To think the current advice of eating 10 portions of fruit and veg a day is unrealistic?

[BooseysMom]

I thought it was current advice but I read the attached info in the Women's Health Bible dated 2004. So it seems this is old news. But just how realistic is this? I can just about manage five portions.. but 10?! The first issue is cost. What if you are on a low income and have a family to feed? And how about really fussy eaters? I can just about get my 5 yo to eat half an apple a day! What do fellow mumsnetters think?

I agree but you'll get loads of posters coming along saying how simple it is. I just couldn't eat that much food in a day tbh.

Paragraph attached from Women's Health Bible in relation to breast cancer risk

Ha! Not me @Freshbreadandbutter.. in fact I could just eat a slice of that now! No fruit or veg in sight

It’s not unrealistic. It’s jist that people aren’t used to eating a decent amount of fruit and vegetables.

Both me and Dh and DS are vegan and so naturally we eat probably more than 10 servings of fruit and veg but I accept that’s probably due to lifestyle choice. Maybe try using fruit and veg as a snack ?

It’s easy for me, but I’m vegetarian and I like greens. For my children, I used to make them a grazing salad for when they came in from school with lots of bits they could choose. It’s just a different way of thinking, but 5 is better than none. As is 1. Just do what you can manage.

I've always fed our family on fresh produce and found it far cheaper than frozen crap, jars and packets.
We are low income, always have been.
Ten isn't difficult especially if you have fruit for snacks in between meals, there's three to begin with. Then a few for lunch and a few for tea and you have it covered.

I think it is something that you have to consciously think about but it is hard on even a reasonable budget. Beans and lentils count as well as one portion of juice. My DS probably manages it even without juice which he isn't allowed but me and DH don't.

I am quite health conscious and train a lot; most days I eat 6 meals, never fewer than 5, and each meal contains 2 to 3 portions of veg or fruit, so I get more than 10 portions a day.

I know this lifestyle isn't for everyone though, I do à lot of prep at the weekend for the week ahead, and it takes a lot of planning to work out what/ when I will be eating as I travel a lot for work and have a long commute.

Cost-wise, it's not very expensive. When I was skint I used to get all my fruit and veg from Aldi, and used a mixture of fresh, tinned and frozen. Now that I can afford it, I get an organic box but still top up with Aldi stuff like frozen berries etc.

So, yes it is doable but it takes a bit of commitment (and lots of fridge / freezer space!)

Most people don't know what a portion is and that it needs to be 10 different fruit and veg. A portion is not a spoonful of peas on a plate, or a handful of lettuce.

People who say it’s easy tend to underestimate how much is a portion. Some people think simply eating ten different varieties of fruit/veg is ten portions.

@AntennaReborn you sound really organised, I am in admiration!

Could you give an idea of the prep you do at weekends or the kinds of meals you take to work?

So a portion is 80g, 10x 10 = 800 grams. I do this easily and I'm not vegetarian/vegan.

NHS doesn't give that advice out. 10/day is still fairly fringe goal.

Doesn't the avg person on avg day only get 2.5-3/day, still? I think so.

Last year (or yr before?) I ran a thread for a month where we all tried to eat 10/day. I didn't police what posters considered to be among the 10, so of course you could make the rules impossible if you wanted.

A lot of us found 10/day fairly do-able. No biggie. Bit of planning. I'll probably hit 10 for today without any planning.

Sorry, that sounded boastful. I'm more surprised that I achieve a guideline.

It is hard, but things count that you don't always realise. We are vegetarians so that helps, but even before then we had 4-5 vegetarian meals- many of these had a tomato sauce/onion base and would have a pulse like lentil or chickpea as their main protein. I think pulses count? Have the frozen spinach balls in your freezer and throw them in all the sauces. Get Into putting a handful of berries on weetabix or yoghurt for breakfast. I have to consciously try but it is possible

I actually probably hit 5 portions easily within a day. And my diet is pretty shite. I always make a big salad for lunch and have lots of veg with my tea. Then my snacks in the day are fruit. That's not including any juice or beans.

it needs to be 10 different fruit and veg

Where does it say that in the Women's Health Bible?

I think we eat on ok amount of veg but I'd like to eat more variety...I pretty much stick to green beans, brocolli, peas, sweetcorn, and cherry tomatoes as they are the quickest to prepare.

There are so many lovely vegetable dishes but I never have the time/energy after work.

This morning I had 6 portions just for breakfast - 1/2 mango and a nectarine followed by an omelette with spinach, courgette, tomatoes and mushrooms. Later I had a meal with broccoli, peas and courgettes followed by raspberries. So - that's 10 portions and I wasn't even trying or counting. I only have 2 (large) meals a day and usually get around 10 portions. I tend to base my meals around fruit and veg rather than seeing them as side dishes. It helps to start each day with a big fruit salad because you can get 3 or 4 portions in while you have breakfast.

What would tbe veg vs fruit portions be?
I always thought it had to be more veg than fruit. But i struggle with more than 2 portions of veg on a regular day. I eat a lot of fruit that masquerades as a vegetable though

NHS have very clear guidance online. A portion is around two handfuls for me, or three tablespoons. Depending on what I’m measuring.

The NHS team gave the 10 a day advice to y3&4 at our primary last week on a visit.

If I ate 10 portions of fruit and veg a day, I'd never get off the loo!
Sorry tmi

I get nowhere near most days. I only eat once a day in the week and I just wouldn't manage that much food.

It seems like too much food in terms of volume and too much of the same thing.

I looked up what 8 servings of veg a day looked like and it said that one whole red pepper is a serving?! I wouldn’t even put 1/3 of a red pepper in a chilli!

I would be stuffed with veg and not much else on ten a day. I don’t really like many fruits and eg ten apples in a day is too much sugar for me.

I do love veg but other foods and the macro nutrients they contain are important too ie fat, there’s not much of that in veg

I did read that 5 a day was just a marketing ploy