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

[CindersAgain]

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

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

@TheFlis12345 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!
I'm not questioning a whole tomato. I am just pointing out that you would need a whole tomato. A whole 5-6cm length of cucumber, 3 tablespoons of sweetcorn, a whole red pepper and a big bunch of leaves to be 5 portions. So if you only have a quarter of a red pepper but also have some sugar snap that's maybe equal to 1 portion. Unless you have loads of sugar snaps. But then the quarter pepper is still not a whole portion iyswim. And 5-6cm of cucumber is a LOT of slices for a salad. If you are having that much cucumber AND a whole tomato AND a whole pepper AND 3 whole tablespoons of corn AND leaves then it's a flipping huge salad and much bigger than most people would be eating.

Most people would have a small bowl with some leaves, a tomatoes, a quarter pepper, 1 tablespoon of sweetcorn and 6 thin slices of cucumber and that's only going to be about 2.5 portions

That's 7 or 8 different vegetables. Not 7 or 8 PORTIONS of vegetables.

Put it this way. One banana or 1 apple is one portion. Do you honestly think you ate the equivalent of 7-8 bananas in quantity of vegetables? Of course you didn't. You ate 7-8 different vegetables. But not 7-8 portions.

Science shows that diversity of your plant intake is important too.

That soup is probably two portions - the ingredients are like one carrot between 4 people.

I'm not sure my intake of fruit and veg is particularly diverse. Much of it comes from the same eight or so: cucumber, tomatoes, celery, apples, pears, broccoli, cabbage, and bananas. But I don't have endless funds or time for shopping.

Yes. Eat a rainbow. But that is a different conversation. This one is about portions.

I have fruit with breakfast, a couple of veg with lunch and 4 or so veg at dinner (or fewer veg but fruit for pud). I don’t know whether I get reasonable portions of each but I try to make sure we have a variety!

Easy ways to get the fruit and veg in are:

Smoothies/juice in the morning or breakfast to include fruit or veg such as porridge with berries or mushrooms on toast.

Salad or vegetable soup at lunch, or sandwich with lots of lettuce/cucumber/tomatoes etc in it. Piece of fruit on the side.

Dinners I find the easiest way of getting veg in, particularly if cooking something like a chilli or curry. Remember that sweet potato and pulses also count.

I often make a huge batch of sauce by roasting any veg that needs using up with herbs and spices then blending with tinned tomatoes. Onions, courgettes, aubergines, peppers, carrots and butternut squash all work well for this. I then portion and freeze it and use that in any place I'd use a tin of tomatoes. It makes a good pasta sauce or base for a lasagne etc. It started when I was trying to sneak more vegetables into fussy DDs but I've kept the habit up as it's a good way of getting extra vegetables into us easily.

If I have a salad it's a MN huge one
Usually a full bag (80g) salad leaves, 1/4 cucumber, maybe 10-15 cherry tomatoes, some gherkins, pickled red onions, half a tin of sweetcorn, a full avocado...
great for if you're hungry but want to keep calories down

Most people would have a small bowl with some leaves, a tomatoes, a quarter pepper, 1 tablespoon of sweetcorn and 6 thin slices of cucumber and that's only going to be about 2.5 portions

But that's not going to fill anyone up surely?

I'd go with 2 handfuls of leaves, 6 cherry tomatoes, 2 inches of cucumber cut into chunks, not delicate slices, half a cup of soya beans or chick peas, half a pepper, some sort of onion and a couple of beetroot or half an avocado + whatever protein is available. That's at least 4 portions. Add in a portion of fruit plus another 2 - 3 portions with other meals or as snacks and you are going to hit 7 or 8.

Yes, that's a good salad!

Fruit - make unsweetened stewed fruit and freeze portions to top porridge or yoghurt.
if having fruit and yoghurt, have a whole banana and big cup of berries with yoghurt on top rather than the yoghurt being the main thing.
have grapes or apples for snacking

Main courses you can always have extra steamed veg on the side whatever the meal.
Or have say ratatouille or a big stir fry of vegetables.

So basically put your fruit/veg portions on the plate first rather than thinking of them as toppings or sides.

I've had 7 or 8 so far today with dinner still to go - strawberries with my porridge, a plum and a satsuma as a snack (not sure if they are 1 portion each or one between them) and 5 portions in my salad (I weighed it as I put it together to get an idea and there was 400g in total) - salad leaves, tomatoes, cucumber and roasted peppers, butternut squash and aubergine. Dinner will be leftovers with probably 2 portions of veg included depending on which leftovers I choose. I find I get a lot more veg when I am having salad for lunch then when I am having soup as that will only ever be 1 portion.

Breakfast - muesli with Greek yogurt and frozen berries or banana.
Snack - apple/satsuma
Lunch - some kind of salad salad with spinach, tomato, avocado, cucumber etc. Or a sandwich with Houmous/goats cheese/salmon plus spinach, tomatoes, cucumber, peppers etc.
Dinner - main thing with at least 2-3 veg.

Well that’s me told!

It’s actually a little difficult to get the required portion (80g usually) of 7, I find. I made a salad earlier in a big bowl and the 50g of salad leaves I started with was a massive heap. I constantly have smaller portions than 80g, though. For kids or indeed adults, 2 full portions of fruit with breakfast, something like beans on toast or a salad for lunch for one or two whole portions (a salad has more smaller portions too of course), 2 full portions of veg with dinner is an easy rule of thumb to adapt I find.

A better guide to use is a handful, so a single Apple, orange or banana or a fistful of leaves or peas. 80g of lettuce would be an absolute mountain.

It doesn’t matter how much salad o have I wouldn’t find it filling. Anyway Nutracheck is saying I had 12 portions yesterday. I had 2 hard boiled eggs and about 8 cherry tomatoes for breakfast. For lunch I had leftover turkey chilli made with extra veg grated in. Had this with green beans, broccoli and edamame beans with some brown rice. For snacks I had an apple and orange and 35g of nuts. Dinner was a vegetable and chicken dish with more green veg on the side… peas etc. I’m aiming for a lot of variety so would say I had at least 10 varieties of vegetable although certainly not all full portions.

I tend to do porridge and fruit for breakfast, so I add blueberries, raspberries and strawberries as I'm cooking it. Then add a banana on top. I'd say that's probably 2 servings of fruit there if you go off the weight the fruit is supposed to be to count as a ssrving.

Then for lunch I'll have a salad with tomatoes, spinach, cucumber, peppers, radishes, spring onions, some beetroot, celery and maybe some chicken and houmous. So I'd say that's another 2/3 servings there.

Then for dinner it could be sweet potato, with some sort of stew encompassing courgettes, aubergine, onion, carrots, more peppers, chilli's, spices, tinned tomatoes and some meat/fish. So probably another 2 servings there.

Then as a snack, a couple of satsumas/apple.

Berries or a banana with my breakfast
a large carrot / 2 small ones, a couple of sticks of celery and a chunk of cucumber for my morning snack
an apple mid afternoon and sometimes a banana if I haven’t had one in the morning
salad / veg in lunch and dinner

80g is a portion. When I’ve weighed out the quantities I usually hit 7-10 a day

Today I ate:

An aubergine salad with tabbouleh and hummus - 3 portions of veg

A mango

Dinner will be courgette and asparagus frittata (2 portions)

Strawberries and raspberries for pudding

I make that about 7-8

Currently cooking dinner which includes brussels sprouts, carrots, broccoli and kale. Hungry, so have nibbled on cherry tomatoes, cucumber and radishes while I'm waiting 😳
Had a banana earlier and will probably have an apple after dinner.
Lunch was tuna and salad.
I find it easy, but grateful not to have to worry too much about the cost.

Swapping white spuds for sweet potatoes is an easy way to up your intake isn’t it. Eg sweet potato wedges instead of white ones with burgers or chili. I like them as a sweet pot jacket with beans and cheese/tuna mayo with onion too for lunch.

Just had a massive Niçoise salad with tuna, sliced new potatoes, green beans and two boiled eggs. Lots of Parmesan shavings too. Stuffed after it with a nice buttery baguette on the side too. I know what you mean though - I need to pad out my salads with protein, carbs and cheese - and a lovely dressing - for them to be really enjoyable and filling.

I normally fit in about 13-15 or so plants a day which includes beans, nuts etc, around 10 of which are fruit and veg. Today was less than that but still not bad.

Breakast: Banana, walnut and cinnamon porridge

Snack: Guacamole and tortillas

Lunch: (Salad) lettuce, spring onions, bulgar wheat, black beans, pinto beans, sweetcorn, red pepper, avocado, tomatoes, salsa, natural yogurt, lime

Dinner: sausage pasta which had onion in (I usually have something with lots of veg in)

I do typical day would be

Breakfast
Half avocado, tomato, mushrooms on toast
Or fruit (berries etc) with yoghurt
(2 or 3 portions)

Lunch
Tray bake of veg like Aubergine, Cougette, squash etc on spinach with feta and yoghurt
(usually 4-5 portions)

Dinner
Curry with 3x veg in it, or some sort of spiced chicken with veg and rice. Always have at least 3 portions with dinner

I don't tend to snack.