Please inspire me - I'm really struggling with my 5-a-day

[MissPollysTrolleyed]

I'm 17 weeks and still feeling rubbish so I've just had four slices of toast for my tea as I haven't the energy or stomach for cooking so am living on empty fillers. It's probably a vicious circle and I'll feel better if I eat healthier so has anyone got any easy healthy pregnancy faves that might inspire me to don my apron?

PS - I am eating fruit but I think you can only count two pieces of fruit towards your 5-a-day so I'm looking for ideas to help get veg down my reluctant gullet.

Bumping because I need help too!
Mmm lots of toast- yum

Beans on toast? Orange juice can count as 1 of your 5.

Tomatoes and cheese on toast?

Seabuck here's one dinner I make regularly to try to get plenty of veg into me: sausage, sweet potato mash, roasted red onion and curly kale. Yum.

Fruit can only count as 2 portions? Oh no - I'm scuppered!
I love chips, but am trying not to eat too many of them...however if you slice up courgettes and carrots and spritz them in one cal olive oil spray then stick them in the oven, they're almost as good!

Great tip Haggis. There's tomorrow's tea sorted .

crudites of cucumber, carrot, celery, cauliflower and wholemeal pittas with dips- easy to prep and snack on.

Salad? Quick to prepare, & easy to tick off a few portions there. 5cm of cucumber (this always amuses me!) & 7 cherry tomatoes are 1 portion each. I tend to have a salad for lunch, then don't feel so bad if I don't manage to eat so well in the evening. (example: tuna salad for lunch today, about to have fish & chips!)

Are you sure fruit only counts as 2 of your 5? I didn't realise that, just thought it was best to try and keep to 2 or 3 because of the sugar.

Veggie wise:
raw carrot sticks, celery, peppers etc with hummus, salsa tomato dip or guacamole
vegetable stir-fry
vegetable soups/broths.

I'm still determined to try this out one day after I saw it linked on chatCauliflower pizza

I just ate 1/2 pot noodle for the first time in my life, I can be of no help :( but am watching with hope!

Pasta and vegetable bake,Cauliflower Cheese,Vegetable soup,Salads,love them covered in seeds and herby croutons,Pasta Salad,Stuffed Peppers,Stuffed Mushrooms,Vegetable Quiche,Vegetable Frittata.

I haven't got the best diet in the world I love chocolate, crisps, biscuits etc I went shopping today and bought selection of dried fruit and seeds etc today to try and nibble on (and added raisins to cereal for lunch!)

Vit tablets and fibrogel if necessary :)

(Not exactly 'natural' but early on when I felt rough toast was all I could handle some days)

Like you I struggle to get 5 a day at the moment as I just don't seem to feel like fruit and veg! Things I have tried are:

• adding a banana or handful raisins to breakfast cereal
• having raspberries or strawberries covered in yoghurt for dessert
• roasted red and yellow peppers mixed with couscous pesto and chicken/halloumi is a nice lunch
• cucumber and carrot sticks with hummous is a nice lunch or snack
• stick a few handfuls spinach in a pasta sauce
• coleslaw is nice in a sandwich or jacket potato

I was bad for the first 12 weeks too. Living off bread and crisps!

I feel a bit better now and have started to eat more healthy. the healthier I eat, the better I feel. I know I can only have 1 slice of bread a day as otherwise I start feeling sick. Someone linked to a study on another thread I'm on about how how carbs aren't good for morning sickness.

theprimalparent.com/2012/04/12/high-carb-diet-cause-morning-sickness/

I love Aworryingtrends ideas but here are some more;

Pasta with some pesto, green beans and cherry tomatoes or any other veg.
Frozen veggie or beanburgers with some frozen veg (bags of steam fresh are good for that)
fruit, Salad or veg with every meal you eat.

It is always said that it is good to mash an avocado onto toast.

I have had problems with getting a mash-able avocado into the house on the same day as a loaf of bread (not big on toast round here) so it's not a personal recommendation, but it does seem relevant.

Buy a bag of frozen casserole veg (I use tesco, it's about £1), boil up with a load of stock and a tin of chopped tomatoes, then blitz in food processor. It's a slimming world soup recipe, but takes so little effort and has so many vitamins in, I used to figure if I had a bowl or 2 of this every day I'd be fine!!

Im like some of you - carving the carbs! Esp during the first 12 weeks or so, I just couldnt stop eating crisps and didnt fancy any sort of fruit at all!
Am now 20 weeks and things are a bit better.
I generally try to get my 5 a day as follows:

1 glass of orange juice with breakfast
An apple as a mid-morning snack
Veggie soup or beans on toast or a salad for lunch
Some grapes or pineapple as a mid-afternooon snack
Some veg with my evening meal - ie. corgettes, pea, onion & bacon pasta; veggie stir fry; spag bol (tomato sauce and throw in a few carrots); bangers, mash, peas and onion gravy (a particular fav!).

Is tricky though and I do indulge in crisps, choclates and biscuits too!!

SOUP SOUP SOUP SOUP! You can have lots of bread with it (wholemeal if possible) to satisfy the carb cravings knowing you are getting the veg in at the same time :)

The avocado on toast that TheSurgeonsMate suggested is a good one, or make your own guacamole with the avocado and a bit of garlic, lemon juice and chilli flakes - great on oatcakes.

Also tuna mayo with either sweetcorn (good fibre) or chopped peppers with toast.

Add tomatoes or cucumber or lettuce to sandwiches.

Tins of mixed beans also count as veg (even though they are pulses!) and can be added to salads for a bit of bulk.

I would really recommend snack type veg that are easy to just munch whenever you feel peckish and don't want to cook. (Raw veg have more nutrients too).

• radishes
• cucumber
• sugar snap peas
• cherry tomatoes
• baby avocadoes
• raw cauliflower/broccoli (if you like it)
• raw carrots (bit more effort as they do need peeling!)

Slow cookers are great for almost effortless meals that you can pack plenty of veg into, you can pick them up really cheaply (around £10-£15 sometimes in supermarkets/Argos etc). Also handy being able to cook up a big batches to have extra portions for the freezer.

Bung in a load of veg/pulses and some stock in the morning, when you're ready to eat just blitz with a blender and pour into bowls. Also great for stews and casseroles, chilli, spag bol, curry etc too. Most of the time recipes say to brown meat first but it's not really necessary, in most cases it just makes the meat look more appealing.

You can really bulk out meals like spag bol with extra veg, add in a combination of carrot, red split lentils, celery, peppers, peas etc, on top of the tomatoes and onion it's easy to include five different types of veg in one meal.

Since ive been pregnant can't stand meat smell and taste, so ive ended up going veggie, some of my staples are veg chilli with tinned chopped toms and kidney beans both count to 5 a day and throw in peppers, onion, and carrots. Have with pitta bread or rice. Pasta and jar of sauce and veg peppers, courgete, aubergiene etc. Jacket spud with beans/ cheese/ tuna and salad. Just had home made veg soup for tea with half a french stick for the carbs fix!

Onions are one of your 5 so make sure you use them as a base. Asparagus is now in season and they cook in about 3 mins. Frozen veg also good. Bananas also count.

If you're really feeling lazy try the innocent veg pots. 4 mins in microwave and 2 of your five.

It's worth mentioning that the 5 a day rule is about ensuring you get enough fibre. So if you're not getting it through fruit and veg you can also increase it by eating wholesale bread, whole wheat pasta, porridge etc

Don't know if anyone else has mentioned it but dried fruit is great, 30g is one portion of your 5 a day. I stick 30g each of dried apricots, banana chips and apple rings in a tupperware box for snacking on. I hate trying to get my 5 a day in and this is so easy, plus it keeps the dreaded constipation at bay...

Interesting about the fibre Msfickle. I have a big bowl of muesli every morning so hopefully that helps on that score.

Exexe that study is so interesting. I've finally been feeling a little better the past few days and am actually feeling fully normal today for the first time since the early weeks of pregnancy and have been able to eat much more healthily so I'm hoping that my diet and I are entering a new virtuous cycle!