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AIBU?

in counting sweetcorn as one of their five a day?

48 replies

ChilliJo · 26/04/2013 17:43

So sweetcorn, lovely sweetcorn. So easy to add to a kid's meal to increase the veg quota... But really, should it be included? Does it provide any goodness? We all know it comes out the other end the same way it went in. Does any of its nutrients get absorbed? Can I legitimately count it as a veg portion?

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ChocsAwayInMyGob · 27/04/2013 11:51

It IS a vegetable. It IS one of your 5 a day. The outer bit is just the skin ans it kind of cleans your colon as it moves through and takes some of the crap away with it (literally). lentils are also one of your 5 a day. They are a type of bean or pea (legumes).

I find it very hard to get 5 a day down my two DCs. However I find that if I cook loads of veg together and puree it, you can add it to anything you give them i.e spag bol, pasta sauce, shepherd pie. I also add drained baked beans to shepherds pie too.

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ilovepowerhoop · 27/04/2013 12:02

sweetcorn does count as well as pulses and beans. This pdf gives portion sizes for fruits/veg/pulses/beans that count as your 5 a day

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WilsonFrickett · 27/04/2013 12:14

YY. Taking food to the table in any form counts as one of the 5. or else I'd have been taken away by SS by now

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MissFredi · 27/04/2013 12:22

Oh sweetcorn. A saviour of my kitchen. My DP is as anti-veg as a toddler, but you stick sweetcorn in something and he inhales it. So I count it as one of our five a day and try and hide other stuff in his mash or in pies. I once hid cauliflower cheese under mash on a roast dinner, thinking he would mistake it for cheesy mash. This did not go to plan

I feel like we should all spare a thought for sweetcorn. It really is the hero of the vegetable world in my eyes.

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SelfconfessedSpoonyFucker · 27/04/2013 16:26

WTF NHS?! "Smoothies only count as two of your F&V regardless of how much you drink" ???

That is patently stupid.

Now I agree that nutritionally the nutritional quality of smoothies varies wildly, but a good one should count exactly like the fruit/vegetable it was before you blended it.

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StanleyLambchop · 27/04/2013 16:40

What about Mushrooms? Do they count? They are not strictly speaking vegetables.

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ilovepowerhoop · 27/04/2013 16:42

it only got changed from a maximum of 1 portion to 2 portions a few years ago. You can only count fruit juice as 1 portion no matter how much you drink and for a smoothie to count as 2 portions it needs at least 80g of the edible pulped fruit/veg plus at least 150mls of pure fruit juice

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ilovepowerhoop · 27/04/2013 16:43

yes mushroom count too

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Jux · 27/04/2013 16:44

I have a feeling that, technically, it's a fruit though. Like tomatoes.

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ilovepowerhoop · 27/04/2013 16:44

from the above linked pdf:

Mushrooms: button - 14 button or 3 handfuls of slices, 3-4 heaped tablespoons

Mushrooms: dried - 2 tablespoons or handful porcini

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ilovepowerhoop · 27/04/2013 16:45

it cant be a fruit as it doesnt have seeds inside it (it is under the veg section on the list)

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ilovepowerhoop · 27/04/2013 16:47

or maybe I'm oversimplifying things

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CiderwithBuda · 27/04/2013 16:48

Tomato ketchup counts in this house!

He is 11 and almost as tall as me and doing well at school and never really ill other than the odd cold. So the fact he only eats tomato ketchup, sweetcorn and cucumber is obv not doing him too much harm. He eats the odd apple or orange too.

I do blitz onions, carrots and celery in the food processor and add to bolognaise, shepherds pie etc.

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MammaTJ · 27/04/2013 16:50

You have no idea how many times I have nearly started this exact thread.

I really do wonder if it has any nutritional value as it comes out exactly as it went in.

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elfycat · 27/04/2013 16:51

I think non-eaten veg can only count as half a portion, so if they reject sweetcorn and carrot that's still one veg portion in - so to speak.

They've had the essence of the veg you see I'm a woo practitioner, think back flower remedy. You don't consume the plant, you have the energy of it

But yes on the 'medicine sweety' vitamins.

Anyone know what quinoa comes under? Probably a grain.

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raspberryroop · 27/04/2013 16:56

A bit of butter or other oils can actually help with the absorption of some vitamins.

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TondelayoSchwarzkopf · 27/04/2013 16:59

Five a day is recommend not just for nutrients but because the fibre helps carry waste from one end of the body to the other. So yes, sweetcorn does count.

Another reason you should eat five a day (and not drink them) is because the act of slowly eating and digesting a bulky piece of fibre is good for you and fills you up and trains your body to know when it is full. That is why counting juice and smoothies (essentially liquid and sugar with a few token vitamins) is a joke IMO and because of manufacturing pressure.

We can laugh at the US for counting pizza as a vegetable after corporate pressure but Innocent over here aggressively lobby to get their overpriced crap smoothies counted as 5 a day so they can market it to the gullible.

Also my GP told me that 5 a day should be an absolute minimum and not a target. She said really it should be eight servings a day (for adults)

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TondelayoSchwarzkopf · 27/04/2013 17:03

BTW I am talking mostly about adults eating 5 a day. Kids need fat, carbs and protein and you only encourage them to eat the veg to train them for later on If DS eats 4 peas with a fruitshoot I consider my job done.

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AmandinePoulain · 27/04/2013 18:56

I was surprised to discover that pearls barley counts, I always considered it to be a grain, but on the packet it says that it counts

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EuroShaggleton · 27/04/2013 20:13

5 a day is made up bullshit anyway.

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PoppyWearer · 27/04/2013 20:28

Given that my DD often spurns all other food on her plate and only eats the sweet corn, it definitely counts.

Smoothies are supposedly bad for teeth. Dentist has banned us from having them. Sorry all.

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PinkMangoSays · 28/04/2013 13:04

fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/384496_573903595973310_804238592_n.jpg

This picture from Green Giant is supposedly what each portion of veg is

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PinkMangoSays · 28/04/2013 13:05

fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/384496_573903595973310_804238592_n.jpg

This picture from Green Giant is supposedly what each portion of veg is

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