5 A Day recommendation by the British NHS

[Alfred_B]

The British National Health Service recommends 5 A Day diet as part of balanced diet. Almost all fruits and veggies count, except regular potatoes, as part of it.

I'm a vegan and I find it difficult to meet that goal of 5 fruits or veggies a day. I will have to overeat if I want to meet that goal. So I try to eat low calorie things like tomatoes to have a healthy caloric intake and meet this goal as well.

Can you eat 5 A Day?

https://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/5ADAY/Pages/Whatcounts.aspx

 

[Alfred_B]

Oops, it should have been in the Foods section.

 

[pandus13]

off-topic:
as a vegan, what are your usual/most used veggies/fruits/starches
and what are the unusual/rare/exotics you tried
?

(I think my Celiac Disease/Gluten free kid may became a strict vegan)

 

[Alfred_B]

These are the main basic staples.

The starches in cooking are sweet potatoes and squash.
The protein in cooking are from seeds like lentils, peas, beans, buckwheat and quinoa.
The oil is olive oil.

The diet itself incorporates a lot of fruit like citrus (lemons, oranges), apples, bananas, tomatoes, green/black olives, eggplants, green/red peppers, etc. The vegetables mainly are spinach, arugula, red onions and garlic.

I can't comment on the unusual stuff because I'm not sure what the usual stuff is. I would recommend to hit the local coop veggie isle or pay a visit to Asian/Indian/Arabic stores. The clerks can be very helpful for questions.

Cheese substitutes take a while to get used to but the homemade ones with nuts are nice. Commercially, the Daiya brand works well.

My wife has celiac so she is gluten free. It's substituted with gluten free flours which work well for a lot of recipes.

 

[fsdork]

https://www.livestrong.com/article/314315-vegetable-calories-per-gram/

The above site provides a fairly lengthy list of vegetables which work out to around 0.2 calories per gram. The NHS site indicates a serving of vegetables is 80g. 80g multiplied by 5 servings is 400g. 400x0.2=80 calories total for the 5 daily servings. I can't think of anyone who would be overeating at that rate.

As for how to get the intake accomplished, I find keeping homemade vegetable soup on hand is an easy an convenient way. Smoothies made with a limited amount of fruit, and a higher amount of kale, spinach, or the like also works well. Snacking on veggies and hummus is also good, although the hummus can bring the calorie count up a bit.

 

[69GTX]

5 a day seems pretty easy. I get 2-3 fruits every day (banana, raisins, apple usually....sometimes blueberries, pineapples)

My lunch salad consists of romaine or kale/carrot/celery/green pepper/broccoli or cauliflower/garlic and onions/avocado. Has to be at least 3-4 veggies there. Dinner might get another 1-2 veggies.

I do around 1800-2200 calories per day. The fruits and veggies are probably 1,000 calories or less. You won't gain weight eating that stuff. The non-fruit/veggie items are typically groats/oatmeal, beans/quinoa/rice, eggs/meat/fish, nuts/seeds.

 

[OneEyeJack]

Does this mean that if you leave the UK you don't have to do 5 a day, anymore?

 

[Rolla07]

2 fruits a day, and 3 vegetables per day? I dont find that hard. Breakfast 1-2 fruits, snack: Cut up cucumber with hummus =1, lunch, grilled chicken and 2 servings brocolli, and dinner at least 2 servings of vegetables. I usually eat 1/4 plate carbs (quinoa, rice, pasta, etc) and 1/2 plate vegetables and 1/4 plate meat.. okay usually meat lies on top of my carbs too.. lol.. still.. 5 should be pretty easy.. What are your typical meals in a day? Give us an idea of what you eat? Only way we can give advice.

 

[expat]

I had 4 fruits for breakfast Blueberries, Banana, apple and pear.

 

[Shannow]

Mid morning, I usually snack on a carrot, a stick of celery and a handfull of snow peas.

Lunch is usually a salad (super leaves), with some tomato and cucumber, and a little ham or roast chicken.

Dinner is meat and veges, or a stir fry, gumbo, spag bol or something like our "Chop suey".

Spag bol has about a pound of ground beef for the 4 of us, a couple of onions, two chopped carrots, two zucchinni, celery and tomatoes...feeds four, and makes a work lunch.

Chop suey
pound of ground beef
two chopped onions, and some garlic
two chopped carrots
chopped celery
sliced beans
packet of chicken noodle soup
desert spoon of curry powder, and a little soy sauce and water.
ten minutes from complete, and a quarter head of shredded cabbage, or half an asian cabbage.

Again, serves us four, and enough for a couple of breakfasts (great on toast)

It's not hard to get the vegetables in...I don't eat fruit typically (bar tomatos, zucchini etc. obviously)

 

[JHZR2]

80g is 2.8oz, not a lot. I get about 10/day by my guesstimate based upon what I typically pack for work, and eat for breakfast and dinner.