Five portions a day?

Ticklemouse

I can see where the pureed food argument comes in. I heard or read the other day a similar thing with potatoes - if you mash them, their GI content goes up. This is because the act of mashing alters the structure somewhat and in effect it is sort of 'partially digested' when eaten. The same must apply to fruit/veg. Maybe if they are eaten whole and the act of chewing does not break them down as effectively as pureeing, then it takes longer for the body to break them down, so they are further along the digestive tract when they reach certain stages of digestion. And where they are in your body affects what nutrients etc are taken from them.

This is a layman's understanding of something briefly gleaned - please feel free to add your interpretations

tru

crana999 wrote:

I think the idea is that having food which releases the sugars more slowly is better for you because it leads to less sharp peaks and troughs in your blood sugar levels. It's not to do with whole or pureed food having more or less nutrients than one another.

Ah I see. So is a just-turned-yellow banana better than a with-black-spots banana? (actually I like mine slightly green ) I thought I read somewhere that the more ripe the fruit, the more sugary it is, is that right?

Ticklemouse

I'm with you, troo. I prefer my bananas slightly green and very firm. Can't stand ripe ones. Under-ripe are about 7% sugar whilst ripe are about 14%, I believe.

calleyw

I count tinned fruit in juice as one of my 5 a day.

Must get back in to buying lots of fresh fruit.

As what I was doing to up my portions was to have a fruit salad after tea nearly everyday. With a dollop of a yoghurt and a few chocolate sprinkles to finish it off.

It is hard some days to fit 5 ikn espically if you are not having a food with veggies. I have had two today. OJ and an apple. I will grate a carrot in to the pasta sauce later and have a small salad.


Yours

Calley

Ticklemouse

Actually, I believe 5 is THE MINIMUM you should be aiming for. I think it is recommended that you have 7-9 portions (4 fruit and 5 veg).

If they suggested 9 portions a day, most of the country would have a fit, so I think they suggested 5 as a good compromise, to get people started. I've found if I make a huge veg soup with a varity of veg and pulses and eat a massive bowlful at lunch whilst reading paper/MSE, you don't realise you can have eaten 3-4 portions.

crana999

Ticklemouse wrote:

I heard or read the other day a similar thing with potatoes - if you mash them, their GI content goes up.

Just wanted to get something clear, because from the way you phrased that it might sound to some people like GI is a "thing" or substance that foods contain, and some foods have more than others.

GI stands for Glycaemic Index, and it's just a measure of how much effect the food has on peoples' blood sugar levels in the 2 hours after eating the food. Food doesn't "contain" GI, in the same way that people don't "contain" their height - it's just a property of the food in that state.

Thus mashed potatoes have a higher GI - i.e. they have a bigger effect within the 2 hours - but in terms of the chemicals they contain, the mashed and boiled potatoes are exactly the same.

I am not exactly sure about the bananas, my guess is that the less ripe ones would have a lower GI. However, I don't think there is a total consensus on how much GI actually matters. It probably does play a part in how healthy a food may be considered to be, but the effect may turn out to be fairly negligible for healthy people who don't have problems with their blood sugar levels.
I hope this has cleared things up for anyone who might read your post and be a little bit confused - you probably know all this already!

calleyw

Yes, I also believe that 5 is the min that you should be aiming for.

I was reading something the other day about this 15 year boy who only eats jam sandwiches and jam poptarts and that is all.

If you can pop it in to something else then it does not looks so bad.

But when you think about 5 apples, oranges etc it does look like a mountain.

And the cost as well. As it does get costly buying enough for everyone to have a min of 5 a day.

But then a few times a week we have for tea a huge plate of steamed veg and add a some quorn things to it. So that helps with the totals some days.

Yours

Calley

crana999

I guess one of the secrets to making it work financially as well as practically is to try and look at fruit & veg as replacements for things you already eat, instead of as "extras"

like say you had a person who ate very little fruit and veg but otherwise ate enough food. if you tried to add 5 portions to the person's diet, they would probably feel stuffed, it would be costly, and they'd probably be getting too many calories as well.

However if you swapped things so their pop or tea became fruit juice, biscuits became an apple, potatoes with a meal were replaced by carrots, a smaller portion of meat was served with side vegetables instead of a larger piece of meat etc.. it probably would not cost that much more than what they were eating in the first place.

filigree_2

lipidicman wrote:

Fibre helps your digestive system pass waste matter, it doesnt do anything for you as you cant digest it. So as long as you have enough, smashing some up wont take away the nutrition from a banana. Also, your digestive system is pretty efficient at removing the sugar from the cells. Nutritionalists are part of a branch of pseudo science, they change with the seasons. I dont buy into this at all!

Exactly what source can you quote then, if not scientific study by erm..... experts in nutrition? If it's all bullshine, what makes your pseudoscience any more valid than my pseudoscience? :rolleyes:

FYI state registered dietitians spend four years at university studying for a BSc. They're every bit as qualified as physiotherapists, nurses etc and a darn sight more knowledgable about nutrition than your GP. Don't confuse them with those snake oil merchants who call them "nutritionologists" with a fake degree from Oompa Loompa Polytechnic.

Interesting point about chewing - whole fruits have value from the moment you open your mouth, because chewing is good for your jaws and gums. One of the concerns raised on the Jamie Oliver series was that children fed on pappy food found it an effort to chew fresh veggies.

Have you never heard of complex carbohydrates? Even my 11 year old knows that whole grains etc are better than sugary white flour cakes - not all carbs are equal. Our bodies are efficient at removing sugar, that's because we have many yards of digestive tract to deal with it sloooooowly, releasing the sugar gradually. If you spoon processed carbohydrates into your mouth, all the sugar hits your bloodstream at once. This advice is extremely basic, we covered it in O level Biology 20 years ago.

Human beings aren't supposed to eat pre-digested sloppy food much past the age of 12 months. I'm not one of those raw food health nuts, but it's common sense that food is best for you when it hasn't been excessively processed in advance. That's hardly breaking news.

Ticklemouse

Thanks crana - I know that GI isn't 'content' so my post was badly worded. (Had ordinary pasta for tea, not wholewheat as I usually do, so maybe it's affecting my brain already )