Do you eat five portions of fruit/veg a day?

[Darkling1]

I plan my meals around what fruit/veg we have at home, so I consume my five fruit and veg most days!

I remember that target feeling impossible as a child, but I find it much easier as an adult.

Yes, more than probably 7+ tbh.
I have salad and or veg sticks with lunch most days and at least 3 portions of veg with dinner.
Fruit at various points in the day.

Including spices and seeds, I am upto 20 a day, as my daily diet includes turmeric, cumin, garlic, ginger, tamarind, mustard seeds etc etc.

Same here. I eat a minimum of 8 a day, often more. As a vegan who doesn't like the fake stuff, there really isn't an option!

So yesterday, for example

B Muesli and milk (luxury one chock full of fruit and nuts so that must count as one portion!)

L chickpea curry and rice (veg in that red pepper, sweet potato, onion, cherry tomatoes, garlic, ginger, chilli)
grapes

D BBQ chicken, salad and new potatoes (lettuce, onion, carrot, pepper, tomato, cucumber)
cherries

It's easy.

No way?! I assume you’d need a lot (in terms of quantity) for it to count though? I’ll look into this!

I prefer to look at it across the week and also include herbs/spices/legumes/nuts and seeds. To get that diversity for the gut health and we don’t just get nutrition from fruit/veg. So 20-30 different types over the week is recommended. Which i probably cover.

No, not as your 5 a day- I meant they count in the idea that you should eat 30 different types of plant foods in a week. Sorry for the lack of clarity!

I understood a portion is what can be held in your hand. A handful of spice sounds improbable.

Yes, I went vegan before there were many of the processed fake meat options, so I never got into the habit of eating them, which in hindsight, was a good thing because I had to learn how to cook with whole foods and make them taste good!

I do have a sneaky fake bacon sandwich once in a while, but 99 percent of my diet is natural whole foods out of necessity.

cross post

Definitely have more than 5 different fruit and veg a day, but I don’t pay too much attention to the quantities of each, so maybe not hitting the target every day. (I eat small banana for example, they probably done count as a whole portion).

Yes I'm interested in how much spice counts as a portion as currently I count 1 portion as a rough handful.

Lots of cultures eat 30 plants a week quite naturally without tweaking diets.

Spices don’t count as one of your “a-day”’portions. The a-days should be a serving size of 80g.

Spices and things count towards the idea that alongside your 5 a day you should also be trying to hit variety so 30 different plants a week should be part of your diet. But this does include things like cereals, nuts and spices.

they are all good for you. But it’s also about not tricking yourself into thinking you are healthy if you hit the 5 a day, but they are the same 5 every day, week in week out.

Probably not some days. Today I’ve had a load of cucumber for lunch. Tonight’s tea won’t involve any veg unless OH picks me up some mushrooms. And I’ll have a few strawberries after. I have to be very careful with fruit and can only manage a few strawberries or raspberries.

No veg at all. Berries every day in the breakfast bowl with chia and flax seed + wheat bran and Greek yogurt. Blood tests every six months show no issues at all. Rarely eat meat either, so it's fish, cheese and eggs mostly.

I don't believe all of these x per day instructions. Too much pressure for little reward really. But I suppose we all think we are doing the right thing FOR US! Protein, fibre, iron are the important things for me.

I did once list the different plants I ate in a week though and it was way over 30.

Cant remember the last time I had a vegetable.

I agree that you need to have a varied intake of fruit and vegetables. I suppose this is where it gets tricky as I'll admit mine are fairly similar.

It’s so difficult, isn’t it? I’m always deficient in something or other when I have blood tests.

I am currently trying to boil and pulp vegetables, trying out eg making root mash with a bit of potato and turnip. Then I freeze it and reheat it. Seems to break it down more. Tiny amounts.

Funnily enough I can manage frozen and boiled corn on the cob. And tinned tomatoes for some reason. Again, in small amounts.

Otherwise it’s vitamin and mineral supplements. <sad face>

I absolutely hate bananas unfortunately, I do eat cucumber, I've never really tried sweet potato but could give it a go

Apparently it should be 10 a day but the government thought we would all find that too daunting and not bother so they lowered it to 5.
And no, I don't.

Easily, but I'm vegan.

IBS shouldn't cause vomiting, have you had other investigations?

Not as much as I should. A lot of fruit gives me a sore mouth so I have to be careful. I eat about two veg a day, more if I make a stew. I try to have a banana a day.