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?

10 a day is easy Really? 😅

Today I've had:
3 scrambled eggs
Ham, houmous, grapes, cheese
2 crackers
Fish & chips

I could have added peas to the fish & chips but other than that, why add veg for the sake of it? I like my eggs on their own, I don't enjoybsna king on fruit so I'd really have to force myself to eat 5 (or 10!) pieces of fruit or veg a day!

Most of my meals are vegetables already, that’s my point, there’s very little to substitute. We usually have a small amount of protein and a load of veg. The thing is we only really eat one big meal a day, and I can’t see the point in adding another if I’m not hungry. Where’s the science that this is necessary?

I do like the 30 different items of fruit and veg per week idea, that seems much more realistic. I’m going to start doing that.

I love fruit and veg (not so much salad stuff but am trying to train myself to like it) but I think I hardly ever hit 5 a day.

Today for example I had chilli bean soup for lunch it had tinned tomatoes, 1 pepper, 1 onion, 1 tin of mixed beans so by the time it’s divided into 4 portions that’s only 2 serves, one for the tomatoes and one for the beans.

Dinner was stuffed peppers so I assume 1 for the pepper (didn’t weigh it though) but the courgette and other bits through it is divided into four portions so again wouldn’t count.

So I get quite a variety but wouldn’t often be eating a full portion of one.

Days I have a sandwich I will add some lettuce and things but certainly not 80g worth!!

I honestly don’t know how people do it.

When the children were younger we used to start the day with a fruit platter and toast so that would be a couple of portions. Nowadays we have porridge with raspberries, blackberries or blueberries mixed in.

Apple mid morning, salad at lunch and a couple of veg with dinner.

I bake a lot of veg in the oven with olive oil. Tonight I chopped a red onion, 3 mini peppers and 100g musroom (I did 3 times that amount but that was my third). It cooks up quite small and doesn't feel bulky when you eat it
I also had a burger with blue cheese, some salsa and cherry tomatoes so I'd say that meal contained 3 portions.

I adore veg and fruit (only 2-3 of fruit per day, though) and I base all my meals around them rather than having them as an addition, so I get ten a day every day, without fail.
The problem, however, is that I weigh out portions to ensure I get exactly 80g each time (PPs are right, it’s a fuckload of veg) because I have an eating disorder. Even right now, part of me is sneery toward people who claim they eat 5-10 a day every day but likely don’t because they massively underestimate portion sizes - the sneery part knows that this is unfair, and also that F & V (less so V) is expensive hence why people don’t eat lots of it.
I would have a meltdown if I had less than 10. I wish I could be flexible in my eating. The point of this rambling is that it’s not good to hold yourself to strict standards wrt food. It just isn’t.
Each more fruit and veg, and a varied diet in general, try lots of new recipes, enjoy what you eat. Don’t fret about meeting a target every single day - it’s not good for you. Eating should be more intuitive.

I get 5 most days, but it's definitely fruit heavy as I am a bit of a veg dodger.
I often have a couple of pieces of fruit for breakfast, so then only need three portions across lunch and supper. We do eat pulses quite a bit (not veggie, but try to eat less, better welfare meat) which helps.
today was
B- apple, banana
L - egg roll, pot of crudites
D - Large bowl of soup made with lentils, onions, celery, tomatoes and garlic, topped with pasta and cheese. Another apple. And some Pringles just now. I reckon that's 5-6 portions.

I struggle with this as I only eat one meal a day due to time constraints.

@MrsJBaptiste

10 a day is easy Really? 😅

Today I've had:
3 scrambled eggs
Ham, houmous, grapes, cheese
2 crackers
Fish & chips

I could have added peas to the fish & chips but other than that, why add veg for the sake of it? I like my eggs on their own, I don't enjoybsna king on fruit so I'd really have to force myself to eat 5 (or 10!) pieces of fruit or veg a day!

Well yes, you have to add veg in the knowledge that it's good for you if you want to have eaten it. E.g. I would have wilted some spinach or fried tomatoes and only had 2 eggs, had cucumber/pepper/raw carrot with that lunch, peas with the chips and if cooked at home, subbed some roast veg for the chips

You can choose not to, it's your body and you get to balance what you want with what is recommended as healthy, but it wouldn't be difficult.

I’m vegan but used to struggle to hit even 5 a day. After ditching refined sugar, processed food and gluten I am easily getting 9-10 a day! E.g. Berries with porridge breakfast, 5 veg in big salad at lunch with green apple, 5 veg in curry at night. Not sure I will stick to this, I’ll definitely be taking days off, but it’s for sure a much healthier way to eat.

Yes it’s quite easy

Fruit on my granola and yoghurt at breakfast
A glass of fruit juice, maybe a smoothie instead
A banana or other fruit as a mid morning snack (probably with a biscuit too)
Salad or carrot sticks with lunch
More fruit with lunch
Vegetables or salad with dinner.
Pulses and legumes sometimes added to the meals too depending on if it’s a stew based dish or not
Sometimes il have mango for pudding, if no mango then I crack open the chocolate

So most days 7-8 a day. I’d I didn’t get that I’d be worried I’d end up being constipated

I struggle to eat 5 portions. Would usually have 3 tbh.
I think it's because I don't routinely have snacks, whereas my 3yo has 5 as he has a portion of fruit with his breakfast, portion of fruit mid morning, a veg with his lunch, portion of fruit mid afternoon and a veg with his dinner.
I'm 5 months pregnant so maybe I'll start snacking more on fruit now.

I should start eating more soups but I don't fancy them in the summer.

No, I don’t hit 5 a day. I love veg but not fruit so I’ll have half a dozen slices of carrots , a spoon of kale, a spoon of peas and a quarter of onion with my roast. And that’s nowhere near enough.
I often have salad but that’s barely a portion.

In my opinion , a small tin of baked beans doesn’t count.. it has too much sugar and salt.
I think most people don’t eat even five a day... a couple of slivers of pepper on a pizza doesn’t count.

Today I had

Cucumber and tomatoes with my lunch - so that’s two (I had a good portion of each).
An apple.
Salad for dinner.

Oh dear - four. That’s a bit crap isn’t it?

I'd second the recommendation of the book 10 a day the easy way - some great ideas in there. I aim for 10 and normally manage about 8, sometimes more, though I'd definitely find it harder if I were limiting fruit.

It helps to spread it out through the day by aiming for 2-3 portions every meal, reducing carbs to make room, plus snacking only on fruit and veg to make up. I tend to work on the basis of 75g being a portion as I'm fairly small.

I do have a big bowl of berries (150-160g) with porridge or yoghurt and granola for breakfast - frozen berries are great for convenience and cost. Lunch could be a really big tuna or cheese salad, omelette with lots of veg, or noodles with miso broth and veg (normally frozen peas and edamame cooked in the broth). Snack - carrot or pepper sticks and a quarter tub of houmous (houmous counts as a portion as long as you don't have another portion of pulses that day). Dinner there are so many options.

I don’t think I always manage 5x80g. Sometimes I’ll have the variety but not the portion size (I doubt a salad has 80g each of tomatoes / lettuce / onions / whatever) or I’ll have a decent portion of fewer things (like a load of broccoli with dinner and then a big bowl of melon after). I also don’t eat three proper meals every day. I definitely do better on days I cook veggie or vegan meals, or in the winter when I often have a big pot of soup on the go for lunches.

I didn't realise pulses counted? Ok I have pulses every day so average 4 portions a day.
Feel a bit better now

lockdownparty

Frozen grapes was my pregnancy snack during summer.

Also spinach and banana smoothie was alright.

Or plane frozen yoghurt With honey and some berries eaten as an ice cream.

Hardly ever. I honestly don't know how I could either. I don't fill up on carbs either as not a potato or rice fan. Probably could have some fruit for breakfast, can't do juice as too acid. Usually just have toast. Lunch is usually a wrap or flatbread with chicken and a handful of salad. 1 portion? Dinner meat or fish with maybe one or two veg. Don't snack. Can't eat anything beany, my chile doesn't contain beans. So average 3 a day. That's shit. But I just can't eat/need anything more.

Yes easily. Im on diet (intermittent fasting and calorie counting) and veggies really do bulk up meals with low calories and high nutrition.

Tonight I made a huge dhal full of about 9 different veggies. Onions, mushrooms, courgettes, pepper, brocolli, spinach, Broad beans, lentils and yellow spilt peas.

I had a banana for lunch so I'm easily up to 10.

I'm now lying on the sofa - too stuffed to move but the weight is falling off

Some of these meals stuffed with veg just sound hideous to me 😞

I'll stick with adding some extra fruit here and there I think!

Tonight I made a huge dhal full of about 9 different veggies. Onions, mushrooms, courgettes, pepper, brocolli, spinach, Broad beans, lentils and yellow spilt peas.

I doubt you'd have eaten 80g of each veg though. That would have been a huge amount of food.
I'd only count a meal like that as 1 or 2 portions

Make it into a smoothie!

Yes to a smoothie! That’s the main way I can get fruit into my boys!