"Seven a day"

I have never heard anything so ridiculous. I was thinking about how much fruit and veg my DiL would have to buy every week in order to hit these targets.

My DGC happen to love fruit and vegetables. Even on a good day it would be hard to give them 7 items. My GD's dentist recently reminded mum "not to forget that there is sugar in fruit". You really can't win.

As a vegetarian I'm always surprised at how low the recommended amounts are.

Last time my DH logged our daily intake I had notched up 28 portions and he'd made it to 32. We've usually had the 5 for breakfast (apple, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, plums etc). But we do love vegetables in particular.

I don't find them expensive either as we live on quite a modest budget. I assume not buying meat and only a few convenience foods helps in that respect.

It's not that difficult to hit the 7, though given our national not very healthy approach to eating, it takes some thinking about. some fruit with breakfast, or at 11 o'clock, big mixed salad for lunch and some form of vegetarian main meal, or alternatively meat/fish with loads of veg or salad. It's a great pity that fruit and vegetables are so expensive in the UK. So much of it's imported of course, but even so, our own stuff it hugely expensive in comparison with lots of other european countries. I suspect cost to be a real problem for many families.

X posted Versavisa - we aren't vegetarian but only eat meat/fish two or three times a week so it isn't difficult to hit the 7

I suppose my first focus in food is vegetables. I don't eat much fruit after breakfast. And DH does eat fish occasionally if he's out. I don't know about the price of fruit and veg elsewhere iam64' though I remember from distant holidays in Europe that the quality was higher.

Ah, well, back to sowing more lettuce!

I think it is quite difficult to hit for school children Iam64. My GC have school lunch three days a week which are (at best) very poor. Most children have cereal for breakfast. Mine have their main meal in the evening where they will more often than not have 2-3 portions of veg (or salad) which they fortunately love but making that up to 7 will be quite difficult and very costly too.

They picked a strange day to announce this - April 1st?

Five-a-day was picked because it was deemed to be 'doable' but most Brits (excluding GNetters of course) don't even reach this amount.

It's good advice but of course the Great British Public will be up in arms shouting 'don't give us advice/tell us what to do' while at the same time expecting the NHS to pick up the bill for unhealthy life styles.

(Wanders off to crack level 30 of Candy Crush so doesn't have to read irate replies)

Sometimes I have 5 or 6 a day, sometimes fewer, sometimes more. Depends what I feel like eating.

DC and DGC all like fruit and veg, but sometimes it would be difficult to reach 5 or 6 a day - you can take a horse to water etc.

There is confusion, too, about what constitutes a 'portion'. It's actually a lot more than some people believe - e.g. a medium banana, two tangerines, a heaped tablespoon of sultanas count as one each. I expect the amount is reduced for children.

This kind of advice is bound to appeal to vegetarians who will insist it's not hard to achieve. That's because they don't eat meat!!

Will the advice change in a few year's time because of an increase in IBS and before anyone jumps on me I know of at least three people who have had to cut their intake of fruit for this reason.

How long before people start to get anaemia through not leaving room in their diet for a bit of meat? I know vegetarians usually can manage, but not everyone will do the research.

I would say we do, but counted over a week, rather than daily. Two bits of fruit with lunch, dried fruit with breakfast (got to have those Goji berries), several in veg soup for lunch about four times a week and two or three with dinner. Tends to be very seasonal with us because of the veg garden and definitely more fruit and salad in the summer, though we have kept the lamb's lettuce going this winter.
Only Level 30 of Candy Crush Aka? I am stuck on 530....
And completely off topic, OH has come in to tell me he can hear the first cuckoo....

Exactly rosequartz Sometimes my GC will eat a traditional dinner with meat and steamed vegetables, sometimes they will have salad, sometimes fruit salad too. Other times they might have a pasta or a curry or whatever. How on earth can anyone be expected to keep to a rigid 7 a day everyday?

Will this figure be 10 next year I wonder?

And how on earth am I supposed to do this AND keep to a low fibre diet....?

Here's my basic recipe for pasta sauce. Cooked, seasoned, then blitzed. Nothing to stop you adding this to mince, tinned tuna, etc.

Serves four (with pasta) and gives you four portions of vegetables per person.

1 large onion, chopped
2 celery sticks, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 leek, chopped
2 peppers, deseeded and chopped
2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes with garlic

Granted not low-fibre Alie

But that wouldn't give each person four portions of veg, Aka - not if three celery sticks is counted as one portion as per the list I read!

Ana my thoughts also.

rosequartz I also agree with you, it depends what you feel like eating. I have been known to have 10 in one day but yesterday only 1.

Large onion = 2
800g tinned toms = 4
2 peppers = 4
2 carrots = 4
1 leek = 1
2 celery sticks = 1

That adds up to 16 / 4 = 4

I'm counting carrots as fairly big and decent sized leek and celery.

Ah. 7 a day, lovely.

I can now have 5 Terry's chocolate oranges and 2 cherry bakewell's instead of 3 chocolate oranges and 2 cherry bakewell's.

One government policy I approve of.

DD1 told me it was the amount of fruit/veg that fits in the palm of your hand. If thats true them a child really doesn't need to eat 5 or 7 different types of fruit or veg
Potatoes are a vegetable for a start and with meat or fish I always do an onion. For my potassium levels ( because of BP meds) I eat 3-5 dried dates per day and when you consider the tins of tomatoes it is not so hard to hit the target of 5 per day.
Today we had pumpkin soup from the freezer. that must be 5 portions on its own.
The main reason for upping this to 7 per day is to frighten people and make them feel they are not keeping up and there fore responsible for their own ill health.
My mother always said it was the creaking gates that lived longest, and I'm sure we all know a 90+ year olds who never bothered much about diet and who were still battling on enjoying their tea and toast and their fish and chips.

"apple, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, plums etc" - an expensive breakfast for many families I think.

Potatoes don't count Margaret and you can only count things once POGS so you can only count 1 chocolate orange

Left out 1 courgette from my recipe ... oops!

Can anyone tell me .... do nuts count? Can find this answer online but they are 'vegetable' (as opposed to animal and mineral) aren't they? And how about seeds, eg pumpkin, sunflower?