Five or Ten a Day - do you?

We easily manage 5 a day probably even 7 but not sure of 10. Fruit with breakfast, masses of tomatoes with salad for lunch probably with a wrap of some sort. We are definitely avid meat eaters but equally insist on veges. We do have one day a week meat free but it's not a totally vegetarian day. I'm a dairy freak, OH less so, if there is an excuse for milk, butter, cheese or cream I'll find it. Unfortunately it puts inches on the waistline! It's very sobering to read some reports on how meat and dairy production is affecting the ecosystem and climate, but I haven't bitten the bullet to go meat or dairy free seriously. Now what's for dinner..........lamb steaks, with myriad veg of course.

I suspect one of the way we can fall down on this even when we're eating super-healthy big plates of just-picked veggies is repeats or big portions of just a few things. MrPP gets very grumpy when I tell him his tomato salad in the evening didn't count because he'd already had a portion of tomatoes for lunch! Five different things can be a challenge, even with our own veg plots.

Do you reckon if you eat the roots and leaves of a bunch of beetroot it counts as one or two? I think two, leaves and roots being nutritionally different.

I never count how many veg I have a day.I am also a confirmed carnivore, usually having meat with most meals. Most of the veg and fruit I eat comes either from the allotment or the hedgerows.

I love fish as well and usually have it twice a week.

Just saying.

This man, right here. Is talking my language.   . 

The fish we eat has to be caught first. We don’t catch, we don’t eat fish.  Mussels we by directly from the farm. Scallops we’ll only by hand dived ( so only for special occasion), salmon we get occasionally ( I’ll say no more   ).

as for 5 a day, not a clue. Better things to do than count vegetables!

I suspect one of the way we can fall down on this even when we're eating super-healthy big plates of just-picked veggies is repeats or big portions of just a few things. MrPP gets very grumpy when I tell him his tomato salad in the evening didn't count because he'd already had a portion of tomatoes for lunch! Five different things can be a challenge, even with our own veg plots.

Do you reckon if you eat the roots and leaves of a bunch of beetroot it counts as one or two? I think two, leaves and roots being nutritionally different.

I sympathise with MrPP.
10 x 80g portions of 10 different fruit/veg - from the garden is challenging for the gardener, the cook and the eater!!

Having looked at some of the portion sizes - 3 tabsps of peas or carrots for example, I couldn't be bothered to cook that small amount for myself - I'd have to double or treble the amount to make it worth eating!!
IIRC there was half a courgette or a 2" length of cucumber or 1 tomato. 

I'm definitely a carnivore, but less and less carbs these days. Usually a steak with masses of kale and peas with a tart dressing of some kind, or a roast chicken that lasts me four or five meals easily, and quite often find myself doing various mexican dishes, usually without the bread, but sometimes with rice that has masses of veg mixed in!

I couldn't be without meat or fish. I am very lucky that I live near famous fish docks, and often go there and get a whole side of salmon or sea trout for less than you pay for four portions in the supermarkets. I also have access to massive bags of frozen prawns very cheaply, larger prawns either cooked or raw.... again at prices that pales in comparison to normal shops. And the crab, omg.

I eat a lot of fruit, mostly as pudding in the evenings with a bit of yoghurt, but also as mid-morning snacks at work. A bit of everything on my plate throughout the day for me

I’m not entirely sure, I get grumpy if there’s nothing green on my plate. I crave iron rich flavours sprouts, kale, cabbage, even the subtle couli, so even if we are having a takeaway like we did tonight it was chicken saag and pilau rice with added home spinach, and a salad of cherry toms and cuc from the garden.

OH and DD would probably make do with 5, though DD has been told off by the dentist for having too much fruit before now. A lunch for her consists of a wrap, Apple, Kiwi, grapes, blueberries, tomatoes, cucumber and carrot sticks plus a packet of crisps. It’s nothing for her to polish of 4-5 pieces of fruit in one sitting, she’d happily suck on a slice of lemon.

I think I have about 3 portions per meal generally. Today was banana, apple and blueberries at breakfast with porridge, peas, carrots and swede mash at lunch with some sliced ham from the butchers, and tomatoes, cuc and spinach for tea. Yet it felt like a veg light day so perhaps I normally have more, either that or my portion sizes are normally more generous.

I don’t think 10 is an unreasonable target, if I was to add snacks into the day, I tend to consider dried fruit as sugar so a handful of raisins, apricots or dates are sugary treats not fruit aren’t they? I need a dehydrator then I could add sliced apples, pears and fruit leathers into the equation along with the pickled veg that goes into salads and sandwiches I think I do ok.

I think I have about 3 portions per meal generally. Today was banana, apple and blueberries at breakfast with porridge, peas, carrots and swede mash at lunch with some sliced ham from the butchers, and tomatoes, cuc and spinach for tea. 

You do have some strange tastes, Mikey - Porridge and veg for lunch!!

Like your daughter, I've been told off for eating too much fruit and eroding the enamel on my front teeth. The dentist said I should cut the fruit into ladylike slices and put them singly into my mouth, not take huge bites from a whole fruit. It seems an apple a day will keep the doctors away but not the dentist.

That’s not strange V it’s gruel, can I have some more master?

Awakening this thread with some new news!! https://wickedleeks.riverford.co.uk/feat...bout-food/

Wicked Leeks: Is following five-a-day on fruit and veg actually a good rule to follow?

Tim Spector: We now know five-a-day doesn’t cover the diversity of plants that our body needs to thrive. Aiming for 30 different plants every week is more beneficial. Eating only a combination of the same lettuce, apple, cucumber, tomato and carrot is simply not enough for us to be in great health; we need to change it up and start using more spices, herbs and seasonal plants grown locally.

So the question is - do you eat 30 different plants every week?
I've no idea. May need to start counting herbs and spices to find out!

Nowhere near in winter time.