How much fruit and veg have you had today?

[RachelLyg]

An 80g serving of fresh fruit or veg and a 30g serving of dried fruit counts as one of your 5 a day.

Spinach (half portion)
Tomato and Bean soup (1 portion)
1 quarter cantaloupe melon (1 portion)
Carrots (half portion)
Hummus (quarter portion)
Celery (quarter portion)
Cauliflower (one portion)
Brussels sprouts (one portion)

That's 5 and a half portions and I don’t think I can fit any more in. I’m trying to get to 7 portions per day.

Only 3 today. One banana and 2 satsumas. I normally aim for 7.

Small banana
Peach
Apple
Salad as basis for lunch of a packet of mixed leaves, and half a pack of piccolo tomatoes, with chicken.
Onion
Red pepper 1/2
More piccolo tomatoes (1/4 pack)
Another small banana.

Frozen raspberries in porridge this morning
Green and red peppers with houmus and wholemeal toast at lunchtime
Onion, green pepper, tinned tomatoes and frozen spinach in prawn curry this evening.
I don't know what they weighed - there certainly wasn't 30g of onion in each portion for example.

Half a red pepper.

Half a courgette.

Half a tin of tomatoes.

Double serving of frozen peas.

An onion.

Garlic clove.

Fresh coriander.

Red lentils. (If pulses count)

A banana
Bit of dried fruit on my muesli
About 40g of cucumber.
Half a pot of tomato based pasta sauce - generous portion
Half a portion of sweetcorn
Half a portion of red pepper

Not my best day ever but not shite at around 4 portions. I've not really eaten much.

Fruit for breakfast, fruit after dinner, kiwi, nectarine, strawberries, grapes, watermelon. Not huge amounts, but decent. Fresh green beans with dinner, plus a huge mushroom. Lots of salad in ,y chicken sandwich for lunch. Probably had my five a day.

Countries that recommend something like 10 portions have much smaller portions than ours. We have 5 portions of 80g, while others might have 10 portions of 50g. The total isn't much different.

Blueberries in my porridge - not much, probably 1/4 portion. Leftover veg curry for lunch - sweet potato, kale, onion, chick peas, cauliflower- probably 2 portions altogether. Plus a few slices of cucumber - maybe another 1/4? Dinner - cowboy pie including tinned tomatoes, cannellini beans, carrots, onions, leeks, served with cabbage, mange tout and sweetcorn. 2-3 portions I'd say. Pudding of yoghurt and half a banana, another 1/2 a portion. Snack of raspberries, grapes and blueberries, probably another portion. Probably about 6-7 altogether. I did a 10 a Day challenge on MN a couple of years ago and the amount you have to eat of some things is basically impossible, and I ended up snacking on fruit or veg at 10pm because I still needed 2 more portions. But it did have the lasting effect of making me more conscious of my portions.

A portion of blueberries
Two medium tomatoes
A two inch chunk of cucumber (sliced).
10 cherries

Then
Small glass of orange juice
Portion baked beans

(Day before I did better as had the blueberries, melon, peppers, aubergine, courgette, onion, orange juice).

Some days I only manage 3.

People who snack on fruit as well as having plenty of veg in meals definitely do better. Unfortunately, most fruit gives me the shits and the shakes.

Some berries and cherries in the morning (half a portion)
Usually have a banana but we ran out
Usually have an allly for snack but we ran out

Had fruit juice (1 portion)
Had some carrots and hummus (half a portion)
Sweet corn (Half a portion)
Baked beans (1 portion)

Gosh 3.5. Terrible today. But in my defense I’m usually a loooot better and today was a bad day

Oh hang on I had one clementine (1 portion ?)
Also some avocado in the morning (half a portion?)

I think 5 portions or just about.

I have been rubbish today! Strawberries, mushrooms, mango. I normally have loads

Potatoes don’t count do they

In which case I’ve had a handful of salad leaves
Peas
Swede
Cabbage

does coffee count, it was a bean once and the sugar was cane at beginning........

i had lettuce and tomato on my taco last night

Dried raisins and banana
Banana
Cucumber
Hummus?
Courgette
Carrot
Peas
Sweetcorn
Onion
Strawberries

strawberries, blackberries, spring greens,carrots,peas,tomatoes, mushrooms, aubergine, shallots, cherries, nectarines.

Approximately 3 tablespoons is a portion of vegetables which I didn't know.

@PickAChew

Countries that recommend something like 10 portions have much smaller portions than ours. We have 5 portions of 80g, while others might have 10 portions of 50g. The total isn't much different.

I think that’s probably very true. Variety is a good goal.

I’m never sure that counting portions and insisting on rules (pulses can only count as 1 however much you have, etc) really helps. Surely it’s just good that someone happily eats some chickpeas at lunch and then some haricot beans with dinner. They aren’t going to be nutritionally identical, and beans are generally pretty good for you.

All the ‘you must eat a massive mound of this or it doesn’t count’ and ‘well you had X earlier so that doesn’t count’ is quite demoralising for people really. The message really should be to try to include fruit and, especially, veg into your diet wherever possible. And to be pleased about the scattering of pomegranate seeds on top of your hummus, or the single carrot and celery stick you added to the big pot bolognaise sauce you made, rather than seeing this as inadequate and a failure.

It’s much easier (and more sustainable) to add in small bits here and there than to suddenly start wanting to eat half a plate of cabbage just so you can have a ‘full portion’.

I'm never pleased about a scattering of pomegranate seeds on anything! Nasty seedy bastards.

Haha. Well someone might be though.

And it’s better than feeling bad because they didn’t consume the whole sodding pomegranate.

Agree, the whole thing about portions that don't count etc seems daft.

I try and adopt an attitude of a variety of things across my whole diet. Some days I may not have a vegetable or piece of fruit at all but other days I have a huge amount which makes up for it. As long as I am getting a good spread of different nutrients then I consider that a 'good diet'.

Spinach.

Avocado.

Lemon juice (in dressing).

Edamame.

Tomato soup.

I'm not responsible for doing dinner tonight, but I think it's something with salad or vegetables.

About an 80g serving:
Mixed berries
Banana
Pineapple
Grapefruit
Spinach

About two servings total:
Mixed beans, chickpeas, carrot, sweet potato, yellow pepper, red onion, brown onion, tomato, nasturtium flowers.

Banana
Celery
Blueberries
Cucumber
Tomatoes
Red pepper
Orange juice