Five portions a day?

crazyhazy

Does everyone on here manage to eat their 5 a day? I really struggle but have decided that today as it's less than 8 weeks to our wedding that I'm going to have yet another bash at being really healthy. My skin is also really spotty just now so hoping this will improve, along with hopefully toning up a bit through more exercise.

The thing is I'm never quite sure what amounts to 1 of my 5 a day. Today for example I have had a 0.8litre lunch box filled with lettuce, cucumber, red, green and yellow peppers and red onion - does anyone know what this would count as. I also have a small bag of dried apricots for later, which i guess is 1 portion.

My other problem is how to fit 5 portions into one day, I guess I could get anothe rportion of fruit in by having a smoothie at breakfast time. And usually I fir veg into our evening meal, but like tonight we are having macaroni cheese, so there would be no veg.

tru

Portion sizes

I don't eat proper meals, I just nibble all day long. I'm lucky in that I love fruit so I nibble lots of that (in between the choc lol)

badgermonkey

I get my five a day - the "servings" are smaller than you might think. I would say your salad counted for two servings at least.

Check here for the government guidelines.

I have a banana mid-morning and a tin of soup, usually veg-based at lunch with two pieces of fruit (a plum and a pear today). Then usually fresh veg with dinner, too. You can count one glass of juice towards your five and even a serving of pulses.

Penny-Wise_4

Try HERE - its the NHS 5-a-day website - have info on potion sizes and what counts, etc.

HTH

Ted_Hutchinson

DOH 5 a day Portion size chartwhen you download the above list you'll see that portions may in fact be smaller than you think.
But the smoothie idea is one way to consume a couple of portions very easily. In other threads I've been extolling the benefits of
The World's Healthiest Foods List, A-Z and fruit and vegetables really are the answer to a lot of our health problems.

MATH

The MATH's have their five a day. I work on the principle that if it fits comfortably in the palm of your hand then it is a portion. So one apple or a handful of grapes etc.

Smoothies and juices only count as one portion per day no matter how many of them you drink. I don't know why but thems the rules:rolleyes: It is really easy (and cheap) to eat 5 a day. Try adding hidden fruit to stuff like a handful of raisins on ya cornflakes in the morning and remember tinned, frozen and dried fruit/veg also count.

Now if only I could get to grips with drinking 2ltrs of water a day (without coffee, milk 'n' sugar added)

Lillibet_2

Remember something like a large glass of fresh fruit juice, or a small jacket potato count as one serving each.

I manage mine quite easily but I love fruit :

Breakfast Cereal with 1 large table spoon dried fruit (usually sulatanas or dried apricots) & a large glass of orange or cranberry uice
MId morning 2 plums (1 potion) or an apple & 1 chopped up carrott or a few cherry tomatoes
Lunch Sandwich/jacket potoato etc with 1 large tablespoon mixed salad or similar & 1 pear or 1 apple or large serving of soft fruit like strawberries/raspberries
Dinner : Jacket spud with coleslaw (1 portion each) or at leat 2 heaped tablesppons veggies, usually more & 1 large glass of fruit juice, followed by a fruity pudding most nights.

When I say large tablespoon I mean really heaped up & more often than not a serving spoon rather than a table spoon.

On average I reckon I get about 10 portions a day!! More in summer when fruit is cheap & I am havign smoothies all the time.

crazyhazy

ok, so according to those websites my small bag of dried apricots, just counted and there is about 9 in it, would technically be 3 portions of fruit. That's much better than I thought have only ever counted it as 1 before. And looks like my salad was equivilent to one portion aswell just for the lettuce and I also had 3 large mushrooms and peppers, so that would be close to another portion.

Not bad really considering I thought I was nowhere near my 5 a day and it would seem I'm almost there already. I think i'll continue with small steps, maybe just count my apricots as 1 portion and try and eat at least one other peice of fruit a day and also continue bring my big salads in.

Lucie_2

Try adding frozen peas/sweetcorn to things like shepherds pie, spag bol, chilli etc. Not only does it count towards your 5 a day, it bulks out the dish, so you use less meat or make it go further.

jo_b_2

crazyhazy wrote:

ok, so according to those websites my small bag of dried apricots, just counted and there is about 9 in it, would technically be 3 portions of fruit. .

The official recommendations are that the 5 portions should be 5 different types of fruit/veg though.

Keep at it though! You will feel better for it.

Magentasue

Well! I've had this all wrong since it started. I've just looked at the list and am struggling with it. Seven slices of beetroot from a jar but three sticks of celery?

To me it only counts if it's what I call proper fruit and veg like an apple or a portion of cabbage. Salad counts as three if you have enough of it but baked beans don't figure. Nor does dried fruit or anything out of a tin. Frozen seems different to me, I can accept frozen veg as as legit , but sorry, not an apple pie made by Mr Kipling or Mr Asda.

I eat at least one piece of fruit a day and two veg for dinner so I've always reckoned I get at least three portions but now I see I can count things like a piece of fruit cake, packet fruit juice and tinned tomatoes, I easily get five a day. In fact I can't see how anyone could struggle!