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?

Today's food;

Two slices of seeded bread toast.

Small glass of juice.

Half a packet of grilled artichokes in lemon, herb and olive oil.

Then tonight's dinner (between the two of us);

Three red onions
2 large cloves of garlic
Tomato puree (big splodge)
Tin of tomatoes
1 fat courgette less a chunk when chopping it up
Olives
Peppers
Aubergine
Cherry tomatoes
Small bit of pork
Ras el Hanout

Two Satsumas.

Plus tea. Lots of tea. (I forgot that before).

Managedmis, you can’t count carrots three times

^

Er, I didn't?

I'm hit and miss. I get scuppered by very different tastes across the family and a DS who hates the texture of different veg cooked together casserole style.

Generally getting 10 portions without getting too het up on variety and portion size is viable.

10x 80g of 10 different foods is a lot of watery, low calorie bulky fibre. I do 5:2 and eat a lot of salad on fast days but it doesn't sate me and would feel comfortable. I get IBS and too much fibre can get stuck in me too.

I'd never get through a salad with 80g of each ingredient!

The studies supporting the ambition of > 5 /day are not saying that they all have to be different F&Veg. 3 servings of carrots can count as 3 of the target 10.

Yes. The only reason they say to have different veg is because otherwise some misguided people would just eat piles of carrots or only tomatoes or nothing but cucumbers and think they’re getting their 5 a day. As long as you have a good variety it’s all good. And as many greens as possible (much neglected by many people).

Mine was shocking today
2 x bananas
1 Apple

Everyone has days when they are lucky to reach 3 out of 5. That's no issue if it's not every day.
It's good if it makes people think about what they are eating even if they won't hit the guidelines. Every little change is positive. Obviously it's very hard for people with health issues, so they shouldn't push it if they can't.

Thank you for the pp upthread who posted the 'look at your meal and think, how can I make this better?' advice upthread. I've been actively looking at my meal and adding one more portion of fruit or veg to it in the two days since you wrote that and have found it easy to eat three more portions a day - cheers!

Yoghurt and raspberries for breakfast
Banana
Carrots and hummus
Stir fry with tofu and 4 portions of cabbage, bean sprouts, mushrooms, green beans, red pepper, water chestnuts.
A peach
A veg smoothie
One more to go!

NewAccount270219 yay that was me! You're welcome

For an example of a more typical evening meal, this is what I had tonight.

Butter chicken curry
Spinach - two portions.
Cauliflower, broccoli and carrot - four portions.

Once I re-introduce berries into my diet, I will have one or two portions most days and cut down my veg by two. At the moment I’m having slightly more because I’m lowcarbing very strictly, but as my appetite adjusts I won’t need quite so much and I’ll be happy at about eight portions per day.

Ffs, forgot the photo again!

My evening meal, but if a mush mash - salad with pear lentils, orange, tomato, radish, feta cheese, corn on the cob to start with. Left over fruit needed eating so popped it in the salad

I was bad today Maccies for lunch, eggs on toast for brekkie, but! Salad for dinner. So 4

Today I had:
banana and raspberries in porridge (2)
fresh tomatoes and cucumber at lunch (2)
gnocchi with red and orange peppers, onions, tomatoes (2-3)
iceberg and mixed leaf and herb salad (1)
clementines (1)

That's 8 or 9.

7-8 today I think
Apple for a snack this am
Celariac burger out at lunch
Melon apple and grape fruit pot at Costa
Mushroom stroganoff with parsnip and apple mash and purple sprouting broccoli.