"Seven a day"

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.

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)

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

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.

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!

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

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.

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.

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.