It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

weenancyinAmerica

For a diabetic, half a banana is a full portion.

otb666

@Nelliegrace i have been aiming to have at least 30 different edible plants, seeds and nuts every week as thats whats recommended now. Its quite hard to do as a banana every day would only count as one. But a fruit salad or bag of mixed nuts count as how may varieties you have.  I have only been managing 24 but have felt a lot better for it and it certainly taken the repetitiveness out of my diet  

EssexHebridean

weenancyinAmerica said:

For a diabetic, half a banana is a full portion.

In fairness, that depends on the diabetic, the banana size, and an awful lot of other factors too! Diabetics will also know and understand what of any individual food type they can consume in a sitting. 

I think we’ve established though that portion sizes differ wildly between different people - and so long as those who eat smaller portions are aware that they need to eat more of those smaller portions to tick the same boxes, then all good! 

Brambling

I once had to tell a colleague that five grapes even if large were not her five a day and unfortunately she wasn't joking  she would sit in the office and eat rubbish day and annoyingly is still very tiny even after four children. 

TBH she was astounded on the amount of fruit and raw veg the rest of us ate during the day 🤨

Florenceem

I went to the community shop today and got potatoes, red onions and tomatoes for a £1 donation.

EssexHebridean

Tea tonight used up the last of the green lentils, plus the veg box Jerusalem artichokes, a couple of beetroot, half the radicchio and some smoked mackerel and was very tasty indeed. I’m also guessing that was a decent 4 of my 5 a day! It was also extremely tasty, and is definitely a recipe I’d happily repeat. 

Longwalker

Brambling said:

I once had to tell a colleague that five grapes even if large were not her five a day and unfortunately she wasn't joking  she would sit in the office and eat rubbish day and annoyingly is still very tiny even after four children. 

TBH she was astounded on the amount of fruit and raw veg the rest of us ate during the day 🤨

I hate to say, I dont eat fruit and am veg shy as well 

I also walk 5- 10 miles a day and up till Christmas when I had a nasty accident, worked in a very physical cold job

I also do marathons, climb mountains ( ok so that was a one off ) but at just shy of 60,I dont feel the need to eat food I dont like 

YoungBlueEyes

I don't know where I fall on the 5-a-day thing. I have a banana in the morning with my first coffee and often an apple as pudding after my lunch. The rest is veg. I cook from scratch and throw in whatever veg I've got in/bought on offer/has sat about long enough.

The thing with fruit is it's more of a snack to me, and I'm not a snacker. I don't make puddings as such so I can't get fruit in that way. So we're majoritively veg, and almost certainly not 30 diff ones a week. 30 a week probably, but not different ones.

euronorris

We love fruit and veg in this house. Don't get me wrong, I also love crisps and chocolate and fries etc, but I do still eat plenty of fruit and veg.

With DD loving it too, the fruit bill in this house is a fair chunk of the budget. We go through a pack of bananas, 2 punnets of grapes, a bag of apples and a bag of mandarins/tangerines (whatever small citrus is available) a week. Sometimes more.

Yesterday was a busy driving day for me, with a client meeting an hours drive from the office (but I've already claimed my mileage for that). And the M5 was a mess! I was lucky to avoid the choas on my commute, and our drive to the client took us in the opposite direction which was fortunate. Still, it was a tiring day.

On the plus side, local car boot is set to open for the first time this year on Sunday! Weather looks set to be dry, though not warm. And it's one where sellers start at 11am, and buyers from 12pm, so it's not an early start. I will be attending and hopefully getting rid of some stuff whilst gaining some funds. On a mission to declutter quite a bit, and regain some cash in the process.

EssexHebridean

Our standard fruit purchases here are a bunch of bananas, apples for us each to have one per weekday, oranges for MrEH and small soft citrus of some sort for me, plus often grapes. In the summer we’ll frequently buy strawberries or raspberries and other fruits too. I usually try to have a handful of baby plum or cherry tomatoes alongside my lunch as well just because I enjoy them.  The “30 different” thing is a fascinating one to look at (if we’re talking about the thing that aims to encourage people to be diverse in their eating habits which I assume we are) and because the remit of it covers far more than just “fruit and veg” and doesn’t focus so much on a full portion more people would hit it than would imagine they would! As an example on Tuesday night I had a bowl of couscous topped with roasted courgette, beetroot, mushrooms and fennel, with a sprinkling of mixed sunflower and pumpkin seeds on top. Probably 3 of my 5 a day as I doubt I quite got a full portion of any of the veg, but of the “30” it ticks off six things. It also covers things like nuts which people often forget to include.

@euronorris your opening paragraph in your post above is fab - the very definition of a sensible balanced diet! It’s lovely to hear of a parent giving such a great message about food, eating and diet to a child.