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?

Feeling better, thanks.

Yesterday, i didn't count because it was my birthday but I think I might have made it because my (very)Dh made me a beautiful table of salads. It was amazing. We had all my children and their partners and it was a real winner with everyone.

Lots of leftovers today so it's been an easy day today..

1. Prune/apple juice
2. Green beans
3. Pomegranate/spinach
4. Tomatoes
5. Houmous
6. Lettuce/cabbage/cucumber/spring onion/beansprouts
7. Grapes/fig
8. Raspberries
9. Sweet potato

10. Carrots 11. Beetroot 12. Peppers/olives

That sounds wonderful Breathmiller.

Quick list to remind myself of today:
1 Beetroot-roasted
2 Plums
3 Carrot sticks
4 Cannellini bean/ veg stew
5 Spinach, lettuce, tomato
6 Broccoli

Had zero at lunch! After the beets for breakfast too. 🤦

Glad to hear you're feeling improved @Breathmiller. What a very lovely DH indeed and happy birthday for yesterday. Sharing food with people you love is one of my absolute favourite things to do.

I forgot to mention my gratitude to the poster earlier in the thread who recommended eating kiwi, skin on. To help with regularity. I've had one pretty much every day since and now consider them medicinal 😂

@TheNarwhalBalloon - I agree eating away from home can be much harder!

Solid 7 again yesterday
Kiwi (1)
Mango (1)
Tomatoes (1)
Avocado (1)
Cabbage (1)
Aubergine (1)
Carrot (1)

Today was a good day with 9
Dates/banana smoothie (1)
Kiwi (1)
Tomatoes/leek/Swiss chard/Sweetcorn (3)
Apple (1)
Broccoli (1)
Sweet potato (1)
Cabbage (1)

1. Prune juice
2. Dates
3. Raspberries
4. Green beans/beetroot
5. Carrots
6. Houmous
7. Cabbage/beansprouts/peppers/lettuce/cucumber
8. Sweet potato/spinach/red onion
9. Mushrooms

Not sure the wheat thing is proving a good idea which is a bit depressing because a lot of the thingsare so tasty. But I'm still trying to get my veg intake up.

@Breathmiller that sounds tough (and maybe worse if you've had some recently and tasted the difference?)
Have you ever experimented with spelt flour? I've known a few people who can tolerate spelt but not gluten from other sources. Maybe your lovely DH could experiment with some spelt bread baking 😉

Yesterday was a good 9 for me

Raspberries (1)
Blueberries (1)
Kiwi (1)
Tomato/red pepper/lentil soup (2)
Runner beans (1)
Carrots (1)
Peas (1)
Broccoli (1)

It sounds frustrating Breathmiller.

I completely lost the plot yesterday.
Ate bread upon bread and ended up feeling horrible exhaustion (that had been receding recently.)
I'm having to face up to moving it to the occasional category of food.
My f and v was:
1 Carrot
2 Plums
3 Peas, onion, mushroom

I'll just remember the most improvement in health is seen moving from 0 portions to 2/3!
Well done to everyone keeping up their momentum.

Only 2 yesterday 😳!

Bit better today:

1. Apple
2. Satsuma
3. Tomato
4. Patty pan squash
5. Blackberries

It’s a shame about the wheat Breathmiller, and a belated happy birthday.

Thanks wilderness

Today I had...

1. Prune juice
2. Dates
3. Fig
4. Carrot
5. Houmous
6. Celery
7. Spiced butternut squash soup
8. Mushrooms
9. Spinach

10. Peppers/peas

A good day. Not much stuff other than that really. I just need to go to bed before the biscuits call me

Especially in colder weather, thick soups - not puréed - are ideal for including a lot of different veg. A typical one of mine will include onion, red lentils, maybe pearl barley too, always celery for flavour, plus whatever root veg I have - potato, carrot, swede, celeriac, turnip - maybe all of these, all chopped fairly small.

Green veg go in just for the last few minutes - any or all of cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, sprouts, etc. And parsley if I have any. I use chicken or veg stock cubes, or home made chicken stock from a carcass when I have any.

Mine will typically contain around 10 or 11 plant items. We have it as a main meal (it’s always very substantial) with grated cheese on top.

That sounds so good right now on a decidedly autumnal day here.

I love soup through the colder weather, in fact I love it all year round but particularly when its cold. It just feels so nourishing. We call it 'goodness in a bowl'

I make a pot of soup that has been adapated from my granny's recipe that she had almost daily.

A pot o' kale -
Onions, leeks, carrots, potatoes, turnip, kale or savoy cabbage(the darker the better).
My granny used to put a bit of 'bully' beef (boiling beef) in it for flavour that they would have afterwards with potatoes, turnip and cabbage. So basically the same as the soup . She used to also add pearl barley. I just do it with veg these days but we all love it.

I also love a spoonful of mustard in my soup. Makes it warm.

I know this will probably sound daft, but would anybody be kind enough to talk me through soup making technique? I don't know if you have to fry the onions first, if you put the veg in at different times, etc. These sound delicious but I wouldn't be confident in getting them right.

Narwhal I think it depends on the veg, so if I make a carrot & lentil soup, the carrot, onion and lentil all goes in at the same time. However if you were adding kale, you might want to put it in nearer the end. I generally follow a recipe.

1. & 2. Homemade blackberry and apple compote
2. Grilled tomato
3. Apple
4. & 6. Curry with sweet potato, peas (also chopped tomatoes but I’ve already included tomatoes above.

Yesterdays offerings

1. Prune juice
2. Dates
3. Fig
4. Spinach
5. Tomatoes
6. Apple
7. Red pepper
8. Cabbage
9. Carrots

10. Peas

narwhal my general rule is onions/garlic/any spices first to get the onions soft and the flavours out. Then roughly in order of how long they take to cook. So, potatoes take longer than carrots or kale for instance. But it's not an exact science.

Especially with a whizzed soup, just onions, then other veg, xook for ages until everything is soft then blitz.

The pot o 'kale up above I would out in as I was chopping them .
Onions and leeks. Then potatoes and turnip. Then carrots an stock. Then finally kale or cabbage. But it doesn't really matter too much as its one of these soups that taste better and better the longer it has been cooking.

There's a saying that you know you're Scottish when yer ma has a pot of broth on the stove to do the week.

Oh, and if you're adding lentils or pearl barley or any kind of broth mix the soup as a whole generally will need cooked longer.

Some soups I follow a recipe, like pea, cannelini bean and mint soup or the lentil, spinach and lemon but mostly it's a chuck it all in and let it cook. Dh makes a delicious mushroom soup too.

Maybe we should have a soup of the week recipe post. 🙂

Just so people see it's not always the best veg day ever, yesterday I got the grand total of...

Drumroll.....

Wait for it.....

1. Prune juice

🎊🎉🎊🎉

I did have a couple of veggie samosas from Aldi and two teeny tiny bits of sushi with a minute piece of pepper in but I'm not sure we can count the actual veg in any of that.

Hey ho. Fridays are never my best (understatement of the year)

Hoping for better today.

Ok so doing this challenge has made me realise I don't ear anywhere near as much fruit and veg as I thought I did 😱 yesterday I thought was pretty good but I barely scraped 5.

Breakfast. . Shreddies and banana (1)

Snack....coffee and cake at a coffee morning 🤭

Lunch vegan chickpea and cauliflower pasty not sure if this counts but it was a posh type one and I could see the veg! Plus an apple (2)

Dinner....slow cooker chilli with onion, soffrito mix, peppers, kidney beans and I had cauliflower rice with mine so maybe 2-3 portions

So for the day that's scraping 5 portions maybe?

Today I'm debating a mini cooked breakfast of mushrooms and spinach with poached eggs.

Lunch will be left over chilli from last night

Dinner is m and s Thai takeaway box. So not really any veg there.

How does everyone incorporate more fruit and veg into their days?

I find it very easy to have a day like Breathmiller's Friday and a good normal day would be like yours WeedsorWishes.

My very best days have involved a big salad with lots prepared in the fridge and a pulse dish. (And I still seem to only get to 8 or 9 as I simply do not eat the volume of food that I used to.)

I don't like cauli rice but I do swap pasta and rice for roast courgette or beetroot. Again I make a couple of portions of those and will happily eat them the next day. Leftovers for breakfast is usually a success tbh. I like veg with some feta or goats cheese on top and a few berries!

When my other half or older DC cooks breakfast on weekends I get it without the sandwich bread and with green leaves nowadays. There's a mushroom, onion, tomato mix in there too.

I need to not only buy the veg but commit to preparing it so that it's there before I start thinking about eating. Otherwise I WILL go for the snacky stuff my family have in or my classic toast or cheese and cracker. I often put carrots on the counter now in the morning so I remember to chop them later.

(I'll never give up cake by the way😉)

And I can't remember what the hell I ate yesterday. It's a blur!🤦

I find my best days are when I'm working and take healthy stuff with me. I also find getting things in as early as possible is better.

So, I'll often have juice ( bought prune juice at the moment is my favourite or a fresh gingershot made with an apple) , some dates and a fresh piece of fruit like a fig or passionfruit in sone soya yoghurt for breakfast. That's 3 in already. I don't like a big breakfast as I don't want to be bloated for work but I need a bit of energy. (I'm a yoga teacher)

Then if I take a lunch that has a bowl of spinach, half a pepper cut up, a carrot cut into sticks with either home made or shop bought houmous, there's another 4.

Means I only have to add 3 at dinnertime. Or another piece of fruit at some point and 2 at dinner.

Houmous and celery or carrot sticks really help me. Olives as a snack. (Although I find 30 too much calorie wise).

Half baked tomatoes are good as a snack or with my salad.

One of my favourite snacks at the moment is an apple dipped in a peanut butter that aldi are doing just now with cinnamon and acai or something in. It's honestly the most delicious sweet treat.

Soups are warming and filling even if they are only one portion if blitzed.

Just reiterating in case that all sounds smug that, that's a very good day. See yesterday for an example of a particularly bad Friday. I usually don't do very well but yesterday was particularly bad

Okay it went:

1 Carrot
2 Red Pepper
3 Blueberries
4 Onion, spinach and tbh I doubt that made a full portion.

Too many distractions.🤷 It could have been worse.

That's a good haul on a quiet veg day.

1. Sultanas
2. Prune juice
3. Olives
4. Carrots
5. Salad leaves/peppers/spring onion
6. Tomatoes

Better than I thought.

We had more time today so:

1 mushroom, spinach
2 apple
3 hummus, chickpea, tomato
4 coleslaw, lettuce, garden herbs
5 Carrot
6 onion
7 pak choi
8 cherries

I kept adding spinach leaf to meals😄 it still only reached a half portion I guesstimate!

We certainly ate a rainbow and very nice it all was too. Good luck to all.🌈

So, not too bad today:

Breakfast 2.5: asparagus, tomatoes, orange juice
Dinner: 2.5: cabbage, peas, carrots

I’m not counting the raisins in the pain aux raisins or the pumpkin in the pumpkin cinnamon roll I had today 😂! They were both amazing.