To shout is loud from the rooftops, potatoes do could as one of your 5 a day

[Margiemar]

In the report they decided to say they didn't purely because they thought some people would eat chips and crisps and think they are healthy.

A baked or boiled potato contains many vitamins and minerals and so is really part of your 5 a day

Yay

Is this a UK thing that people don't count potatoes as vegetables?

Why are people on MN obsessed with "shouting" everything?

Oh good! i do hate being bullshat. Nothing erodes trust like a good dose of pure bullshit for your 'own good'.

No, NHS guidance says they don't count, no matter how they're prepared: www.nhs.uk/Livewell/5ADAY/Pages/Whatcounts.aspx

But potatoes are vegetables

Yes the NHS says that as they follow the same advice from the government report.

The NHS are useless at health stuff, they are still promoting low fat diets a d aritfical sweeteners.

Hang on, the nhs are basing this on the way meals are usually eaten.....as in, it's in place of bread so now it's not a veg!? But because a parsnip is not in place of a carb that slips under the net.

Watch out, cauliflower and spiralised courgette: you're next to be demoted from vegetable status.

Roast potatoes are properly healthy, right?

If we all relocated to Australia, the humble potato would count as a serving.

Australia 7 a day

Do you have a link to the original report?

Someone is going to point out that potatoes are carbs and therefore the work of the devil! Ignore and enjoy your lovely tatties

Fine, but it's meant to be more like 7or 8 a day, but NHS thought people wouldn't be arsed in Britain...

Well the French say 10 a day

Woohoo! I love potatoes in all forms. I'm proper happy I can count them too

Yy, W00t. They decided 5 was the maximum number they could reasonably encourage Brits (and Kiwis) to consume. Which points out how rubbish the whole campaign is, but I suppose a numbered target is easier to push than simply "eat loads of fruit and veg".

Mumsnet's obsession with what counts as your 5 a day is one of my favourite things about it.

Thanks OP

From a marketing POV, it is a great campaign. People like certainty & clear goals - 'eat loads of fruit & veg' is much too vague - wouldn't have made anything like the impact.

5 felt like a good number for the UK to aim for. And it stuck. Good job all round. Hopefully we can become a bit more ambitious in time.

I don't really give a f* whether potatoes 'count' or not. They are a nutritious food. But then I'm Irish, so I would say that.

I wouldn't listen to anything the NHS has to say about eating healthily, tbh.

Yes the report did say 7 a day but they decided not to push for this as its unachievable for most.

Is it uk wide? I once heard a comedian joke about Scotland and one a day and assumed this was a joke, but a Scottish guy at work spoke of having a single vegetable a day in all seriousness.

I guess they excluded the potatoes because some people would think their 5 a day is fulfilled by one large daily serving of chips.

Which kind of defeats the point of the 5 a day campaign.

the report did say 7 a day but they decided not to push for this as its unachievable for most.
So they settled on 5 as most people either were or would meet it?

It's a joke really.
Guidelines sidelines.

If you were really health conscious you would be eating more than 5 a day. 5 a day is bare minimum.

Potatos are carbs and therefore evil. Any evil food eaten will take the in-out calculation and throw it in the bin, along with science.

In the US, pizza and chips appears to count as two of your five a day, by virtue of potatoes and the smear of tomato paste on the pizza (no mention of a proper vegetable topping, eg peppers and mushrooms).

link.

I suspect the industrially produced school dinner pizzas are a far cry from lovingly home made with loads of veg efforts.

If by the in-out calculation you are referring to the calories in-calories out mantra, then yes, throw it out. Utter claptrap.