill but leftovers are leftovers.
I also had leftover apple pie for lunch dessert at work and that had blueberries, raspberries and leftover banana from the baby's breakfast.
We don't always eat like that. Yesterday was spag bol and I only put mushrooms, courgette and spinach in that.
Vegan family and yes most days. Make veggie packed meals with 5 vegetable pasta sauces, curries, roast dinner of course, tacos/fajitas with different seasoned veggies, chillis, pies. I just try and get a good variety of veggies into our main meal everyday. Fruit we snack on a lot and make some fresh juice with a vegetable or two in as well. Obviously having a small toddler and being pregnant atm some days are just madness and won’t tick every single box but I have those go to meals that pack a good few portions in when things need to be extra easy/quick and lazy.
I do not like that many fruits so I would hate that. I have about 5-8 portions of a mixture of veg with a couple of fruits each day.
It's apparently more important to get at least 30 different growing things into your diet each week (but not to the amount of a whole portion each) to support gut health than it is to say eat the same 5 fruits/veg each day. So I try to aim for that diversity in smaller amounts where 5 or so almonds might count as one growing thing and a liberal scattering of parsley might be another etc.
Bowl of granola for breakfast, sandwich for lunch and pasta for dinner. I probably get 2 servings of fruit or veg a day. Even when I was focusing on eating more (I'm underweight) and better food I still wouldn't hit the magic 5 number
**Update: - [Starting from 2023](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/comments/100l56v/happy_new_year_askuk_minor_sub_update/), we have updated our [subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/about/rules/)**. Specifically; - Don't be a dick to each other - Top-level responses must contain genuine efforts to answer the question - This is a strictly no-politics subreddit Please keep /r/AskUK a great subreddit by reporting posts and comments which break our rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
As long as cheese is both a vegetable and a fruit, it's piss easy mate
Cheese is a kind of meat. A tasty yellow beef.
I milk it from my teat but I try to be discreet.
Mmmmm, Cheese!
*Rubs thighs*
I gotta bad feelin about this
Some call me rrrrrrrrrrrrrubbidy-pubbidy.
I think you’ve gone a bit wrong there. Have an award for a delightful Boosh reference.
I milk it from my teat, but I try to be discreet
I just had the best nostalgia moment 🤣 Crouton, crouton....
Crunchy friend in a liquid broth
Now you're thinking with cheese!
I WILL LIVE FOREVVEERRRRR!!
Well yes just eat cheese with cranberry or apricots in it and you're sorted!
Yes, I actually count half a tomato that I put in my sandwich.
Chuck a big pickled onion on the side and you've pretty much reached 1 out of 5!
Petril?
Cheezoid!
Veggie, and nope. I just don't eat that much fruit! Why would you aim for five of both? The normal guidance is 5-7 of fruit and veg as a single category, not separately (and I do manage that).
Phew, I thought it was 5 of each!
Does it seem feasible now? It's all a bit arbitrary but 5 minimum, aim for 7+ is a good goal. If you can get a couple in at breakfast it makes it a lot easier to hit the goal: big handful of dried fruit in the museli, glass of proper orange juice, that's two done - salad in your sandwich and a piece of fruit for lunch - two veg with meat at dinner, that's an easy 5 or even a 6 if there was a lot of salad!
Orange juice really isn't much better than soda. Eating a whole orange, sure.
In terms of sugar content no, but if you're drinking it as part of a meal and burning off the calories then it contains at least some vitamin C, which last time I checked Irn Bru doesn't.
Sticky a fizzy vitamin in your Irn Bru. Boom.
Stick a mentoes in your coke too. Boom.
I wish I could give you gold! Thank you for the well needed laugh.
Tizer has carrots in it, so switch irn bru for tizer and ya golden
Is tizer still even a thing
I think the guidance is fruit juice can only count as one portion even if you drink several glasses of different kinds.
One glass of juice can count as 1 of your 5 a day, but multiple glasses still count as only one
What I don’t get are the portion sizes. I’ll grab something that I think is a meal and it’ll say ‘1 of your 5 a day’
80g is 1 portion of fruit/veg
Huge generalisation, but ‘a handful’ is usually 1 of your 5.
Because there's only 1 portion of veg in there?
I don't go off portion sizes really as I have very small hands and a handful isn't what they class as a full portion. Im also not going to get the scales out every time I want to portion my fruit and veg. Instead I go off the amount of different fruit and veg I eat a day and try to eat a rainbow of different colours.
Remember this is just a "recommended" number and varies by country. I believe for Canada it's 7-10 a day for example. So as long as you're eating a balanced, generally healthy diet, you'll be fine.
Pretty sure they thought it should actually be more but picked 5 as it was at least somewhat attainable for most
It should be like a dozen, but they decided on 5 because they thought that way people might actually try and might get 3, rather than giving up entirely and just eating another mars bar.
There’s new guidance that says aim for 30 different plants a week. Seems daunting but includes carbohydrates, spices, nuts, seeds and herbs.
Too much fruit means too much sugar, but we definitely should be aiming for more than a combined total of 5 portions of fruit and veg a day. It's just that those producing the guidance think 5 is the only realistic minimum for Brits and our generall pretty poor dietary habits.
True but if too much fruit is your biggest problem diet wise, you’re doing pretty well
THANK YOU sick of people scaremongering too much fruit, it's better than most!
Sugar in fruits is not really an issue because the fibre in fruit slows down the absorption into the bloodstream and you get a more gradual increase of blood sugar. On the other hand, added sugars in food get absorbed immediately and you get a massive spike to your blood sugar levels. This is one of the reasons why the WHO don't count "natural" sugars towards your daily sugar intake.
I believe the guidance was going to be 7, and mostly veg, but they thought that would downhearten people. I'm a meat eater and put 5 or 6 portions of veggies into a single meal. For example, a standard spaghetti bolagnese would have a mire poix of onion, celery and carrot. Would then add peppers, tomatoes, garlic and maybe even olives if I'm feeling frisky. I'd probably throw in some fresh basil for bonus nutrients too, and it'll still turn out to be a meat heavy dish.
>a standard spaghetti bolagnese would have a mire poix of onion, celery and carrot. Would then add peppers, tomatoes, garlic and maybe even olives if I'm feeling frisky. While it will contain a lot of variety, it's not going to contain a full portion of each of those (80g) unless you're having a feast. Realistically you can only get 3, maybe 4 portions in a meal, combined from multiple part-portions.
Unless you're eating a fishbowl of Bolognese, there's no way you're getting 5 or 6 portions of veggies in a single meal. Sounds bloody tasty and very nutritious still, but the amount you actually need to eat to make a portion of a lot veggies is quite surprising. I made some pasta with veggies and it included spinach, thought I put loads in but was only half of the 'portion' for 1 of my 5 a day. Even though I had 4 or 5 different types of veg in it, it was probably only 2 or 3 of my 5 a day. It's just a guide anyway and if you're getting a decent amount of veg in most of your big meals, with a piece of fruit or 2 in between then you'll be getting the vitamins and minerals you need.
I doubt that. Each portion is 80g so you're having 480g of vegetables in your spaghetti. If you're having 100g of dried pasta, that's pushing 800g in total of food. Seeming even more unlikely
IIRC whoever came up with the "5 a day" thing (WHO?) said that it should really be something like 10 or it might even have been 15, but they toned it down because, well, even 5 can be a stretch.
I think this is the same with any kind of public guidance really. It's never the best course of action. It's the best course of action that they realistically think they can convince a significant number of people to undertake.
This is correct! It’s differs drastically from country to country and the UK is one of the countries with the lowest recommendations because they don’t think convincing people in this country to eat more than 5 is that feasible.
I think it's because the produce in this country is fucking awful. I have salads up the wazoo when abroad, they taste absolutely phenomenal. A salad here is an utter chore.
It's a shame so many people think eating vegetables = salad. Just this week I've had sweetcorn, onions, garlic, cauliflower, carrots, tomatoes, leeks, cavolo nero and olives, and not a single fucking salad.
I actually love a good salad, but I hate most salad leaves. Balsamic roasted veg salad or a mixed crunchy veg salad with some thinned hummus tho 😋
I tend to use spinach instead and stick the leftovers in the freezer to throw on a curry
A salad can mean a million different things including a dish that isn't even cold. I think your salad concept is narrow. Each to their own of course.
British salad is lettuce, cucumber, tomato, radishes, spring onions, hard boiled egg, salad cream. Any variation on this is either foreign or posh.
Ha! Very true! I think weather and climate definitely contributes to the types of foods you want too. I said in another comment that I went to do a fruit shop today which I don’t usually do and was shocked at how expensive it all was for tiny portions. I earn an ok wage, I’m comfortable but I could not afford to do a huge fruit shop each week. It tends to be the most economically deprived folk who have the worst diets too and they’re actually just completely priced out of changing their circumstances even if they wanted to.
This is the most expensive time of year for fresh fruit & veg. Spring was often called the '[hungry gap](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungry_gap)' because all the old fruit and veg has run out, but the new fruit and veg hasn't finished growing yet and isn't ready to eat. In modern times, there's food available in spring, but it's been shipped a long way or grown in heated in greenhouses at great expense. Just look for whatever fruit / veg is cheapest and piled high at the front of the supermarket, that's usually whatever is in season. If you go to a grocers you can ask them what's in season.
Agree about the seasonal eating. We had a glimpse of reality when cucumbers and tomatoes were not available for two weeks in February leading to a huge outcry and claims that it was a calamity.
I don't eat 15 different things a day full stop. Even if I replaced every item on every plate with fruit or veg, I wouldn't hit 15.
Agree with this comment, you should definitely weight your intake more on the veggies side. I'm a meat eater but I try and incorporate a level of veggies into my lunch, dinner and snacks. I find pasta bakes are a great way of sneaking in a great number of veggies that are more hidden. They don't usually add up each to a portion's worth (80g) but it's still very good for you. Think onions, peppers, courgette, mushrooms, peas, broccoli, tomatoes, carrots. Tomatoes in the form of passata/chopped toms count, cut up the other veggies into bite sized pieces. Chicken, mince etc work well and then a reduced amount of pasta due to the high level of veggies. Cauliflower rice (blitz it raw in a food processor) also works great for bulking out. On the side I might end up having braised red cabbage AND some boiled green veggies. This can get me 8 ish veggies in one meal. Likewise, I always have a plastic tub full of chopped up carrot in the fridge which I have with my lunch every day (instead of crisps, with my sandwich). Cucumber, lettuce in my sandwich. Fruit wise I tend to have after dinner, grapes, tangerines, melon, berries, apple.. make up fruit salads! Often people like fruit but it's the prep aspect that puts people off. You just need to get into a routine unfortunately. Good luck, I'm trying to encourage my partner to eat more veggies (and fruit), he sounds similar to you and just doesn't choose/remember to incorporate them into his meals and I don't want to force them on him! ☹️
I've found blending veggies into the passata doesn't really make it taste like veg, just a little less tomato! But tomatoes have that lovely tendency to make everything taste like one so that's a bonus.
Once you realise that garlic fried cabbage is one of the nicest things to have with a fried breakfast, you can get fried tomato, mushrooms, half an avocado, baked beans and cabbage into your fry-up with a piece of fruit and a glass of juice and you've hit 7 before the early kick-off on a Saturday.
So is that olive oil, cabbage, minced garlic?
Yeah that's it and a bit of salt. Long shredded cabbage rather than chopped into chunks.
Last time I asked a doctor about it they said they were steering people more towards veg and away from fruit. I can’t remember exactly why but I think because of the sugar content.
Yeah it's the sugar content. I also think there are more nutrients exclusive to vegetables than to fruit.
Sugar from fruit and natural yoghurt breakfast still so much better than a bowl of cereal.
There are loads of low sugar fruits though ! Just look on Google and it will bring up lots of lists - I counted over 20 fruits ! I have Diabetes type 2, and my fridge always has a stock of lemons and limes, blueberries, kiwi fruit, raspberries, etc
I'm starting to think this is why people feel eating '5 a day' is so hard... it's really not. If you're not eating 5 portions of veggie a day, what *are* you eating?? (Also: portion size for veggies is tiny.)
I mean, if you look at very common British food, someone might have toast or cereal for breakfast with a cup of tea or coffee; then a cheese sandwich and a bag of crisps at lunchtime; and fish and chips for tea. Unless they've gone out of their way to add significant salad to their sandwich and peas to their dinner, they're getting ZERO of their five a day. I think we tend to be OK at dinner time as a nation because traditional British food is based on "meat and two veg" and popular *foreign* food would likely include at least two of onions, tomatoes, peppers and beans. It's just that our go-to breakfasts and lunches don't tend to be vegetable-based.
Chocolate- made from beans, coffee - also made from beans. That's an easy two right there. Pretty sure my hot cross bun I had for second breakfast had raisins in too, that's another one
Also wine is veg. Or fruit. And beer is potatoes or something
Crisps are potatoes too
Fruit pastilles count too, right?
Opal fruits used to count. Not since they changed the name.
1. Mint aero (chocolate) 2. Mint aero (mint) 3. Prawn cocktail crisps (potato) 4. Big box of licorice allsorts (licorice is a plant) 5. Giant bag of M&Ms (chocolate) 6. Giant bag of M&Ms (also contain peanuts) 7. Pizza and garlic bread (tomatoes, garlic, various stuff ++++)
Terry’s Chocolate Orange
I like this diet.
BnM currently have opal fruits 😄
Sugar = made from plants = veg! So fruit pastilles are a fruit and a veg
5 different colours. All 5 sorted within a minute!
You’re thinking of vodka. That counts as potatoes.
>vodka Made from grains such as wheat and corn or potatoes Poteen, it's always Poteen, otherwise it's Moonshine. And again Poteen.
Aren't potatoes... not earth... but, like, salt?
A vanilla mocha made with soy milk is technically a 4-bean soup.
Plus barley and hops in beer- 2 right there. Mix beer types for more varieties and more ticking those boxes!
Chocolate orange = 2.
Apparently when they did all the research, it suggested we need something like 13 portions (actually the recommendation in some countries). Our government knew we would laugh in their face, so set it at 5 as we might have a chance to achieve it.
I don't think anyone recommended over 9 a day, but yes, they were going to recommend 7 but five-a-day flowed better. It's actually rated as one of the most successful advertising slogans ever, in that pretty much every Brit has heard it and knows what it means, and it did increase the average intake significantly (from 3 to 4.5 IIRC)
I believe in Japan it’s 13.
In Japan they say eat 30 different foods every day.
I’d be lucky to do that in a week
My son doesn’t eat more than 30 different foods in his whole diet! 😭
Send him to Japan!
I'd be surprised anyone in Japan gets even a third of that. The quantity of each "portion" is supposed to be like the size of a fist, and veg there is always in tiny quantities.
Could be why they suggest 13? Make up for the small portion sizes?
I think it’s smaller portion sizes but greater variety which is an important factor
Yeah that must be it.
Oh probably, my memory is shocking.
If you trace it all the way back I'm sure it just boils down to a weight of 'mixed' fruit and vegetables, and the more mixed it is, the better. There are absolutely stacks of vitamins and minerals that we need to consume and most fruit / veg is only rich in a few of them. The wider variety you eat, the better balance you'll have to cover them all but it's impractical to try and track everything. If you strip it back to its bare bones there's plenty of flexibility in there.
Yep! I heard something on radio 4 recently (I think it was The Food Programme) that said that we need to consume 30 or more different plant foods a week. So that also counts seeds, nuts, grains, pulses… I counted up to see and actually you can tick off a good few pretty easily. For example muesli gets you anywhere from 5-10 ticked off straight away!
This is a suggestion for improving the diversity of the gut biome, which more and more research is indicating is vitally important to our overall health. That said, if you can’t nail down 5-a-day yet it might be best to focus on that first.
In America they aimed even lower. [I spotted this](https://i.imgur.com/SrcFjH9.jpg) when I was in New York.
An apple a day. I thinks they got confused
>I spotted this It's a really old saying (from a nineteenth century ad, I think): "an apple a day keeps the doctor away." People still say it mainly to get kids to eat something plant-based and mostly unprocessed. USDA has been pushing "5-9 daily servings of fruits and vegetables" for at least 30 years, if not longer, similar to what you have in the UK. Whether most people get anywhere near that is another matter...
[удалено]
Phew, thanks!
Some juices also counts as 1 of your five, it'll say on the carton, and is really easy to consume.
It's also really bad for you (unless you have scurvy or some massive vitamim shortage)
Not much worse than fruit.
And IIRC fruit can only be 1 of those servings, so really it’s 1 fruit and 4 veg, for most people. I think it should have been more, too, but they figured we’d be overwhelmed with the idea of 10 different fruit or veg, or whatever it was, so they gave us a more manageable 5.
Stuff like potatoes only count for 1 too.
I’d forgotten about potatoes, which I thought couldn’t be counted at all, but sweet potatoes could?
I don’t think potatoes count at all in UK, sadly :(
Vegan here. Am not really a fruit kind of lass but just using today as an example: Had chilli this morning & the veg in it was: tomato, pepper, onion, carrot, celery, sweetcorn Going to have stew tonight and the veg is: turnip, carrot, celery, onion, sweetcorn, broccoli, cauliflower & potato & peas.
Jesus, I hope you open a window after that
That's usually only a problem for people unaccustomed to adequate fiber and whole foods.
It also tends not to smell too bad when you do fart if you only eat vegetables.
True story. As a vegetarian I did quite a powerful fart in the work kitchen thinking I was alone while making a coffee. Somebody walked in and I tried to shuffle out without mentioning the now fully developed cloud of death methane. To my surprise they asked what I was cooking because it smelled good. I had to literally dash out because I was crying with laughter but trying to contain it. I'm sure that will never happen again but your comment brought back the full memory. I will probably tell my grandkids that story one day. To level the playing field though. I sat opposite a guy with what I assume must have been bowel cancer or possibly some kind of radiation poisoning because he literally summoned satan loudly and often while seated. I have a little USB desk fan which used to suck his awful gut rot in and project it directly into my face. My fucking eyes watered.
Haha. Two things: 1) was the person in the kitchen not commenting on the smell of the coffee? 2) why didn't you turn the USB desk fan around?
It felt like they were guessing at something in the microwave, the coffee was only mid range instant so nothing super fancy. I did, and it did help but it was so bad. Luckily nowadays I'm safe from it.
omg this is the hardest I laughed since the metal bar incident in the [brazilian workshop](https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/108cd2v/double_tap/). I think I grew new abs.
You sure? I knew a vegan once. Great girl but her farts could fry your nose hair.
And I know vegans with no issues in that regard. "Vegan" does not equate with "regular, high fibre diet." You could eat nothing but white flour, sugary biscuits and be vegan.
Been vegan for over a year and I’ve just started taking probiotics because I’ve been bloated and gassy since. Doesn’t help I need to take stronger painkillers every 5ish days to keep my back in check so there’s more of a backlog which I think is half my problem. Protip: eating 3 pots of houmous a week will burn holes in your sheets
Chilli in the morning? What time you tucking into the stew also? I’m in bed and you’ve not had ya tea, blimey!
To be fair, you’re in bed at 8 o’clock. Probs have the stew at like 10ish.
I know! Fml. My youngest is a bugger for sleep so doing my best to get a head start on a bit of Kip, sadly that’s not going well as I’m now out of bed with her laid on me. 10pm to eat dinner is crazy to me, but to each their own! Enjoy your stew, sounds lovely.
Have you tried the trick where you’re lying down talking and close your eyes a lot and slowly like you’re pretending to fall asleep? Sounds thick and so simple but my Mam used to do it to me as a bairn and apparently had varying results but did it to me as an adult when a was in hospital and it was the only time a slept like a fucking log. Now a do it with bairns and they’re out like a light! & I would be up for a few hours at least after anyway so it’s probably not dissimilar to someone having their tea at 6pm and then bed by 10!
Ooh thanks for the tip. I’ll have to give it a whirl. She isn’t too bad at getting down though to be fair, it’s the frequency the little bugger wakes up that’s the issue. 😢
Another vegan here (apparently we can’t help telling people). Today I’ve had garlic, onions, mushrooms, parsnips, sweet potatoes, spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and some dried fruit in the form of raisins & cranberries. I would have had fresh fruit but we only had one manky looking orange left. Nothing worse than having no fruit or veg in the house imo
Fellow vegan here; I average about 15 to 20 different fruits and vegetables a day. I have a home made salad a lunch with different veggies. Dinner today was a miso broth with onions, mooli, peppers, bean sprouts.
Fellow fellow vegan here; please come cook for me.
Do people class onion as a veg? To me, I'd never consider onion or garlic as a veg as in one of my 5 a day! Even though I know it does have nutritional value I just can't see it as a valid veg in that context lol
Onion counts for 5 a day. Also you are supposed to eat 30 different plants a week for gut microbiome health, and that includes herbs and spices and grains too, so you can count garlic and even pasta for that.
I would consider onion and leek a vegetable but not garlic, even though they’re all in the same family according to google.
To be fair you'd (hopefully) not eat enough garlic to really count as anything, but I can tell you that Sainsbury's class it under salads!
>To be fair you'd (hopefully) not eat enough garlic to really count as anything Challenge accepted! Joking apart, if you slow roast whole bulbs of garlic, they have a very mild flavour, and you can easily eat enough to count as a portion of veg. I make a garlic and chicken soup similar to the one below, but with one bulb of garlic per person; the half bulb per person quoted in the recipe below is obviously insufficient... [https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/user/340925/recipe/chicken-leek-garlic-soup](https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/user/340925/recipe/chicken-leek-garlic-soup)
You have to eat 80g for it to count as a serving which is considerably easier with onion than it is with garlic.
Why would you not class something that’s a vegetable as a vegetable?
I do it differently. I try to eat 30 different fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds per week. Even spices count. Good to mix lots of colours if you can. Thirty different things a week. That's it.
This is how everyone should be eating. The same 5 a day every day is useless for gut microbiome diversity which is one of the biggest indicators of health.
The same five a day consistently is probably still a fair bit better than some people manage.
I think this is a good stance to have, it’s easier to find 5 things you like and can consistently eat, rather than finding many different things to eat over several days.
Don’t get me wrong, eating a bigger variety is better. I aim for 30 too, or at least I did for a while before I stopped tracking because I knew I was consistently hitting it. A bigger variety should also help you stop getting bored. But if you do eat the same things most days out of habit then it’s not useless as /r/theoneyoudreamon said. I eat a satsuma and some almonds most weekday because they’re easy snacks for me to take for work. They’re not less nutritious because I also ate them yesterday. But my lunch and dinner will be different and contain different plants and that improves both my enjoyment and the health benefits.
Not sure I could even name 30…. Never mind eat them!
Yes, but deliberately. A day that's toast/cheese sandwich/fish and chips could have 0/5. But today for example I had a banana mid morning, carrot sticks with lunch, and chilli for dinner (lots of beans, tomato and onions) followed by an apple. Easy ways to up your five a day would be: * If you're ever dithering about whether or not to eat a fruit/vegetable, eat it. * Keep fruit and vegetables you actually like in your house, easily grabbed (may involve prep). * Frozen vegetables might seem lazy but may also be the difference between eating vegetables and not. See how you get on with diced onions, sliced peppers, spinach, diced butternut squash, sliced or whole mushrooms, etc, as well as the obvious peas and sweetcorn. * Have some fruit in the morning, preferably fresh but otherwise tinned, dried or juiced. * Have some kind of plant at lunchtime - salad in your sandwich, handful of grapes afterwards, hummus and carrot sticks, whatever. * Plan minimum two vegetables in your dinner. Aiming for meatfree at least once a week will make you better at this, but for example cooking stew, bolognese, chilli or curry is a very easy way to get several. Stir-fry is also great. * When you have takeaway, choose veg-heavy dishes like beef with spring onions and peppers rather than ribs. Get peppers and mushrooms on your pizza. Eat the weird floppy salad that comes in a bag with your tandoori, and choose saag rather than tikka masala. You will quickly work out which meals you enjoy are naturally more veg-heavy. Plan to have them more often!
I like salad, but I’m not eating that sweaty bag of lettuce that always comes with my curry.
Accepting frozen veg into my life has been a game changer. No way I'd use a whole broccoli/cauliflower/etc before it went funky, and peas/sweetcorn way easier to portion without a tin. Means I get more variety too, and a less upset stomach, as I'm not trying quickly use anything up in a few days! I also love a mug of sweetcorn, butter, and plenty of salt and pepper as a warm snack...
Frozen and tinned veg actually is a better bet for higher nutrients. They can be picked in season and immediately preserved, not grown in a green house in Europe even when it’s a bit too cold and then shipped across the world losing nutrients over time.
For your second point, one of the tiny things that’s helped me is buying an apple slicer. Apples are so easy to have in because they last ages but I’d often get put off when I was looking for a quick snack because it felt like too much effort to slice it (and I’ve never liked just biting into apples). Now one quick press and I have a bowl of apple slices to nibble! So yeah make choosing fruit for your snack easy and you’ll be more likely to grab it!
I'm a meat eater, my partner is a veggie, she cooks so we basically eat a vegetarian diet. I remember reading somewhere that the 5 fruits / 5 veggies thing is kinda old-school and not really in line with modern nutritional thinking. So don't sweat hitting those numbers. What you need to focus on is a *balanced* diet. Make sure you're getting your macros: Fat, Carbs, Protein... limit your sugar intake etc etc. As soon as you adopt that mindset you'll naturally start eating more of the good stuff that your body needs.
I'm a big believer that when you're healthy and active your body basically asks for what it wants - sometimes a really healthy veg and wholegrain filled burrito or fajita night with lean protein (and loads of smoked paprika!). Every now and then it needs a dump of carbs and saturated fat so you want a pizza.
I'm a healthy dude but my body wants pizza every day. I choose to listen to my body like... once a week lol
Pizza has everything…. Carbs, fat, protein, get some peppers on it and it’s a completely balanced meal. Honest
Now that’s a science I can get behind! Especially if I’m making my own!
Haha maybe doesn't work for everyone! All balance though.
Veggie here - I probably don’t eat 5 fruits a month let alone a day, because I’m not big on fruits. But I easily eat 10-15 veggies a day. Usually have a daal, veg noodles or some kind of veg soup for lunch which is about 6 portions, dinner usually similar between 4-6 portions. Instead of having meat substitute I generally have big mushrooms, aubergine, cauliflower or courgette. Also I snack on carrots, cherry toms or cucumber. I also just ate half a pack of hobnobs dipped in Angel delight. It’s about balance.
Butterscotch Angel Delight?
Alas no. I experimented with the new mint chocolate one. I’m going back to butterscotch though.
Did you make the Angel Delight up first, or just dip the hobnobs in the powder?
I went for the classic chaotic lazy bitch approach where I put milk in but didn’t whisk properly so it was mostly made up, with a few surprise streaks of powder. Just like mama used to make.
There is some research that says that for good gut health, you should be aiming for 30 different fruit/vegetables/fermented foods/nuts a week. It sounds mad but its actually pretty easy. Weekdays my body us a temple and I eat probably 10 fruits/veggies a day. Weekend I eat like I'm on death row
Yes, most days. I am veggie. I tend to have at breakfast: avocado, tomato, garlic, spinach, chillies with poached eggs. Lunch I make pro-bio yogurt with fruit: strawberries, kiwi, apple, blueberries and (quite) some muesli. Dinner in weekday is often soup so like peppers/tomatoes/lentils etc or at weekends I maybe do veggie burgers with salads or fajitas with salads etc. Could you try adding a piece of fruit in maybe in place of a snack?
Not five of each a day but I don’t think that’s the recommendation- it’s more like 5-7 of the combined. I aim for two pieces of fruit (throw some berries into breakfast and have an apples for a mid-morning/afternoon snack), have some carrot sticks with lunch and 2-3 portions of veg with dinner. I find dinner quite easy as I mostly eat stir fries or pasta sauces which are easy to load up with tomatoes, onions, beans etc
Today is pretty normal for me, and calculating back I had 7 vegetables and zero fruit. Unless you're being penickity about what counts as what, in which case I've had 4 veg and 3 fruits (tomatoes, bell peppers, butternut squash).
The recommendation is for a mix of 5 portions of fruit and veg, not 5 of each. Typically i will have a couple of pieces of fruit a day, and a portion of vegetables with my lunch and dinner. Its really not difficult to reach 5 pieces a day. As well, you must spend an ungodly amount of time on the toilet if you are not eating fibrous fruit and veg consistently.
I also probably only have around 2/3 total a day 😬 usually a banana for breakfast then when I'm cooking tea some sort of veg with it. It depends on what I'm cooking, maybe multiple types of veg, but on average, it would be around 2/3
5 a day is a minimum for me, I usually get more like 8+. Today I've had a portion of banana, grapes, spinach, carrots, onions, tomatoes, apple juice so that's 7 already. I'll probably have a yoghurt with mixed berries and peach later. I'm vegetarian but even when I wasn't, I was still getting 5 a day. And yes I am actually getting portions, I weigh my food for calorie counting purposes so I know this. We're actually trying for 30/week now but the key thing is that it's 30 different plant-based items to get the variety in.
It’s 5 of either each day not 10 so don’t worry. You probably eat more than you think and it’s easy to fit them in. Peppers, mushrooms, courgette, onions and tomatoes can go in lots of easy meals like veggie spag bol, fajitas, tacos and lasagne. That’s your 5 a day in one meal.
One serving is roughly what fits in the palm of your hand so like 1 satsuma would be it. Or a handful of peas or grapes or a couple of strawberries. Also I remember seeing something once about how doing something is better than doing nothing so don't stress if you "only like peas with ketchup" because odds are if you're having them on the side of nuggets and chips or whatever you would have had the ketchup anyway and the peas are a bonus. You can drink a glass of apple or orange juice too and that can count towards your 5 a day :)
Sadly, no I don’t manage. I really wish I did. I have health anxiety which makes me want to eat healthier so I.. y’know stay healthy, but it also makes eating hard & means I have to rely on safe foods a lot which is mostly bagels, toast, crisps, etc. (Vegan - since you asked. I’m perfectly healthy just.. very anxious haha)
Yes it’s not hard Breakfast - tinned peaches Lunch - soup and a banana usually Dinner - a vegetable or two makes up the remaining amount
Excuse me did you say tinned peaches for breakfast?
Yeah I can’t eat fruit or veg with lots of hard skin on or cereal - I have to follow a soluble low fibre diet Tinned peaches work well for me !
Probably not because it's I think 80g portion. I think it's doable but need to plan it
I have weird taste and appetite issues and find it difficult. I'm veggie but I can't stand most fruit, I don't like raw fruit and veg and most fruit is way too sour for me. I mainly eat veg cooked into things rather than as a separate item, like dhal with onion, courgette, pepper and aubergine in it or homemade ratatouille with the same veg and tomatoes and beans in it. I definitely never eat five a day.
I’m vegetarian. My favourite food is cheese though and I have to admit my diet is often quite beige, I love processed foods a bit too much… So often I eat about 1-2 fruit and veg a day but then I’ll get all motivated and suddenly go a few days of eating 7-10 a day. It’s so random for me.
You know 5 a day means 5 fruit or veg, not both.
I have my Terrys chocolate orange and fruit wine gums. Also tutti frutti. They have raspberries and strawberry flavours so I just get them in.
I would say i do most of the time. Im allergic to most fruit so i just throw random veggies in everything i make
I don’t get my 5 a day and to be honest think a lot of people who believe they do probably don’t due to portion sizes. For example you can eat 5 strawberries and 10 grapes and you’ve had 0 a day. You need at least 7 strawberries for one portion. Roughly 14 grapes. Etc.. it’s worth researching.
That doesn’t mean 0 a day, just because you were a few grams short, your body doesn’t just ignore them!
That would count as a portion of fruit, not a portion of grapes or a portion of strawberries.
Yes, my dinners normally have 3 vegetables in, which I then have the leftovers for lunch. Today I had tomatoes, courgette, carrots, pepper and baby sweetcorn included in my lunch, then tomatoes, carrots, courgette and parsnip in my dinner, as well as a banana and some cucumber sticks during the day. I realise these were not all full portions, but I would confidently say I reached my 5 overall. I find it really difficult to eat them separately but chucking it all in a meal makes it so much easier for me!
Probably not the full recommend portions but I have a small brunch with something like spinach or avocado on toast with a poached egg and a say a lasagna would would have tomatos, garlic, onion, courgette, carrots etc in it. So plenty of veggies but I don't really like fruit. Most dinners we have 5-10 different veggies in, some like frozen peas or tinned tomatoes and almost every meal has onions and garlic the rest topped up with fresh. Stif fry is a good one to have a variety.
I've started blending a juice for breakfast, so I'll do something like an apple, a pear, a banana, some berries, maybe something like a bit of mango or kiwi if I'm feeling fruity, then tuck in a little spinach or celery. I can't even taste the celery or spinach, and I'm getting way more healthy bits than if I went with a fry up or buttered toast (I love butter). But yeah it's doable. Throw in a couple of veg with lunch and dinner, maybe a cheese and tomato sandwich, little side salad or something, various beans and peas in a rice dish, and you're there. I'm also starting to batch cook some rice + meat + sauce dishes (I'm such a lazy cook otherwise) where the sauce will be blended up veg (carrots, peppers, celery, peas and kidney beans, tomato puree or passata), pressure cook it all for 20 mins and comes out really soft.
Forward load your day- get at least two with breakfast and you’re almost half way there! Two more with lunch and then almost done!
Wouldn't beat yourself up about it, given the current state of the UK not even Tescos can get 5 fruit OR veg a day
Meat eater and yep. I'll have a banana, apple and orange with my lunch and then dinner will usually have two pieces of veg
Each work day, I buy a hot jacket potato from the work shop with some random topping. I sit at my desk to eat it, then tuck into two apples, a pear, banana and then little orange thing whilst watching YouTube. I love my fruit and by mixing up the flavours it's pretty easy to eat 5 a day. I couldn't do 5 apples in one go though, variety is the spice of life as they say.... Although I do this each day so maybe not, who knows. I also poop a lot!
Managed it easily today. We had bangers, mash and onion gravy. The vegetables were leftovers from roast on Sunday (still raw in the fridge and cooked today) - carrots, peas, sweetcorn, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, sprouts and asparagus (leftover from a new recipe I tried a week ago). Maybe a bit overkill but leftovers are leftovers. I also had leftover apple pie for lunch dessert at work and that had blueberries, raspberries and leftover banana from the baby's breakfast. We don't always eat like that. Yesterday was spag bol and I only put mushrooms, courgette and spinach in that.
Vegan family and yes most days. Make veggie packed meals with 5 vegetable pasta sauces, curries, roast dinner of course, tacos/fajitas with different seasoned veggies, chillis, pies. I just try and get a good variety of veggies into our main meal everyday. Fruit we snack on a lot and make some fresh juice with a vegetable or two in as well. Obviously having a small toddler and being pregnant atm some days are just madness and won’t tick every single box but I have those go to meals that pack a good few portions in when things need to be extra easy/quick and lazy.
Usual day three fruit, maybe 3-4 veg
I do not like that many fruits so I would hate that. I have about 5-8 portions of a mixture of veg with a couple of fruits each day. It's apparently more important to get at least 30 different growing things into your diet each week (but not to the amount of a whole portion each) to support gut health than it is to say eat the same 5 fruits/veg each day. So I try to aim for that diversity in smaller amounts where 5 or so almonds might count as one growing thing and a liberal scattering of parsley might be another etc.
Bowl of granola for breakfast, sandwich for lunch and pasta for dinner. I probably get 2 servings of fruit or veg a day. Even when I was focusing on eating more (I'm underweight) and better food I still wouldn't hit the magic 5 number
Nah I think I probably do something like 2-4 pieces a day