10 FRUIT AND VEGES PORTIONS A DAY = BANKRUPCY

How on earth can non-lottery winners afford ten portions of fruit and veges every single day of the week? This has now been recommended, as the five a day seemingly isn't any longer enough to promote good health.......

[Hidden]

Yes I already do most of that. I'm just talking about the new fruit/veges guidelines. I don't think onions cooked in stews for example and mushrooms as well are high in vitamin c -- antioxidants -- I don't put those on the same nutritional level as say tomatoes/kale/spinach. And I try to eat those 3 as often as I can but it works out so expensive if 80g counts as just one portion. I put herbs in my casseroles but I don't really think these can count as one portion? Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong but I don't see how bits of this veg and bits of that veg in stews etc can add up to make up 560g of vegetables. Tinned and frozen fruit are apparently bad for us now. Recent reports indicate they contribute towards illnesses like cancer even. I get so fed up hearing such conflicting reports about what is good for us one day is detrimental to our health the next. But eating vegetables high in fibre and vitamins and fruits high in antioxidents is being proven more and more to be beneficial to warding off dying of ANY illness, and the emphasis is on "high". When you cook herbs, mushrooms, cabbage, carrots etc most of the goodness is destroyed with all the cooking. Eating veges that are just raw or steamed retain their goodness and its these veges that are so expensive, if you count 80g as one portion.

[allyg in reply to Hidden]

Hi. Sarah. have been following your views.

I don't see how you think eating all the veg is costly, just try and find a local farm shop, also just get rid of all the sugar foods and any thing that contains preservatives, cut down on bread, only buy bread from a bakery not supermarket all their bread contains preservatives for shelf life.

Regards. Allyg

[Hidden in reply to allyg]

No-one on here is understanding my point. I am purely going on 560g of vegetables/fresh fruit EVERY DAY. 560g every day IS expensive. We're advised to eat 7 portions a day. Yes? And one portion is 80g. Yes? So many on here just count throwing in a vege stock cube as 1 portion, or a "few" mushrooms as another and a "few" herbs as another. These do not add up to 80g a portion. I don't eat all the things I'm told to steer clear of on here either. I'm purely talking about 560g of FRESH vegetables/fruit. Just try weighing 80g of every single vegetable/fruit you go to add as one portion until you get to 560g and then tell me that's still not expensive. If you can do that then I'm having one enormous senior moment and need to lie down in a dark room.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

ps -- I don't understand why I'm advised to avoid all sugar foods/juices and bread. Because that is not what my thread is about.......

[Penel in reply to Hidden]

Hi Sarah

Yes I think it could become expensive. I prefer to eat seasonal veg, if I had to eat imported fruit or veg it would push up the cost.

Plus I don't think I could physically manage to eat that volume, not without some serious digestive problems.

[Hidden in reply to Penel]

exactly Penel. I don't see how many people could consume that amount. I've been eating that amount daily because that's what every article, media, tv documentaries, Dr Hilary on Daybreak and Dr Chris on This Morning etc etc say that's the recommended amount. It IS a lot. And expensive.

[farmerfester in reply to Hidden]

Sarah I agree with you entirely

[cyclist3]

I grow my own. Apart from the satisfaction of seeing them grow, the freshness can't be beaten!

[ChasB]

It all depends on how highly you value your health!! G-BOMBS is a good way to remember the best nutrition Greens, Beans, Onons, Mushrooms, Berries, Seeds. Good health to all!

[ChasB]

Onions!

[ChasB]

Onions includes garlic and leeks.

[Hidden]

Yes I agree but its the PORTION SIZES I'm referring to. I keep reading that a portion size is 80g.And we're recommended to eat 7 of those. That's when, for me, it gets expensive.

[cleocat]

Cant you substitute the good veggies for meat at some meals? My friends are always complaining about what butcher meat costs. I am following the LCHF diet and it's not easy for me as a vegetarian to do this either but I have printed off recipes I found online for veggie LCHF and they are really good. I don't care how much good food costs - I cant spend money if I'm "pushing up daisies" so I buy the best I can afford and always try to buy organic.

Good luck with all those veggies!

[MikePollard]

Agree 100%!

[DakCB-UK]

You can sneak two portions quite cheaply with a glass of fruit juice a day and a tablespoon of dried fruit (but beware the sugar rush others mention) and other than that, I'd buy seasonal and local and buy on the open market if you still have one near you and it shouldn't be too expensive (from about £10/person/week for the fresh stuff at the cheapest times, if you pick carefully). If the lying supermarkets (lots of overpriced veg packed in sealed bags of nitrogen or chlorine, kept too long and transported too much) have killed your local real markets, look for farm box schemes or farm shops.

[patto]

We seem to have forgotten how to listen to our bodies. We are so busy listening to the 'experts'. My husband makes vats of vegetable soup which we freeze in small containers and eat for lunch. Apart from that we eat a reasonable amount of fruit and veg - 5 or more a day but we don't count! The 'experts' keep changing their minds. I know which foods make me feel healthy but I had to stop dieting and following ever changing advice before I could start listening to my body.

[jeny1eye]

I certainly can't agree with removing all pasta, potatoes etc. I'm sure the body needs these as well as fruit and veg: we should be having a plate with half veg, quarter meat or fish and a quarter carbs.

[patch14]

The conflicting advice that we have been given over the past 30 years has driven us to question everything we read and hear! As those above have said, listen to your body. A regular amount of fruit and vegetables daily along with fresh meat, fish, pulses etc., can be incorporated into the diet without too much extra cost. Once the processed food is removed, the ready meals and the bottled smoothies etc., that a laden with sugars and salts, it is amazing how much money you actually do end up saving.

My husband and I ate yesterday - Muesli, wholemeal toast with home made marmalade and a small orange juice.

Lunch Salad (with lettuce, peppers, sliced onion, cucumber, tomatoes and a light dressing) with a mushroom omelette. a slice of homemade fruit cake

Supper - pork chop from our local butcher with home made apple sauce, potatoes, cabbage and carrots and then banana and custard to follow.

By my reckoning we had 11 portions of fruit and veg. I know there is conflicting advice when they state that a portion of salad only counts as 1 but as I have added so many other vegetables to the plate in portion sizes my salad alone has 5 portions along with the mushrooms in the omelette! That I think is the problem. The "experts" can't agree what a "portion" is!!! Just enjoy your food and eat as many vegetables and fruit that you can incorporate into your menus during the day. Homemade soup is a great way of incorporating loads of veg. You can buy a casserole pack of veg for about £1, (that alone will give you about 2 portions of vegetables per person) add a vegetable stock cube and a few dried herbs then cook together, liquidise and serve( will serve 4) with some crusty bread. By following this with a salad as above and an omelette with a vegetable filling such as mushrooms and ending the meal with a portion of fresh fruit should not break the bank.

Anything eaten to excess can be harmful. Tinned fruit and vegetables can be great to keep in stock for emergencies and the occasional tinned fruit dessert will not cause any undue problem. A trifle is sometimes made in our family for parties and holiday celebrations - loved by the children - with tinned fruit added. Always sugar free though as you can get fruit canned in juice and not sugar syrup. Every little helps!

[Terjo]

Just cut out meat and add pulses and always eat whole grain. The rest of the veg and fruit and herbs easily make up a healthy diet. We buy from local shops and market stalls which are far cheaper than the super markets. Potatoes are a healthy food it is just the amount we eat of everything that makes us overweight . Nuts are a good nibble . In the wartime we used to buy carrots to eat after school as sweets were in very short supply. Terry

[malcolmp]

Vegetables are not that expensive to buy and if you grew your own veg at the season it was supposed to be grown in you would not need to eat as much because it would have a much higher nutritional value than the rubbish that you buy from the supermarkets.If your lifestyle makes this difficult source it from a farm shop that grows there own produce.You have to look at the reasoning behind the increase in quantity to get a true picture behind the recommendations.

[Hidden]

I wish they would change the recommendation to just vegetables rather than fruit and vegetables. At one point I was drinking lots of Innocent smoothies thinking I was doing something healthy, now I read that I have been consuming too much fruit sugar (fructose).

[Hidden]

I never drink fruit juice for that reason.

[deepblue]

I am currently eating about 7 portions of veg/fruit a day (2 fruit and 5 veggies) and find it only adds about a £1 a day to my shopping bill - however this is cancelled out by not eating biscuits/cakes etc so much. I have banana with my breakfast, something like mushroom omelette and salad for lunch, or a homemade soup made with root veggies and cabbage and a cheap turkey leg (this last four days). For dinner meat or fish with stir fry or something like shepherds pie with carrot and butternut squash topping. I try and buy cheaper veggies such as cabbage, carrots, parsnips, butternut squash,swede,kale etc which are very nutritious. Then I have melon or mango or something for tea. So far I have lost weight and blood pressure gone down. Feel pretty good on this diet. You can do it at not too much extra cost with a bit of planning and eating less junk food.

[Penel in reply to deepblue]

Sounds really good.

[Hidden in reply to deepblue]

And you are actually eating 560g of veges and fruit a day?? 560g? Honestly??

[deepblue]

Yes Sarah, quite easy as things like butternut squash, carrots, bananas, apples etc are quite heavy. For instance one apple, one banana, couple of toms,couple carrots = 400grams and thats only breakfast,lunch and snack. Then if I eat say 100g of cabbage + some beans + melon for dinner that easily takes me over. I find this easy if I half fill my plate with veggies at dinner and just have either no carbs or a little rice + a palm size piece of fish/meat etc. I have carbs at breakfast plus getting some with the veggies/fruit, so its only a LOWER carb diet, not a low carb diet as I feel I need some carbs to combat depression. This diet does give me lots of energy and I feel pretty good on it, so as someone suggested am listening to my body really and not just following diet advice blindly. Its taken me a long time to find all this out though!!