Do you really get your five a day?

[chessica]

YABU - yes
YANBU - no

I aim to eat healthily where I can but realistically I probably only have 3 portions of fruit or veg most days. Some days more and some days I only have one.
In a normal day, I’ll have an apple, a bowl of berries/some grapes and then possibly a chickpea curry. Sometimes I add spinach to this and sometimes I don’t. Obviously that’s only 3 a day really as I’m not having that many berries or chickpeas.

I’ve had about 9 today (which is a pretty standard day for me).

It does seems sneery, but the reality is that my clients (not in the normal range) needed 18 months intervention at about 7 hours a week to start to comply with what the NHS had asked them to do.

Getting someone to do enough physio so that they could wash their own hair. Getting someone to eat twice as many cals as they'd admit to the dietician, and watching their weight fall. Mental and physical health are intertwined, each clients needs are unique. The largest obstacle is denial.

I'd love to say there was a simple solution, there isn't. People are different, many are in denial. Intervention needs to be intensive and personalised.

Yep today I’ve had mushrooms spinach swede onions garlic leeks carrots plus houmous so 8 different items, not all large ones though!

Nope, not even close (and I don’t particularly care)

Those people who are only eating 3 a day, can I ask what you are acting eating? I’m struggling to imagine what you eat.

Breakfast: granola with yoghurt & pomegranate & berries (but not 1 portion of each).

Lunch: chicken curry - had onion & cauliflower in but again not 2 portions

Dinner: beans on toast

snacks: chocolate & some nuts.

Same here.

I love fruit and veg. Always have. There’s usually a big shop on Friday and needed top-ups on Tuesday. Oldest we have to ration with fruit because he’ll eat his weight if allowed and eats his veg mainly at school. Youngest likes his broccoli, peas, watermelon, strawberries, and raspberries. DH prefers veg over fruit but eats bananas.

There is still junk food (DH is a massive snacker) but fruit and veg is what probably 3/4 of our shopping bill goes to.

Usually yes. Normally 2 portions fruit & 4 or 5 portions veg.
When I'm pregnant do I fuck 😂I sadly live off toast

Beans count, did you include them?

Yes, it's very easy.

Dried fruit with breakfast. Fruit juice with dinner. Piece of fruit mid-afternoon. Piece of fruit in the evening.

Salad for lunch (between 2 and 3 portions). Vegetables at dinner - either 2 or 3 separate on a plate or cooked up in some sort of dish, probably 2 or 3 mixed portions. Maybe even 4 if we have lentils and chickpeas.

I don't find it a problem at all. Of course, it's entirely possible I have less meat and less carbohydrate than some people.

I only ever manage 1-2 a day. Today I had:

Breakfast - nothing, never eat it (so zero)

Lunch - Coronation chicken sandwich & a packet of crisps. (Bit of lettuce in it, nowhere near a portion so, zero)

Dinner - grilled chicken, potato salad, spinach & Parmesan salad (so one in the spinach)

That’s a pretty typical day for me. Which obviously isn’t ideal but I’m a healthy weight, fit and active, no health issues. If I added a banana, apple, dried fruit etc as snacks, I’d pile weight on.

@CindersAgain no I didn't. I know they count in the "30 a week recommendations or whatever it is" but didn't think they did in the 5 a day?

I try to aim for 10+ a day, but only a max of 3 fruits.

I find it fairly easy:

Breakfast: porridge with blueberries, almonds and walnuts

Lunch: cous cous salad (lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, red onion, peppers, beetroot, grated aubergine, chickpeas, sauerkraut, fresh basil) with side of sweet potato wedges

Dinner: veggie chilli or curry (with carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, red kidney beans, spinach, peas) lots of herbs and spices too.

Snack: apple or mango with Greek yoghurt

That's a typical day, I also try and eat lots of fermented foods for good gut bacteria.

I don't know if it's diet related but I'm very healthy, I run marathons and rarely ever get poorly.

Most days it's not really hard. Soup for lunch, some sort of fruit snack, raspberries were reduced so had those today, bag of salad with some artichoke hearts (from a jar) cherry tomatoes and fish for dinner. An apple and some more raspberries in the evening. . Very fruit heavy today but often have lots of veg days.

I think I'm quite lucky that I get free food at work of the soup/ saladtype stuff. I had an amazing salad at work on Monday hot oak smoked salmon and prawns. It was massive, I struggled to finish it and thought of Mumsnet!

When I was pregnant with DC3 it was a case of, yeah you can drink coffee in the garden, whilst I eat TOAST. A certain amount of going with the flow , is just fine.

How are peoples teeth coping with all the fruit?! 😆

It’s only made up because people weren’t likely to attempt the true recommendation of 8-10. It’s well documented that high fruit and veg intake has a positive effect on health, so it’s not helpful to say people should eat the amount they want and that will be the most healthy thing for them.

Yes and usually more. I eat tomatoes for breakfast and a big salad and protein for lunch. Dinner I double or triple up any veggies. If I eat fruit it's a banana, but not every day.

I aim for more than 30 different plants a week and I safely get 7-10 portions a day. I don’t eat a huge amount of fruit, mainly vegetables. I don’t eat much meat and I’m always trying to lose baby weight that won’t budge so I’m motivated to fill my plate with vegetables for that reason.

Exactly @Pestispeeved I suffered really bad with morning sickness with DC1 & struggled to eat well in early stages of pregnancy. He's now a very healthy & active toddler so I'm going very easy on myself this time around!!

I don't get how people can remember every single thing they ate in a day or even past days?!?!?

What you eat is pretty important for a healthy old age. More people apparently die of poor diet related to over eating and obesity than those in the world who don't have enough food. And they die younger than those with healthy diets (nb that doesn't include crisps and a takeaway sandwich...).

Same.

I had salad for lunch which had leaves tomatoes red onion sweetcorn radish.

Then veggie chilli for dinner including squash tomatoes red pepper avocado.

But smallish amounts of each.

That's my regular summer eve😁 I grew my own last few years.
My stomach is invincible

yes, today qualifying items were
apple juice
banana
salsa ingredients
mixed cooked veg (carrot, brocoli, cauliflower)

things that don't count: quiche, tortilla, cheese, pasta, cream, milk, tea, sausage, breaded chicken, honey, chocolate (albeit with raisins & nuts)

Most days we do but not always. So today we had a portion of berries and a banana for breakfast. I made Nasi goreng with peas/corn/carrot/onion/green beans and dinner we had pasta with pepper/courgette and a tomato & mascarpone sauce. We are currently snacking on hummus with baby cucumbers and I had a pear earlier. I think that’s about 7-8 portions. We struggle sometimes when out as we often end up grabbing toast or cereal for breakfast as it’s quick with something like a meat/egg/cheese sandwich, crisps and a piece of fruit for a picnic and then we go out for tea and might have something like a burrito. We maybe only end up with 2-3 fruit & veg those days