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?

The only way you could manage a whole serving of lettuce is if you cook the lettuce. We get so much lettuce in our veg box and I now make a lettuce, pea and mint soup with it. Uses about 1kg of veg including a whole head of lettuce and serves 4-5 people. Recipe, it's really peppery and delicious, one of my favourite soups.

@mynameiscalypso

Phew! #winning

@Baaaahhhhh

Normally a bagel/sandwich with veggies - yesterday was cucumber, pepper and tomatoes - 3x portions

I would say that is one portion, even though three different things because you couldn't get enough in a sandwich for three portions. I think it is still healthy though, because you are having a variety of things, and personally I think that is more important than the "portion" per day.

The veggies aren't in the sandwich, I have them on the side :)

So I'll have a bagel thin with cream cheese, then the rest of the plate is full of vegetables.

I always get my 5 a day and prefer veg to fruit. I often have an omelette for breakfast/brunch and get about 3 portions of veg in there - mushroom, courgette, spinach etc. One of the easiest ways to get more veg is just have a side salad - you can get in to the habit of having a salad with lunch and dinner. Whatever meal I'm having I'll always have a side of steamed veg or salad. For example you're having a veggie chilli which always has veg in but I'd have a salad or some steamed broccoli on the side. You can never have too much veg! You mention struggle with the quantities, I'd honestly just eat less carbs and protein and more veg. I heard a healthy meal should be 50% veg, 25% carbs and 25% protein so I just aim to make veg the bulk of my meal.

Gosh this thread is making me feel a bit bad! I’m going to try and do better 👍🏾

I am vegan so find it easy. I don't eat much fruit but eat a tonne of veg.

A typical day might be:

B. Oats with fruit, oat milk, flaked almonds or beans and mushrooms on toast (2)

L. Tofu, rice, green veg (2-3) with some kind of sauce/dip/dressing or jacket potato/grains, salad (2-3), hummus/salsa or leftovers

T. Veg curry and rice or pasta with veg and tomato sauce or veg chilli and rice/jacket potato or mash, veg, sausage and gravy. (all 3)

If I manage to get in some fruit as a snack or occasionally some juice I can hit 7-10 per day.

vanillandhoney Ha - in that case, I forgive you .

@Baaaahhhhh

vanillandhoney Ha - in that case, I forgive you .

Thanks

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

What about something like green Thai curry which is packed with veg then? And serve it with a baked potato? Fruit before or after?

Or a standard veg curry? I sneak an extra veg such as green beans or peas in with the rice.

Before lockdown we'd quite often eat the same thing two nights running just served slightly differently. Maybe that would help you too?

My MIL has barely eaten a carb this millennium so she has her veg curry over broccoli or cauliflower and is always surprised and happy about her calorie count.

^
Impressive! I may send my kids over for a week^ 😊

Do it @overtherainbow88 I always cook too much. 😂

No, some days I eat 7 or 8 but most days I eat 3. Usually a few veg crudités or some lettuce in a sandwich for lunch. 2 veg in or with dinner. Sometimes some fruit but I'm not that fussed. A couple of days a week I will have a giant salad with about 4-5 portions just in that, and once a week I will have a big fruit salad, so I think it probably averages out. I follow basically the 16:8 hours and 5:2 days for lower calorie days/ higher calorie days, although I am not on a diet. I do eat a lot of nuts and pulses, but not many beans.

@Baaaahhhhh

Normally a bagel/sandwich with veggies - yesterday was cucumber, pepper and tomatoes - 3x portions

I would say that is one portion, even though three different things because you couldn't get enough in a sandwich for three portions. I think it is still healthy though, because you are having a variety of things, and personally I think that is more important than the "portion" per day.

I assumed that meant a bagel and then the veggies on the side. That's how I would have it e.g. bagel with filling then the veggies as a salad or crudites.

Sorry I've just realised I missed the post explaining this!

SnugglySnerd I just had this weird vision of a foot high sandwich with all the veggies falling out the side.......

I usually have at least 7.
Typical cooked breakfast: mushrooms, tomato, spinach/rainbow chard, avocado, sauerkraut/kimchi
Or porridge: berries/cherries, banana
Snacks: red grapefruit, pineapple, banana smoothie, strawberries and cream
Dinner: vegetables in curries/chilli/bolognaise, roast vegetables, side salads

@Baaaahhhhh

SnugglySnerd I just had this weird vision of a foot high sandwich with all the veggies falling out the side.......

The dog would have an utter field day with that

ChavvySexPond I'm just not hungry enough either due to being used to eating little. Plus we have a strict budget so I always make sure the children have plenty of fruit and vegetables first. Plus I have coeliac disease.

You refer to pasta as junk food so I don't think you're my kind of people 😂 I'm really surprised the parents you know are "astonished" by their children eating a curry. Pretty standard food nowadays? Its even on the menu at school! And I'm sure most children have plenty of vegetables they like.

I'm vegan but apparently I'm an anomaly amongst Mumsnet vegans because I struggle and my diet isn't great at the moment. Today I had jam on toast, half an avocado as a snack, a houmous wrap and chips plus too many oreos (beach picnic, in my defence), then tea was noodles with peas and tofu, and an orange. So 2 veg and 1 fruit. Crap. And none were 80g worth!

On an average day I have two portions of fruit - berries with breakfast and an apple at lunchtime.

I always have some salad vegetables with lunch - baby spinach, cucumber, cherry tomatoes. Not sure they count up to a portion each though.

Very rarely would dinner have no vegetables in (unless it was a treat like pizza) and it'd almost always have two types or more, although again not sure if it would be a whole portion.

I'm going to go with yes, or near enough, 4-5.

You all inspired me... added an extra portion of veg to my tea tonigh 😊

Most days yes. Some days when we’re due a big shop or we’re a bit skint at the end of the month, I might end up filling up on carbs a bit.

@Baaaahhhhh

SnugglySnerd I just had this weird vision of a foot high sandwich with all the veggies falling out the side.......

That sounds like the sort of sandwich dh makes. I'd need to be able to open my mouth as wide as those snakes that can swallow a whole goat to manage them

Possibly an halfwit to dare ask but is there an optimal (or upper limit) number of healthy fruits and vegetables to endeavour to squeeze in daily? Within overall portion control naturally.

I am guessing possibly 8-12 is max beneficial and anything more is subject to marginal law of diminishing returns or possibly even not ideal? Trying to find my optimal equilibrium.

I am not vegetarian and eat meat as well as seafoods but currently experimenting with so called super foods. True believer in culinary exploration with each mouth full in a bowl and plate etc as the world is your oyster.

I'm dubious at the idea of replacing most of (for example) the salmon fillet on my plate with more veg at dinner.

I'll wind up losing weight? I don't want to do this. Or, end up hungrier later on?

@ResIpsaLoquiturInterAlia

I don’t know, but I remember reading in one of Nigella Lawson’s cook books that she loved vegetables so much that her doctor actually told her she needed to eat less of them. I don’t think it went into specifics, but I’m assuming she meant some sort of gas or bowel problem...