Healthy Eating

We are all told that to stay fit and healthy we should eat at least 5 portions of fruit & vegetables every day.

For one who’s not keen on vegetables this can be quite tricky, so how do you get enough portions and who the hell ever tells you how much a ‘portion’ is?

Granted, many manufacturers now include this on the packaging of their products:

“This provides one of your recommended 5 daily portions”

and for those of you who can’t read they include a nice clear pie chart. Fair enough, even I can add up to 5, I have enough fingers, which is lucky because taking off your socks and shoes to get your toes out in the supermarket is frowned upon. But what if your eating strawberries, cherries or some other small fruit?

How many strawberries constitute a portion? If you ask my kids, a portion is as many as you can pick and eat from the garden before I catch you, but that’s not a lot of help if you are trying to follow the government guidelines for healthy eating.

I decided at this point of my ranting, I should maybe do a little research and see if I could find some answers on the net to illustrate my point… and I found a full list of the quantity of fruit and vegetable that represent 1 portion. So for all you lovely people who are just itching to know the answer to my question you need wonder no more:-

1 portion is equal to:

7 fresh strawberries or 14 fresh cherries!!

I bet you were all gagging to know that weren’t you! If you want the full list, you can download a PDF file from here, the Department of Health’s website; but please ... don’t all rush at once, we’ll eat their bandwidth (and no that won't count towards your 5 daily portions!!). The following is an extract from the guidance given on that website, now pay attention, because I'll be asking questions at the end!!!

The health benefits of fruits and vegetables.

Increasing consumption of fruit and vegetables can significantly reduce the risk of many chronic diseases. It has been estimated that eating at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables a day could reduce the risk of deaths from chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke, and cancer by up to 20%.

Higher consumption of fruit and vegetables also reduces the risk of coronary heart disease and stroke. A recent study found that each increase of 1 portion of fruit and vegetables a day lowered the risk of coronary heart disease by 4% and the risk of stroke by 6%.

So, my question is this:

If you buy your salad as a pre-packed item at the supermarket, does the protein content count as one of your 5-a-day?

Well - does it?

and if it does..

... is it really fair...

... to make them eat it?

Have a nice lunch!