Five portions of fruit and veg

[TerriB]

I know I am being REALLY thick here, but when you read it is recommended that you eat 5 portions of fruit and veg a day, does that mean 5 portions of a mix of fruit and veg, or 5 of fruit and 5 of veg?

You'll be surprised at this! From my little can of Heinz spaghetti hoops the ingredients are:
Tomatoes (46%)
Spaghetti Hoops (41%)
Water, sugar, glucose syrup, wheat flour, blah de blah, iron & vitamins etc....

So, there you go. There are more tomatoes than spaghetti in a tin of spaghetti hoops!

Jude, but the 5 a day government guidelines say that half an avacado counts as one of the five. Isn't it a 'healthy' fat?

Soupdragon, thanks for that, I am shocked, I really wouldn't have thought there were so many tomatoes in spag hoops - I sit corrected! I think potatoes should count if they're cooked with skins on and not much fat (i.e I made potato wedges today roasted in olive oil and rosemary). But yes, take the point about people may believe crips count. Surely Avocado counts? It's a fruit technically and the fat is 'good' fat so surely it counts?

Now let's have a go at FruitShoot...... surely you cannot consider it healthy???? And it contains three E additives and aspartham, guar gum,..... I've just been to the shop and had a look!

What about ketchup Americans consider it a vegetable... so chips and ketchup - 2 vegetables + a glass of Sunny Delight - hmmm yummy

What about salad?, I know that tomatoes count but what about lettuce etc?

No way fruit shoot counts, let that one in and all squashes will count.

Salad veg must count surely? Unlike cooked veg it doesn't have any of it's nutrients destroyed by cooking.

Anybody read info on the "new" food pyramid - eg SciAm - seems that five a day is not the whole story! Here it recommends unlimited veg, at least 2-3 servings of fruit, see also this picture: new pyramid

Potatoes don't count, glycemic index is too high (also rice, white flour etc are out).

Re salad, I read somewhere that lettuce is nutritionally pretty empty - an expensive way of drinking water! But tomatoes, peppers, carrots etc are all full of antioxidents - all the colourful veg - not that DS eats any of these. Avocado oil is a "good" oil I think - like olive oil or rapeseed.

Salad leaves do count. Sainsbury's do salad portion bags and they refer to the "counts as one portion of fruit/veg" system.

Cooking doesn't destroy nutrients. Cooked tomatoes and cooked carrots are more nutritious than raw. Also carrots with butter on are more nutritious because the fat makes the vit A more accessible!! hooray!

looking at the 5 a day site - you need to eat a whole bowl full of spinach in order to have a portion! Can that be right? It would make sense if it was before cooking (since it shrivels so much), but the chart says "as eaten". Now I love spinach, but even I would have trouble eating a whole bowlful! think I would prefer the 3 tablespoons of cabbage, that make up a portion of that....

Surely they must mean before cooking?

Actually, Alhoa, cooing can destroy some nutrients. The vitamins that are water soluble can be lost into the cooking water whilst you cook them, and there are a few nutrients that are denatured if heated too much (above 60?).

My memory is failing though. I will go away and look in one of my biology books, and report back later!

Oh No! Oakmaiden - my dd coos every time I eat fruit, will this really lose nutrients?

Oops!

Yeah, all that cooing is really dangerous toyour vitamin count!

I should have typed 'doesn't destroy ALL nutrients'. If it's caretenoids you are after then you will get a much bigger dose from cooked carrots, broccoli and spinach than from uncooked. About five times as much, as cooking breaks down the cell walls. There is clearly a distinction between 'cooked' and 'boiled to buggery', however

Isn't lettuce supposed to be really bad for you because they drown it will pesticides? I know they use this stuff on all our fruit and veg, but it's supposed to be particularly high on lettuce.

See todays times for more pro-coloured vege talk (and anti-lettuce talk).

Reviving this thread as I found this in Eve magazine: 1 portion of fruit/veg is:
2 medium spears of brocoli
8 florets cauliflower
1/2 grapefruit
5 passion fruit
2 tbsp peas (garden, processed, mushy)
1 globe artichoke
1 small glass fruit juice
2 kiwi fruit
2 tbsp baked beans
12 mushrooms
1 hadnful dried fruit
4 semi-dried prunes or 6 prunes
1 large tomato or 6 cherry tomatoes
5 asparagus spears
2 tbsp coleslaw
80g/3oz cabbage or lettuce
1/2 avocado pear
3 fresh apricots
2 tbsp broad beans
8 tbsp bean sprouts
2 tbsp carrots
1/2 punnet mustard cress
1 medium apple or pear
5 fresh or 4 dried figs
1 medium leek
1 cereal bowl of salad
1 heaped tbsp tomato puree
1 small banana
3 plums/damsons
7.5cm cucumber
3 celery sticks
2 tbsp spinach
1 corn on the cob
1/2 mango
2 tbsp diced turnip
100g pinapple
200g watermelon
2 tbsp chickpeas
1 whole pepper

Mammya - Wonderful! Thank you for that.

I must confess that much as I try I never get to 5 fruit & veg a day - although ds1 and ds2 do!

Do you?

OK ... what's everyone favourite fruit and why?

A starter for 10 is strawberries because they're lushious and make me smile!

And why is it so difficult to eat 5 fruit and veg? I reckon I don't eat enough fruit because it's a hassle!

Pancake - in theory my fave is mango but only if it is perfect - but give me any sort of watermelon and I am a happy, happy woman!

A company called Forever Living Products do a fab product called Fields of Green - you take 2 tablets (which also have cayenne pepper in to boost your metabolism!) and that is equivalent to 6 portions of fruit and veg - plus you eat whatever you can manage - that way, you don't have to worry!!

PS My favourite fruit is cider!!

Baba ... naughty ... naughty .... I know what you are doing