Eating our 10-a-day thread

[Breathmiller]

I would like to try to start a project of getting my 10-a-day of fruit and veg in every day.

Anyone fancy joining me? I find groups on here of support so useful.

I know lentils and beans and chickpeas are part of it too so I will up them. I'm vegan so I'm hoping that should make things easier as I eat lentils as part of my diet anyway.

This thread is for everyone who would like to focus on 'eating the rainbow' as part of a healthy lifestyle.

Or anyone who does this already who has any hints and tips?

I think the article said to aim for 30.

cardiganofdoom
I love your whiteboard competition

That makes sense to try to vary the types. I'll add that idea to my shopping list tomorrow. Thanks.

I like the whiteboard idea too but DP seems to want to exist off meat and potatoes so wouldn’t take part.

While homeschooling DS5 this year, I did try and do him a little chart where he got to colour in a circle the colour of the fruit/veg he ate. If he got five a day for a week then we did something nice, but I stopped…

Yes I really need to do this although more veg than fruit. I find it hard to fit veg into breakfast and lunch in particular.

Morning my little rainbows 🌈 😆

I'm on a mission today to have my house filled with easy accessible fruit and veg.

titsywoo I want to focus on veg too actually. I'm aiming to have 6-8 veg a day leaving 2-4 as fruits.

What do you eat for breakfasts and lunch at the moment? Maybe someone has ideas to add in.
Salad on a sandwich? A side plate of carrot or cucumber?

I'm thinking of popping some cut carrots in the fridge to snack on. I also like celery too so I'll do that. I'm going to make some homemade houmous too. Although how much houmous you'd have to eat to get a portion might be huge. Not that I'm worried, i could eat it by the bucketload but it's fairly calorific. Since I'm making it I can check how much is needed for a portion of our 10 a day.

We're having leftover curry again tonight so dinner is sorted with veg again.

I don't know about anyone else but I've been on a conveyer belt of restricting this and restricting that in life because I want to lose weight. But this feels different. I am excited about all the possibilities of delicious food that will make me healthier.

It is worth reading the pdf, I've saved it on to my phone. It gives some ideas.

So..
Smoothies and juice only count as one.
Beans and pulses only count as one.
Dried fruit is on there.
I'm going to buy dates today to have with my morning coffee. They are one of my favourite things anyway.

I'm going into town to go Rainbow shopping.

Happy eating.

Just been to the local greengrocer. I got a huge banana box full of fruit and veg and a great bit of banter with the owner. He chucked in a couple of bags of spinach so I can make spinach, lentil and lemon soup.

Sooo much delicious food. Can't wait to start cooking with it and eating it.

If you can afford the majoule dates they are really good!!

I am no where near 5 a day in a consistent mannerm so love the idea of this thread!!

Dr Michael Gregor has a daily dozen list to help eat a rounded diet (especially if you want to go plant based). That might be of interest.

@Breathmiller you had a great haul there!

I forgot my "new" veg from yesterday. I'd already been thinking summer is a good time to up the veg so in anticipation I had picked up celeriac earlier this week (the smallest I could find so as not to overwhelm!)
Now I buy it for soup and stews but not normally in warm weather. So yesterday with leftovers for dinner my one bit of preparation was grating it up, squeezing on a lemon and making a mustard mayo dressing.
Very nice it was too. My teens rejected it but we adults enjoyed it. Plus there's half of it left for today. Result.

Oh nice RhonaRed that sounds great. And a good idea to get veg in by stealth. I used to make celeriac soup many years ago and had forgotten about it. I do like it finely sliced in salads too . Also, fennel bulb, i love a little of that in salads. And it's great for digestion.

After me saying that I would rather be veg than fruit I've just had 5 of my day in my brunch. I got lots of lovely berries from the shop so thought I'd have them today while they are at their best.
Out of interest I decided to use the guide to get the portion size for each one and then put it in MFP to see how it all added up calorie wise. (Although i want to move away from this being a focus)

So..
A slice of melon
Strawberries
Raspberries
Blueberries
Blackberries.

All portion sizes according to the NHS guide and came in on MFP at 160 calories. And it was loads. And I'm stuffed.

The highest were the strawberries and melon but the smaller berries were very low. I cut them all up nicely and had them in my favourite bowl with a little fork. Felt really special and delicious.

In all honesty it was a bit too much but what I might do in future is put the fruit out that I want to eat in the day and pop them in a tub or bowl in the fridge then I can pick at them all day.

@dixiebloom

If you can afford the majoule dates they are really good!!

I am no where near 5 a day in a consistent mannerm so love the idea of this thread!!

Dr Michael Gregor has a daily dozen list to help eat a rounded diet (especially if you want to go plant based). That might be of interest.

Thanks dixiebloom . DH is away to the supermarket with mejool dates on the list. We went to Tunisis for our honeymoon 20 years ago and one of our fondest memories was having coffee and the most delicious medjool dates while travelling around. So much better than these sugary ones I used to get at my gran's at Christmas in the 70s. Tesco did a box last year that were amazing. Half were medjool and half were a different kind, maybe the kind my gran got but not coated in sugar. One was caramelly and one was different. Sooo good.

I'll check Dr Michael Gregor out. Thanks.

Is it meant to be 10 completely different items? Couldn't have two portions of pears, for instance?

@yeOldeTrout

Is it meant to be 10 completely different items? Couldn't have two portions of pears, for instance?

Yes, i think it does have to be 10 different things. It's the variety as well that is good for you.

I invented this soup / juice a while back which I think gets you all of your five a day in one meal. The tofu is there for protein, so you could omit it.

Five a day tomato smoothie-soup

- Soup & Stoup
Servings: 1

INGREDIENTS
9 largish baby tomatoes or 2 medium sized tomatoes
½ red pepper
1 small red onion
1 gem lettuce
5 cm length cucumber

1 bird's eye chilli (if you like spicy)
1 clove garlic (if you think raw garlic is good for you and you don't have any friends)

100g silken tofu
125 ml water or light stock

DIRECTIONS
Put everything in the blender and blend. The amount of stock needed depends on how juicy the veg are, so add less to start and more later.
Can be consumed hot or cold.

There's also this pea version - again just blend.

Five A Day Pea Soup

- Soup & Stoup
Servings: 1

INGREDIENTS
80g peas
½ avocado
1 salad bowl worth of green leaves
2 inches cucumber
1 handful mangetout

⅓ pack of tofu
chicken stock

For homemade hummus type stuff we use fava beans hodmedods.co.uk/blogs/recipes/fava-bean-hummus-ful-nabed you are then in control of the fat and salt content.
Prepared veggie sticks to dip into it, or put a small portion into a bowl and snack away. Baby sweetcorn and sugar snap peas are more appealing to some if they have been blanched first.

We did the 10 a day things years ago and I'm sure the guidelines said that you could have two portions of beans/lentils. Rather than the one portion allowed with 5 a day.

I’ve had a nice little day/morning out with DS and completely forgot to go to the supermarket on the way home, so not much in the way of fruit in! And I only remembered at lunchtime that I was joining in here, but so far today I’ve had

Beans at breakfast

Lunch - courgette, peas, beetroot and yellow pepper all mixed with mint sauce

So that’s five.

We’re having a Chinese takeaway tonight so I won’t count anything in dinner! I’ll have some apple juice in a minute to make six and then an apple for 7, probably won’t hit ten today though.

postdated thanks. I will try fava bean houmous one time.

I made my houmous and again out of interest measured what a portion of chickpeas would be. It's a 5th of the total amount. I had it with veg sticks and it was pretty filling. I always think shop bought houmous is a dip or light snack whereas as homemade is a meal in its own right. I make mine with cumin seeds and paprika and lots of lemon juice.

Interesting about the 2 portions of beans and lentils counting on 10 a day. Kind of makes sense if one is classed as the 5 a day limit.

Thanks Cardiganofdoom these sound great. I love pea soup. I usually make the Deliciously Ella recipe with loads of mint and cannalleni beans, so that's two (peas and beans) depending on portion size. I'm not sure if mint counts?

I am on 9.5 so far.

Melon
Strawberries
Raspberries
Blueberries
Blackberries
Carrot
Tomatoes
Red pepper
Chickpeas (houmous)
Spinach (half portion)

I still have cauliflower and okra tonight in the curry. With smaller portions of peas and onion.

Great thread. I find it hard to get to 5 most days but definitely trying to improve.

Griddled peach with strawberries & raspberries (yoghurt & pistachios):3 varieties but only 2 portions
Baked beans, spinach (poached egg & toast):2
Chicken, avocado & mozzarella salad with cherry tomato dressing: again 3 varieties but only 2 portions.

Can I join this thread please? I'm trying to have 30 different fruit and veg each week.

Yesterday I managed beetroot, carrot, tomato, lettuce, sweetcorn, pineapple, strawberries, grapes, cucumber, sugarsnap peas, red pepper, sweet potato and rhubarb, so 13 in total. This was mainly due to having salad for dinner yesterday evening.

Today I've had carrot, sultanas, lettuce, rocket, tomatoes, beetroot, grapes, strawberries and spinach, so 9 in total but only 3 of them different from yesterday.

Overall total for this week is 34 different varieties, although may not have been a full portion for a few of them.

Starting again tomorrow!

I'll be building up slowly!

Today had cherries (lovely but had to be shared as everyone likes them!) And carrot sticks as snacks. (2 portions overall)

Mushrooms, onion and tomato with brunch. (1+ portion)
Green salad, tomatoes and celeriac with dinner. (1+ portion)

Blueberries and redcurrants (1 portion)

So I'd say I exceeded 5 which is very good for me anyway but it is easier when we've just had a shop and the summer fruits are in season!
To get higher I'll have to plan a bit more. And stop munching the other stuff..

Tiredandbored you will be lively and bored shortly with all that good stuff😉.

Your list reminded me that I have a red pepper awaiting it's fate in the fridge!

Mint sounds a good addition op. Herbs are usually pretty nutritious.

wilderness your grilled peach dish sounds amazing

I’m also thinking Veg & Fruit (rather than fruit & veg.) We say it the wrong way round, don’t we?
However we’ve lots of fruit that needs eating so bfast was berries with yoghurt, lunch pear & goats cheese salad, dinner paella.
Strawberries
Blackberries
Raspberries
Melon
Pear
Lettuce
Peas
Albeit I think my berries all in were 2 portions. I need to look at your portion guide breathmiller On a positive note I only had two cookies today rather than yesterday’s 5.

StayingVigilant your right it needs to be veg & fruit (although that trips off the tongue so awkwardly).

I get to do work with dieticians and they have been known to rant a bit the polite consensus is that two portions max should be fruit. Many sweet toothers just swap from pudding to fruit which is not a lot better for blood sugar levels and can be brutal on teeth.

I also happen to have eaten 4 redcurrant muffins, they were so loaded with fruit they were barely structurally integral, would be wrong to try and count them though or wouldn't it?

Should try and remember what I ate today

B - salmon, bulgar, yellow pepper, mushroom, good king henry (3)
L - pasta, tomato, marrow, red pepper, gherkin (can we count fermented veg ie gherkin and kimchi?) (3 or 4)
S - red currants (1)
D - mushy pea dip and carrot sticks (2)