Do you get your 5 a day or more?

[AbsentmindedWoman]

I find it difficult to hit this target every day tbh. Today it's easy because I'm making vegetarian chilli for dinner and will likely have two platefuls.

Other than that, today I've eaten a cheese sandwich and a bowl of olives. So if, for example, tonight's dinner was salmon and asparagus - then I wouldn't get 5 portions today.

I like all fruit and veg just struggle with quantity required to hit the daily target, plus only eat fruit a couple of times a week because I have type 1 diabetes and it frequently is very difficult to dose insulin for without causing a spike or a drop.

So - how do you manage it?

I eat a lot of fruit, easily 5 portions a day. At this moment, I have watermelon, melon, strawberries, black and green grapes, apricots, peaches and raspberries.

It's veg I struggle with as my go to curries are chicken/fish/meat based. I really want to eat more veg.

Yes, but I’m a vegan who likes vegetables so it’s easy. I don’t really eat any fruit though.

I have done since starting a lower carb diet. So not much fruit but salad or veg soup for lunch and then extra veg with dinner to make up for the lack of pasta or rice. Probably still only manage about 5 a day though.

I try to get my five through vegetables alone and then any fruit is a bonus. I'm sure there are days when I get it through lots of smaller portions of multiple types of vegetables rather than five main portions if that makes sense!

I tend to - I don’t have a huge sweet tooth but eat a lot of veg. I like it and it just feels a natural part of meals. Only asparagus with salmon wouldn’t feel like a dinner to me tbh, I’d have at least 2 prob 3 veg - so asparagus, tomatoes and spinach for example, and put red onion and rocket in my cheese sandwich if I was having that. Maybe start by trying to add a portion to at least one meal a day?

Start the day with a bowl of all bran? That has to count as a vegetable!

Most days I have five a day.
Usually have a banana with breakfast and a glass of fresh orange juice, then another piece of fruit (apple/pear/plums) mid morning. Lunch is a large salad - lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and peppers. At dinner I'll have veg (carrots/broccoli/green beam/peas). Drink plenty of water during the day.

I have a mixed salad for lunch - three portions.

I have at least two portions of veg for dinner - in your example, if I'd decided on salmon and asparagus I would at the very least have carrots as well, probably also sweetcorn or cauliflower if I had my way (H has an annoying habit of not cooking full portions if I've provided three veg...). Roast onions and tomatoes go well with a lot of things.

(I also have dried fruit with my porridge, fresh fruit for afternoon and evening snacks, and fruit juice with dinner, but presumably you don't want to hear about those )

@tttigress All bran is definitely not a vegetable.

I would struggle not to hit 5 a day. Btw the figure 5 a day was chosen not because it’s a sensible or healthy number but because the gov thought if they set it at the healthy rate of at least 8 a day people couldn’t afford it and would be put of trying.

Add thickly sliced tomatoes to your sandwiches and cucumber sticks with them and that is 2. Have asparagus, carrots and baby corn and that’s another 3.

You need to start aiming for 2 veg at lunch and 3 with dinner. Vegetable crudités and cherry tomatoes are good with sandwiches. Frozen microwave veg bags are also quick and easy.

What kind of meals do you regularly eat?

I tend to average about 3 a day. I usually eat breakfast or lunch but not both so I'm missing a meal and an opportunity for fruit and veg. Reading this thread it has occurred to me I could swap a snack for fruit so thanks for that OP!

5 a day is a very low bar. It should really be at least 10 (always including leafy greens and legumes), but they didn't think that was achievable for a lot of people, so they went for the lowest common denominator.

So if people can't even do 5, I despair for the health of the nation.

If you snack, eat vegetables instead of something else (unless the something else is nuts/seeds, which we also need). E.g. carrot sticks (alone or with hummus), frozen peas (or defrosted if you don't like them frozen; they don't even need cooking), cherry tomatoes etc. Eat fruit for dessert or with breakfast (e.g. berries). And include more in meals.

www.nhs.uk/news/food-and-diet/five-a-day-of-fruit-and-veg-is-good-but-10-is-better/

I've only had 5 today but that's unusual, it's normally 8 or 9.

I've recently discovered riced cauliflower as an alternative to rice, so will normally have that a few times a week to increase my veg intake. It's also low calorie so great if you're watching your weight.

I mentioned berries because they are relatively low GI compared to some other fruit. But my dad is type 1 diabetic and eats plenty of other fruit and he manages fine.

I aim for fruit and/or veg at every meal. Today was kale-banana-cherry smoothie for breakfast, big salad with roast chicken for lunch, sea bass with 8 ounces of spinach and a big salad with Rossi lettuce, tomatoes, avocados, etc for supper. Even if we are ordering fish and chips or a pizza, we serve a big salad and coleslaw alongside. If you snack, that can be a good place to slot in carrot and courgette batons with hummus, a piece of fruit, glass of tomato juice instead of a calorie dense processed food.

Never. Vegetarian for 16 years. But I don't particularly like fruit or veg. On the rare occasions that I do eat one or the other I wonder if my body will go into shock

Easy way to do 5 - 1/2 beetroot, 1 carrot, 1 apple, 1 or 2 plums (other fruits are available) and a handful of spinach or chunk of cucumber. Stick it all in a blender, cover with water - not juice - add a big spoon of yoghurt and whizz up. Delicious and filling.

As a diabetic, I think it”s going to be really hard for you with fruit.

I’m on a really strict ‘don’t eat rubbish’ diet currently, so I’ve massively increased my fruit/salad I take. I easily hit my 5 a day, therefore, but I wouldn’t usually. My current fruit stash includes pineapple, melon, blueberries, strawberries, grapes. I think blueberries are really good for you, but I don’t rate their taste. I like apples, but I’m too lazy to eat anything that isn’t bite size.😳

Yes, most days. But I'm vegetarian who loves vegetables, fruits and salad so it's not a hardship for me.

I love fruit for breakfast (typically right now it is Greek yogurt with banana, blueberries, raspberries, for example). I have salad alongside my wrap or sandwich, or a big 'main' salad and pack in as much colour as possible, or put in spinach with a cheese wrap, dinner usually has vegetables in the meal and/or alongside. I also have fruit with lunch. And not forgetting lentils, chickpeas, beans that I eat as well which also count.

Obviously I have very beige days but otherwise, yes I get my advised quota very easily.

I also live off vegetable-based soup in the winter.

Before lockdown, I didn't, but now I've time to cook (working from home), I effortlessly get more than 5 a day, by making the most of our organic vegetable box subscription.

Every lunch time I make a soup from scratch, by tossing together a few bits and bobs (e.g. chopped onions, sliced carrots, some leafy greens like spinach or cabbage, something with proteins like peas or beans or sweetcorn, and any other veg lying around, like peppers or tomatoes, and the odd potato, along with a stock cube and some herbs or spices). Nicely filling with a slice of bread and a bit of butter.

And for dinner, again, random veggies (e.g. stir fry, stew, or salad) plus a bit of meat.

Basically, we swapped about half of our usual carbs and meats for root veggies (carrots, swedes, turnips, etc.) and protein rich veggies (pulses, beans, grains, etc.), so that we get a much more fiber rich diet.
On top of that, we also have fruits for snacks, but that's just a treat.

No, two, maybe three on average.
I have IBS so have to watch the amount of fruit and veg I eat, plus I only eat one meal a day, for the same reason.
I do do eat a varied diet though.

I do eat five a day, sometimes more. Usually more veg than fruit (which is the right way round I think - I don’t think you’re supposed to have more than two of the five as fruit).

I do wonder about the amounts though - some people say five is too few and we should have nine a day, but I think, isn’t that just quite a lot of food? When are we supposed to fit it all in?

Yes. And if you can manage 7-10 there’s even more benefits. Especially vegetables.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-39057146

metro.co.uk/2017/03/03/8-simple-ways-to-eat-your-10-servings-a-day-of-fruit-and-veg-6483873/