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If you *do* manage 7+ portions of fruit and veg a day…

84 replies

CindersAgain · 24/05/2023 12:14

… would you mind sharing a day’s typical food for me?

I reckon I’m about 3-4 and am needing some inspiration.

OP posts:
luckylavender · 24/05/2023 13:11

5 or 6 in a nutri bullet for breakfast. Most nights some veg with dinner

NewShoesForSpring · 24/05/2023 13:14

Yesterday I had:

B: a banana on sesame rye crackers, small glass of fresh orange juice, coffee
L: grilled chicken salad wrap, strawberries
D: Chicken breast marinaded in lemon (zest & juice), olive oil, garlic and rosemary & cooked on the BBQ, with BBQ'd asparagus, red pepper, courgette, rosemary and garlic potato wedges and a green salad.
Raspberries

Today I am having:
B: banana on sesame rye crackers with coffee
L: large salad from the deli - chickpea with aubergine & spices, raw broccoli with mustard dressing and spiced roast cauliflower, with pickled red onion and pickled fennel on top
D: mushroom ravioli with tomato sauce, green salad and marinaded olives
Raspberries and strawberries

TiredOfCleaning · 24/05/2023 13:18

I am usually pretty on it. But it was not always the case. I have a formula I try and follow;

2 serves at breakfast
3 serves at lunch
3serves at dinner (or more)

Yesterday was a fairly good day;

B- cereal with strawberries, banana and sultanas (3 serves)
L- sandwich with lettuce; avocado; grated carrot and tomato (4 serves)
D- leftover vegetarian Indian which was a vegetarian curry (possibly 2-3 serves) and tarka dhal

So 10 serves about.

If I am a bit low I will sometimes have grapes and cheese as pudding to shovel another serve in.

Today will look like this;

B- cereal with banana and blackberries (2 serves)
L- spanish onion and potato tortilla with a pea, bean and lentil salad and half an avocado (4 serves)
D- spinach and ricotta tortellini with passata (2 serves)

Bluevelvetsofa · 24/05/2023 13:22

Frozen berries, apple, grapes with yogurt, honey and flaked almonds
Salad with tomatoes, cucumber, home made slaw, home made celery nut and sultana salad.
Stir fry with peppers, mushroom, bean sprouts, peas, etc

Caspianberg · 24/05/2023 13:22

Breakfast
granola with 2-3 fruits. Or toast with banana . Waffles with mixed berries or eggs with 2 veg on weekends.

Lunch
Rye bread with cheese/ cucumber/ beetroot/ radish or similar. or Veggie soup with bread. Usually fruit after

Dinner
Main meal, has 2-3 veg in usually. Ie tonight is chicken curry, with spinach, tomato, onions. Okra on side.

powerrangers · 24/05/2023 13:22

People are lacking knowledge of what counts as a portion. A salad that contains 5 different items isn't 5 portions. A whole pepper is 1 portion as is a whole large tomato and a 5-6cm log of cucumber. Most salads people have would constitutes the equivalent of 2 -2.5 portions eg a quarter of a pepper, a small tomato, some lettuce, half a grated carrot a tablespoon of sweetcorn.

A sprinkle of various berries on porridge will count as 1 portion not 3 just because there are 3 types of berries

Vege soup may have 4-5 different vege but the amount of vege consumed will equate to a couple of portions for a decent sized bowl.

People way overestimate the number of portions.

MyFaceIsAnAONB · 24/05/2023 13:23

Breakfast (half the time I skip):

Porridge - oats, blueberries, boiling water, serve with almond butter (4 plants one f&v)

lunch: salad - leaves, avocado, cucumber, tomato, Cornichons (don’t know if that counts as more cucumber?), olives, semidried tomatoes and mozzarella (again I guess that’s just more tomatoes). So that’s 5 veg there.

dinner: meat & 2 veg, jacket potato, stir fry, cherry etc. Could be 2 or could be another 5 veg.

Youre meant to have 30 plants a week which is easily doable for me.

MyFaceIsAnAONB · 24/05/2023 13:24

(With my lunch salad I’d add a protein too - tuna, boiled egg etc)

MyFaceIsAnAONB · 24/05/2023 13:24

Oh and my porridge has some chia seeds and less oats so that’s another plant.

JuneShitfield · 24/05/2023 13:29

Mixed berries (two or three kinds; usually strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries) with chopped banana and some yoghurt for breakfast. (I often have either some toast or some Scottish pancakes with this too.) Sometimes on a weekend I'll do smashed avo and poached eggs on toast, and have some sliced chilli and pan-fried mushrooms on the side. If I do that I generally have an apple a bit later.

I often have a small glass of cranberry juice with my breakfast. One juice a day counts, I think.

Salad leaves for lunch, I'll usually chop up something round — tomatoes, radishes, salad onions, a pepper or two — too add on top. I've got a bit of a thing for mild but flavourful chillies (like anchos or jalapeños) which I get dried, and soak/use in marinades. I grill a marinated chicken breast or have with some salmon or some grilled halloumi cheese. I often have a bit of some kind of grains with this — bulgar wheat, giant couscous (the wholewheat one they do in Waitrose is really nice) or normal couscous. If I've got any soaked chilli left over I'll slice it and have it on the grains. Sometimes I get some deli veggies — artichokes in oil, stuffed mini peppers, olives or corn relish — to go with as well.

Dinner — I usually bake some sweet potato wedges, and steam some vegetables. Broccoli, beans, sprouts, carrots, Have it with chicken breast or tuna steak. If I'm making steak-steak (i.e. beef) I'll do some mushrooms with it. I'm not vegan but I make some vegan food, there are a few vegetable curries or stir-fries that are basically a series of chopped vegetables in a nut-butter based sauce.

Catspyjamas17 · 24/05/2023 13:35

Breakfast: banana (1), lunch - celery sticks, cherry tomatoes and cucumber sticks (3) Snack: apple (1) Dinner: Say, piece of fish, potatoes, broccoli and peas (2)

Seven portions of fruit and veg.

Catspyjamas17 · 24/05/2023 13:36

That's not all I eat by the way(!) Though on days I am in the office I have a banana and coffee for breakfast.

powerrangers · 24/05/2023 13:45

TheFlis12345 · 24/05/2023 12:30

Portions are actually much smaller than you might think, for most cooked veg it’s 3 tablespoons (even less for raw), one medium tomato is a portion, so is 5cm of cucumber. A decent salad should cover at least 4 portions.

Most single serve salads won't include a whole tomato, a 5cm length of cucumber, enough leaves to count as a portion a whole pepper and 3 tablespoons of sweetcorn or similar.

They will usually be leaves, a tomato, a few slices of cucumber, 1 tablespoon of corn or similar and a quarter of a pepper. That's not 4 portions. It's 3 at best.

Catspyjamas17 · 24/05/2023 13:48

If you make salads yourself they can easily contain 4 portions.

But having veg sticks with a sandwich is often an easier way to have veg. I can't always be bothered with lettuce and all the chopping for a salad.

Aquamarine1029 · 24/05/2023 13:49

I like to have a smoothie in the morning. You can cram a lot of fruit and veg in one.

Catspyjamas17 · 24/05/2023 13:50

I have also in the past recorded everything on Nutracheck, and sometimes do now just to check nutrition. It counts the fruit/veg portions for you so I know mine is accurate.

Catspyjamas17 · 24/05/2023 13:51

I find I get a sugar rush and headache from smoothies, even home made. It's much better to eat fruit and veg separately and also have the fibre from skins etc.

Codlingmoths · 24/05/2023 14:04

office days I take say an apple and a tub of carrot sticks, and. A slice of spinach and kale pie which might be 2 based on that nhs thing. So that’s 4. And if it’s a healthy dinner plus fruit then that will be 3.
But today I had an orange, some oats, then pasta with veg sauce - onion capsicum mushroom olives tinned tomato, so I guess that’s 2 serves. A glass of orange juice which seems to count as 1, so that’s a whole 4 and half of it is oranges. Then lots of tea and coffee and a glass of wine. Not perfect!! I didn’t eat the apple I took to work.

TheFlis12345 · 24/05/2023 14:06

powerrangers · 24/05/2023 13:45

Most single serve salads won't include a whole tomato, a 5cm length of cucumber, enough leaves to count as a portion a whole pepper and 3 tablespoons of sweetcorn or similar.

They will usually be leaves, a tomato, a few slices of cucumber, 1 tablespoon of corn or similar and a quarter of a pepper. That's not 4 portions. It's 3 at best.

I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t include a whole tomato in a salad?!?

I have just calculated the salad I had for lunch (lettuce / spinach / cucumber/ cherry tomatoes / sweetcorn / red pepper / spring onions/ sugar snap peas and chicken) and it came to 5!

CindersAgain · 24/05/2023 14:46

restisall · 24/05/2023 14:23

Definitely don’t manage this everyday but just had this soup for lunch which has 7 or 8 alone!

Actual portions though do you think? Wouldn’t it be massive?

(Oh but maybe a massive soup is the alternative to a massive salad. 😜)

OP posts:
TinaTotal · 24/05/2023 14:48

Breakfast:
Porridge with berries/grapes/mangoes and a glass of pomegranate juice. I'll say 3 portions for that as had quite a lot of fruit. Might be 4 but don't want to over estimate.

Lunch: salad with smoked mackerel and avocado. Another 3 portions. At least.

Dinner will be chicken and broccoli with brown rice. Lots of broccoli, onions and maybe a pepper so that will be 2-3 portions.

And I'll probably have an orange this afternoon after the school run.

So 9 or 10 portions I reckon.

Dinopawus · 24/05/2023 14:51

I don't eat breakfast and try to have carbs for just one meal a day which sort of makes me increase my veg intake.

I aim for 3 portions of veg at dinner at 2-3 portions of fruit & veg for lunch. For work I take tomatoes, carrots or mini sweetcorn along with the usual apple & satsuma as they are portable.

I also try to eat citrus and non-citrus fruits and a rainbow of veg; so try to get in red, green, orange or yellow and purple coloured veg.

ZestFest · 24/05/2023 14:56

Porridge with blueberries -1 portion
Apple and carrot sticks - 2 portions
Lentil/ tomato and pepper/ veg soup -1 portion
Cucumber/cherry toms/ hummus - 2 portions
Veg curry/ lasagne/ chilli/ casserole/ pie etc - 3 portions
Banana and nuts or avocado and crackers 1 portion

That's a very easy 10 portions a day.

Lcb123 · 24/05/2023 15:12

I usually have: breakfast - 80g frozen berries with plain yoghurt and muesli
Lunch: leftovers from dinner, or soup, or mushrooms on toast, or bagel. With carrot and celery sticks on side, and apple and kiwi
Snack: banana or tinned pineapple
Dinner: always has at least 2 portions veg. tonight, vegetarian massaman curry with potatoes, peppers, green beans, and tofu

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