The Ten a Day challenge, join me

Pop_Up_Pirate

oldtractor wrote: »

I think pulses should be 2. if they count as 1 portion for 5 a day them surely they should count as 2 for 10 a day. I'm counting them as 2. if I eat 2 of the same fruits I count it as 2. no need to be pedantic. after all its all better than a biscuit or piece of cake or junk food.
today so far, brkfst 2 pieces of fruit and yoghurt. snack a tangerine
lunch will be mixed leaves salad with olives and tomato and cucumber and half an avocado and a little cheese. a bowl of tinned fruit salad for pud. dinner tonight is grapefruit half, carrot and swede mash,broccoli,cauli and a salmon fillet with blackcurrent jelly for pud. thtas 10 or 11 :-)
Pasturesnew Welcome to the challenge. its good to have you on board.

It's not really pedantic. The point of it isn't just to eat as much food as possible though.
The point is that 10 different veggies and fruits will give you 10 lots of micro-nutrients (or 5 in 5 a day) and those micro-nutrients work together to create better health overall.
Eating 2 oranges and counting it as 2, for example, doesn't give anyone a range of vitamins. Vitamin C doesn't store, so if you eat a lot of fruit with vitamin C, the body excretes the excess and what you are left with is sugar and fibre.

As the beans and pulses are more fibre/starch than anything else, they would only count as one no matter whether you're on 5 a day or 15 a day.

It is better than eating a biscuit though, youre right about that.

Hollyberry

It's proving quite a challenge to get from five (easy) to ten (requires for me way more effort) a day.

Today, for example:
Breakfast: beans, mushrooms, tomatoes (3)
Lunch: banana, pineapple, satsumas (3)
Dinner: Butternut, onion, peppers, courgettes, apple (4 because onion and courgettes will be half a portion each).

In practice, I don't think I could do this every day. I love the eating the rainbow aspect, but I'm becoming aware that I'm actually not too keen on fruit. And while I can do ten different veg with ease, they certainly wouldn't all be full portion sized amounts, even if I had big bowls for both lunch and dinner.

So I think my aim will be five plus a day, and as many different colours as possible to maximise the nutrition. I'll keep watch on how near to ten I can get.

MallyGirl

I am with you on the fruit. I have blueberries and raspberries in the morning to bulk out my low carb cereal but then I wouldn't normally eat any more fruit in a day and I don't drink juice.
Today, to boost my count, I had half a tin of OOD fruit salad which I found lurking but am now regretting it as I am overfull.
DH would baulk at a plate with more than 3 diff veg on it for dinner (unless it was a stir fry). That means I need to try and have 5 at lunchtime which is tricky

[Deleted User]

Pop_Up_Pirate wrote: »

You can take 10 a day in one glass.
Blend
spinach
carrot
garlic
cucumber
celery
apple
banana
parsley
blueberries
kale

Easy....job done and if this is on top of your normal meals, you will feel great.

If you put fruit through a blender the sugar it contains counts as free sugar, just like the sugar in a fizzy drink or a bar of chocolate:

"Free sugars are defined as all monosaccharides and disaccharides added to foods by the manufacturer, cook or consumer, plus sugars naturally present in honey, syrups and unsweetened fruit juices."

Prinzessilein

Breakfast: granola, joghurt, banana followed by an orange...2 portions

Lunch: sour dough bread, quark and herbs, tomato and cucumber, an apple...3 portions

Dinner: sirfry - beef, noodles, carrots, mangetout, bean sprouts, mixed peppers, onions, followed by cinnamon poached plums...4 portions

Snacks: almonds, grapes and a small piece of chocolate...1 portion

...which adds up to 10...so that is a plus...and there is a variety of fruit/veg....but it is still 4 fruit and 6 veg (and of those veggies tomatoes, cucumber and peppers are technically fruit!)...Maybe I will try having a veg snack rather than fruit?

I'm thinking celery (maybe with a little soft cheese or nut butter?)
carrot sticks (possibly with home made hummus?)
Some small cherry tomatoes if I want something 'sweet'
And sweet potatoes are a veg (yes?..) I could do 'chips'! (spray with frylight and bake...and sprinkle with black pepper)

Rowan9

So far today - dried cranberries with porridge, veg soup at lunch time with added spring greens and mushrooms cooked in some water and garlic powder then added to my bowl. Also had pitta with humus and salad. Apple mid afternoon. I usually have some dates but think one portion of dried fruit probably counts. Tea is second night veg and bean chilli - mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers, black beans, black eyed peas, garlic, red pepper. Had some raw yellow pepper today.
I've decided not to weigh them and am just happy to eat plenty fruit and veg.
Really enjoying this thread.

mumps

Total fail today. Too many pancakes for breakfast and lunch. I know, I know but it was my grandsons fault, he made me do it.

Fruittea

Not too bad for me today.
Eggs for breakfast - 0.
Banana - 1
Then a huge salad with some tinned salmon. But I had all sorts of veg in the salad - so I would say 4 portions.
Dinner is Mushroom stroganoff with brown rice and broccoli. So onions in there and plenty of broccoli. Does rice count? 3
Quince jam?
3 tangerines - 1 .
So 9 but not sure about the rice.
Tomorrow will be better as houmus and zhatziki with salad need to be used up. Berry jelly also on the menu.

Pop_Up_Pirate

jack_pott wrote: »

If you put fruit through a blender the sugar it contains counts as free sugar, just like the sugar in a fizzy drink or a bar of chocolate:

"Free sugars are defined as all monosaccharides and disaccharides added to foods by the manufacturer, cook or consumer, plus sugars naturally present in honey, syrups and unsweetened fruit juices."

That applies more to fruit JUICE.
When fruits are put through a JUICER, the fibre is removed and therefore the body takes in a large amount of fructose (sugar) that is easily absorbed causing insulin spikes and leaving the liver unable to cope with so much sugar at once...and yes it's not much different to drinking a can of coke.
Carrying on from your quote, "Under this definition, lactose naturally present in milk and milk products and sugars contained within the cellular structure of foods would be excluded."

When a piece of fruit goes through a blender with other vegetables, yes, it takes away chewing, which is a major part of digestion but the fibre is retained which slows down the absorption of sugar which the liver can then deal with slowly.
It is also blended with other vegetables that provide you with magnesium which helps with enzyme activity within the cells.

A blended smoothie should not be in replace of vegetables with meals, but in addition to IF it is a struggle to get the 10 portions a day and only if you're not eating lots of other fruit.
Fruit should be limited to no more than 2/3 portions a day no matter what form it comes in so a totally fruit smoothie, not a good idea.

oldtractor

hi . brkfst today was 2 pears an apple and some yoghurt with a sprinkling of museli and berries. haven't decided on lunch and dinner yet.