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?

Try buying no snacks biscuits or sweets for 2 weeks and lots more apples and carrots and cherry tomatoes. You'll be up to 10 pretty quick.

Nope. I just don't routinely snack and, if I do, it's nuts or complex, not sweet carbs. If i have fruit with a 3:30pm hunger pang, it leads to a wobbly lead up to dinner time (when I'm the one having to keep it together to cook, as DH is travelling home from work) and a jolly good dose of the shits before breakfast, next.

Dinner can be just about anything for example today roast chicken breast with 5 different veg, brocolli, carrots, peas, sweetcorn and parsnip.

As previously mentioned, I love veg, but there's no way i could eat that without either a vat of curry sauce or mayo. It sounds seriously worthy.

Or it would do, if it was really 400g of dry veg served with the dry bit of the dryest possible cut of chicken.

The thing is, is some days I will eat 10 fruit and veg easy. Fruit for breakfast, salad for lunch, veg curry for dinner. No problem. Other days I might hit 3 or 4.

I find eating the same thing everyday really boring. And 10 fruit and veg is a lot of prep, and realistically you would end up eating the same veg everyday to be able to get all that in, which is really fucking boring.

I went through a period of eating a lot of veg and I just felt bloated and really sicky full all the time, then hungry 30mins later. And I couldn't stop shitting. I honestly felt awful. Now I just aim for adding veg to my meals, but not overloading on veg. Some days I will do really well, Other days not quite so well but I think it balances out, I'm probably averaging about 7 or so. It's a pretty arbitrary figure anyway.

Broccoli, peas, sweet corn, parsnip and carrots with a chicken breast sounds dire!

It's just ploughing through veg, they don't go together at all! It's lots of various bland sweetness in one pile. Not selling it to me.

I honestly do like veg as well, I'm not a salad dodger but some of these "it's so easy I just add abcdefg to everything" sound really dull.

Yuck! There is. No way could I eat that much. I’d have terrible diarrhoea if I ate that much fruit/Veges

I think part of the problem is that lots of people in this country don’t know how to cook veggies well. If you’re imagining 10 portions of steamed carrots and parsnips of course it’s going to feel worthy and uninspiring! But cooked well, veggies should be a treat and it shouldn’t be hard to get within shouting distance of ten a day.

I really recommend the following recipe books for amazing veggie recipes:

Plenty
Bowls of goodness
Fresh India
How to cook everything vegetarian
Bazaar

Also - for those worried about diarrhoea, fibre from fruit and vegetables will prevent this, not cause it! Dietary fibre is totally essential for gut health and for keeping things ‘regular’. I suppose you might have a few unsettled days while your body grows accustomed to it, but if eating fruit and veg gives you diarrhoea it’s a sign your gut isn’t in great health, and eating more fruit and veg will ultimately improve this.

I agree with bluepixie and pickachew though, that’s exactly what these veg heavy diet claims are describing- a huge pile of veg, with no taste co ordination just piled in for the sale of it to salads or stir fry’s. It sounds gross

There is no actual hard evidence at all for either 10 or 5 per day - it’s just a number for people to aim for, not a scientific statistic. So yes, I agree 10 portions could be u reasonable.

I'm a veggie and have been eating vegan for a week, yesterday's menu was :

Breakfast : "fry up", sweet potato, chickpeas, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, spinach (not counting the sweet potato, thats 3 portions fruit and veg)
Snack : carrot sticks and hummus (another portion)
Lunch : homemade roasted pepper and tomato soup (2 more portions)
snack : cacoa and avocado mousse (made with banana, avocado, dates, another 2.5 portions)
Dinner : fajita bowl, beans, rice, peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms and spinach (another 4 portions)

So that's 12.5 portions of fruit and veg. An actual portion isn't that big, it's a fist full. I general have at least 2 and up to 4 different types of fruit and veg in each meal, plus snacks

My problem would be the money. I dont buy snacks for myself or my 3 children and we have 3 meals a day. Money is very tight I make sauces and dont buy processed crap as it costs too much but fresh fruit is expensive and doesn't last well. Plus one of my lot will only eat bananas and apples.

It's not for everyone, but some people are really projecting some issues here...
Certain favour combination might not be for you, but it works for someone else and vice versa. I hate mushrooms, but I am not doing "Eeewwww" here at mushroom eaters, because I understand people will like different foods...

Pricewise it can be higher, but it doesn't have to be too high. Remember that it doesn't have to be all fresh. Canned, dried and frozen counts and that is much cheaper than bunch of fresh stuff. If you make homemade sauces and use canned tomatoes you are going towards 1 right there.

Again, obviously it's not for everyone and that has been acknowledged, but it was also acknowledged that people do think the portions are bigger than they actually are. There is no need fo nastinnes about "dry veg". That's just petty.

Same as @since..been strict veggie4yrs..(eat eggs too)deffo manage the veg side..you can make it cheaper by adding a variety of legumes&frozenmixed veg,spinach..its really just getting used to eating differently-literally tons of ways to get veg in..my fave cheapie is veg/legume soups,stews..any vego site will be full of ideas..fruits easiest frozen(cheaper)&put in a smoothie

Also - for those worried about diarrhoea, fibre from fruit and vegetables will prevent this, not cause it!

You’ve clearly not had bad IBS. My dad’s consultant has put him on a low fibre diet. Dad’s bmi is 19, if he eats too much fibres it goes lower. Obviously he’s an exception but tonnes of fruit and veg isn’t always the answer.
I went vegetarian for 3 months, the diarrhoea and lower iron intake meant I became anaemic. I’ve actually changed my diet to being a 4 day a week vegan. I’m trying to keep the fibre intake low ish but obviously I’m on over 5 fruit and veg a day. Bowels are definitely looser but not too bad and I’m taking iron supplements

I love fruit and veg but struggle with intolerances to fructose and other things. Makes it difficult especially with fruits and a variety of veg. I do use heaps (veg) but the same ones over and over.

Yeah, it doesn't work for everyone. IBS is a bitch.
I think that discussions like this are important because I know few people who literally eat 3 portions of veg a week and that's usually in a stew or baked beans with breakfast. I met a person, an adult, who said they hated fresh stuff and just won't eat it. And they really didn't and actually asked for all veg off the burger, no side salad with other meals etc when we were out.

I did grow up on plenty of veg and fruit, so going back to it is not that hard for me, but I get it can be for some. My mum used to make "salad" for us when we were lityle. Grated apple and carrot with little bit of sugar and some lemon juice. Absolutely yum! Still have fond memories of it and make it in the autumn. And it's cheap, especially in season.
And damn it, now I crave it!

You’ve clearly not had bad IBS

I actually do have IBS! Have had for years. Mine is helped enormously by a veg heavy diet (it’s dairy that sets mine off).

However I do absolutely take your point that some people have medical reasons that prevent them eating lots of fruit and veg, and of course those people should adhere to the diet that works for them. But for those who don’t have specific dietary reasons for not eating fruit and veg, it will generally be very good for gut health.

My kids have fruit with lunch, fruit for snacks and mixed veg with their tea, followed by fruit for desert and the most we have managed is 8 a day and that's because I did them a mince meat and veg dish, that had 5 different veg in it.

I have dreadful IBS but veggies really help. Some fruit I have issues with, but I don't tend to eat much fruit these days.

How come a 6ft man needs the same amount of fruit and veg as me, a 5ft 2inch Woman? I don’t believe the people who came up with these recommendations were thinking of women at all. Like everything else in the medical world, I suspect it’s based on research done on men.

So I eat as many different fruit and veg I can, but I don’t worry about an 80g portion size. In my opinion variety is more important than amount.

I don't think I eat that many portions in a day, despite following a vegan diet, but my 4-year-old generally has a selection from blueberries, apple, banana, strawberries, plum, carrot, green beans, cucumber, broccoli, corn, white beans, chickpeas, red beans and lentils, most days, so I'm pretty sure she eats at least 10.

it needs to be 10 different fruit and veg

It says that on a screen at my GP's surgery.

A portion is a handful iirc,that's a lot of food through out the day!

@LizzieSiddal i think it's based on average person

Is it though TheAverageJuror?

Most medical research is done on men,

My DD gets around 7-10 a day, but I get less, probably around 5-6. I find if I try and add more to each meal, too enthusiastically, all meals start to taste very samey. And you can take a recipe too far away from its origins, to the point where it looses its special flavour, e.g. If you are cooking a Spanish chicken dish with onions, pepper, chickpeas and saffron/paprika, if you start adding sweetcorn/mushrooms etc it completely dilutes the flavours and somehow becomes less than the sum of its parts.

I think the trick for me is to scout out dishes/recipes that naturally have a lot of portions in, and regularly cook them, rather than just do a bung-it-all-in approach.

Also, since I have started upping my fruit and veg and adding kefir in to my diet, my 'bowel transit time' (to steal a coy euphemism), has slowed down, rather than sped up. It seems my bowel performs better when I am eating more biscuits than when I eschew them in favour of fruit and veg. Which is annoying and somewhat unexpected.