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 saw a colorectal surgeon 4 months ago who told me that the 7/8 portions of fruit& veg I was eating daily was far too much
I wondered why he wasn’t following the 10 a day advice.

I don't even eat ten different things a day

@SallyWD one nectarine is only half a portion, two are classed as a portion so you may have had lots of different fruit/veg but not enough for a 'portion' of each

I wouldn’t even put 1/3 of a red pepper in a chilli!

I put two peppers and a couple of carrots in spag Bol or a curry. I think a 1/3 of a pepper is hardly worth having some people just love their veg, not my DC unfortunately!

an omelette with spinach, courgette, tomatoes and mushrooms

Did you really put 80g of each in your omelette, though?

This one is easy to navigate.
www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/what-counts-five-day

I usually get over 10, but there are days when I drop to 5. Didn't actually even know it changed to 10 a day now...

So that would be 14 button mushrooms, 7 cherry tomatoes, 3.5 inches of courgette?

Following with interest as I am slowly increasing my intake. I think it is definitely possible.

I read a tip once which is 'look at your meal and think "how can I make this better?"'. I try and apply this to my meals. Vegetables are good for you of course and so it applies to that question.

For example, I add: butterbeans to my potato mash; lentils to my bolognese; bell peppers and mushrooms to my cheesy omelette; berries to my porridge; pomegranate seeds to my salad; the list goes on!

Providing you use the right amount they are all portions.

And it doesn't have to be expensive. Lots of people buy fresh but the quality from frozen and canned produce is very good.

10 a day is really quite do-able.

Breakfast - prunes, porridge with blueberries

Snack - apple

Lunch - tuna salad (lettuce, cucumber, cress, tomatoes, pepper, spring onion), Greek yoghurt with sliced banana, chopped nuts and honey

Snack - little plate of olives with your G&T

Dinner - Moussaka (onion, garlic, tomato, aubergine) served with carrots and asparagus

@AbsentmindedWoman I am only organised for food and exercise, my ironing pile is taller than me!

I usually prep one or two types of lean protein for the whole week, then keep 3 days' worth in the fridge and freeze the rest portioned off in freezer bags. Easy options: turkey meatballs, or lean beef mince cooked in the crockpot express, or chicken breasts cooked with stock or chopped tomatoes and herb/ spices in the slow cooker. For veg, I might get a value bag of peppers and cut them in half then grill them with a bit of olive oil and seasoning. Mushrooms and asparagus, dry-fried in a non-stick pan. Squash, broccoli, cauliflower also grills well on a tray. I also sometimes make mini egg white frittatas with peppers, spinach etc.

Turkey steaks cooked with fennel and leeks is another favourite

Then for emergencies I have plain fish fillets and different types of veg in the freezer, that can be just chucked into a Tupperware in the morning then microwaved at work (Aldi do a frozen Thai style veg mix which is quite nice).

I thought the number of portions was set deliberately high so that people would try to eat more and even if they didn’t manage 10 at least they had eaten more than they would.

NHS still says 5 a day as its main advice.

WHO recommends 5 a day with hope of reducing various bad health problems.

Those links give reasons that aren't 'marketing ploys'.

Is the Women's Health Bible this one, by Dr. M. Ali? Just that it kind of hypes itself up, "essential guide" bollocks. Promotes alternative medicine & 'mind-body' healing techniques. There's some marketing ploy for ya'.

If you can squeeze a banana or berries into breakfast it helps, but it’s hard to always make sure both lunch and dinner are high quality - we end up eating a lot of peppers and cucumbers to boost the veg count.

I do find you have to be really organised to eat between 6-10 a day and I have to shop for fresh food at least twice a week which is tricky - I get a lot delivered online but that’s not so good for fresh produce

I don't think many people have time to make meals like this. Or even eat that much.

For example I worked 11 hours yesterday and had:

7am: porridge and some strawberries

12pm: Cheese, onion and tomato sandwich (probably not even a full portion of the veg) some nuts and an orange.

3pm: handful of grapes

6.30pm: chicken, broccoli and rice.

And that's only 4 portions (5 if being generous) I don't get it

There's no UK govt or international big public health body or BBC guide saying 10/day. Or 7/day. They all still say 5/day. But treat that as a minimum & knock yourself out if you want to go above.

There are BBC reports about 7 or 10/day possible benefits (as minimums or averages). Then again, other evidence contradicts. Given most people keep under 3/day, 5 is still a good goal for most.

Yeah when I was working ft with two small kids we were lucky if we hit 4 too, just too beat to do anything about it!

Also I don’t snack twice a day. Or even once, many days. I just eat 3 meals.

I ate more than this when I was at my healthiest, I was also vegan which I think helped. I’d struggle to get back into the swing of doing that every day now but it definitely is possible.

Classically, the 10 portions has been advised in other countries (particularly japan) but their “portions” are smaller than ours so there was little difference when it came down to it.

There is no evidence behind 5/10 portions anyway

I eat about two portions a day. Oh well.

I thought it was 5 and I was doing well by getting 7/8.

Breakfast - porridge with berries
Weekend breakfast - eggs with mushroom, spinach and red onion plus half a tin of baked beans.
Lunch - big salad with some protein and wholemeal pasta or brown rice
Dinner - chicken and lentil curry (with added veg) and wholemeal pitta
Snacks - apple, banana and satsuma

I don’t think my portions are 80 grams each though. If a satsuma and berries are half a portion each, do they count as a portion together? I think we eat quite a wide variety of fruit and veg (frozen helps) but maybe not as much as we should.

@ThenOutCameTheSunshine

"I read a tip once which is 'look at your meal and think "how can I make this better?"'

I like this - simple, easy to act on... reminds me of my mum's approach to cooking meals, which was always: "See how colourful you can make it. The more different colours you have on your plate, the healthier a balance it'll be."

Ironically great advice from someone with a chronic eating disorder, but then "do as I say, not as I do" was also a big catchphrase for her

I don't eat enough food to eat 10 portions, and if I did and posted about it, someone would ask about protein, then someone else would call fruit sugar bags.

But surely you'd have to eat literally nothing but fruit and vegetables

You don’t need the 10 portions but I agree snuggy. The issue isn’t thinking up a menu that includes 10 f&v (they don’t need to be different- what horseshit) that’s easy. The issue is hitting it day in day out. What about when something unexpected happens? What about when you’re out all day? What about the few weeks a year you’re on holiday? What about nights out? What about when you eat at other people’s houses?