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.

I don't often reach it, but today:

Avocado(1) on toast for breakfast
Apple(2) for snack.
Spinach (3 not sure if salad leaves count though), falafel (4 chickpeas), cucumber (5) salad for lunch, a very few olives.
Tomatoes (6) and gherkins (7) with jacket spud (don't think this counts either).
So 6/7 today.

Usually breakfast is porridge and fruit/ or a few raisins or a few nuts.
Salad for lunch with rye bread crisp things.
Dinner usually has 2-3 veg and either vegetarian or something with meat.

I think I do it fairly no fuss today I had -

Handfull of raspberries with wheatabix

Cake for morning snack ( doesn’t count 😂)

Tomato and cheese sandwich with a whole carrots worth of carrot sticks on the side. I ate some of the carrot before lunch.

banana and handful of grapes in the afternoon

Peas and sweat corn with fish and chips for dinner

I think that’s 7.

A handful is what I use as a guide. I'm only 5 ft and weigh nearly 13 stone and I find it a hard ask to get 'proper portion' sizes in without eating away all day like a horse with a nosebag.

It probably depends on what sort of fruit and veg you like and how you cook but I always think the portion sizes are quite small.

The NHS site suggests 1 5cm slice of melon is a portion - I would usually eat 3-4. Similarly 7 strawberries doesn't seem like a lot to me.

2 spears of broccoli isn't much - I would roast a whole head of broccoli and eat most of it in one go on a salad or in a frittata. 3 tablespoons of peas is not that much if it's in a curry or soup but would be a lot on the side of meat I guess

@Grumpyfroghats I've been trying to determine melon portion sizes today. I had a 'melon medley' pot with a meal deal from sainsburys today. The serving size was 160g, which of anything else would be 2 portions, but the front of the pack says 1 of your 5 a day. All the info I found says 1 slice of melon but no one wants to commit to grams 🤣

Yesterday Breakfast porridge oats soaked overnight in milk and (1) blueberries Lunch (2) mashed avocado (3) baby tomatoes Tea pasta with (4) onions (5) carrots (6) tomatoes (7) red pepper (8) fennel

Today (pretty typical day)

B: Spoonful of low sugar granola (almonds, oats) with yoghurt and a big pile of blueberries (at least 80g which is a portion)
Small glass of carrot and ginger juice. (2 portions)

L: medium avocado on seedy wholemeal with cherry tomatoes; an orange and a small bunch of grapes (3 portions)

D: will be spring vegetable flan with broad beans, spinach, leeks and asparagus, salad on the side with cucumber, leaves and radishes (another 3-4 portions)

Total 8-9 portions approx.

Usually 80g is a portion. Salad leaves barely count but if you add radishes and cucumber it bulks them out to a full portion of veg.

Breakfast - Smoothie with banana, berries, protein powder

Lunch - Large salad with protein and bread eg chopped tomato, large chunk of cucumber, half a pepper, red onion etc.

Snack - Carrot and hummus

Dinner - Protein, 2 vegetables, carbs.

Yes, I made a big chili yesterday with over a kilo of chopped tomatoes, a whole onion and kidney beans but portioned up I think it’d only be worth 1.5 of five a day as the onion and kidney beans in each portion weren’t enough to count as a whole serving of 5 a day, even combined. I had it with a sweet potato though and a whole avocado so about 3.5 - not bad for a meal.

But I think the guidelines need to make it clearer that there’s no point in eating more than the required amount of one thing. And also that a bit of salad in a sandwich is not going to be a serving even - although I think some do wrongly go “This sandwich has lettuce and tomato - two of my five a day.” Mind you, I haven’t checked the guidelines for some time!