Peas aren't classed as a 5 a day

[bellalou1234]

Im shocked. I've been trying to eat 5 fruit and veg per day to improve my general health only to realise peas don't count!

The idea behind 5 a day was to increase the variety of fruit and veg people eat so you can’t count the same thing as two portions. As a PP said, people already eat potatoes so they didn’t include them as they wanted to broaden the range of foods eaten.

Hate to be the bearer of bad (?) news, but I recently had a long talk with my gastroenterologist (a renowned professor) who told me we should be eating 10 (TEN) a day. Five portions are insufficient for good gut (and overall) health. I'm lucky--I love salads, fruit, etc. Some may find it a challenge, but it's very easy to nibble on blueberries, apple slices, carrot sticks, e.g.

Who cares? They are nice, and cheap. Eat them anyway!

Give peas a chance …..

Give peas a chance!

Feed the gut, protect the liver.

I love it!

This is rubbish
just look up how am at vitamins in Peas/potato etc
anything you want to eat
…
basically if it’s not a beige colour it’s good for you
(unless you have specific dietary needs obviously..)
don’t believe these ridiculous charts ..

I think it’s all a bit exaggerated anyway. My parents/grandparents didn’t eat anywhere near 5 a day and all lived beyond 80. It’s the same with the water obsession, you don’t have to drink water you can drink tea, coffee, nas squash and you only need to drink when you are thirsty.

What absolute nonsense OP.

The only reason potatoes aren't included is because people already eat loads and often eat them in high fat/calorie ways like chips or buttery mash.

I think potatoes do count in some countries?

I always assumed the reason they don’t in the UK is they think we’d take it as license to eat them 5 times a day. It would be better if it the guidelines were that 1 portion counted (like fruit juice) as they are nutritious as you say, and CHEAP.

Peas are a legume but be happy to include them in your diet -they're very nutritious!
Sweetcorn is a grain. And it's mingin.

Of course they do

It says so on the nhs website

I don't think smoothies should count. People should be encouraged to eat whole fruit/veg

I think it’s to do with the glucose spike they cause. Likewise with corn. Read the Glucose Revolution. It’s amazing and written in layman’s terms.

Fruit juice too.

It has also been shown that smoothies can be a valuable tool to increase fruit / veg intake in children AFAIK.

Other foods like guacamole, hummus, various soups (pumpkin, asparagus and tomatoe come to mind as traditionally blended) are also mashed / blended.

Excluding blended foods in favour of whole fruit/veg might discourage people from consuming foods like these...

No mushy peas

The whole 5 a day thing is a bit of a nonsense; there's no real scientific consensus on how much we should eat other than 'more than you probably do at the moment'. Hence different countries have different recommendations, mostly pegged a bit above what their average citizen currently eats, but still at a level that feels achievable.

They are not where I live, too much sugar. Same as sweetcorn.

But there's more sugar in fruits than there is in peas??!

Ignore it all. Peas are good for you, natural, protein and other stuff. Eat a variety and eat a rainbow ( although you could probably more or less get by on green veg alone)

That’ll probably be because they have added some sort of fat/salt/sugar

Potatoes don’t count because so many people eat them (me included!) without the skin (source of nutrients) and covered in butter/fried in oil/topped with salt

They definitely do if you have the right quantity. Eating 5 peas obviously won’t.