UK Vegetable recommendations now 7 servings daily

2

Replies

  • Beckilovespizza
    Beckilovespizza Posts: 334 Member
    Most definitely an April fools :)
  • brevislux
    brevislux Posts: 1,093 Member
    Here they recommend at least 9 a day in five different colors.
  • orangesmartie
    orangesmartie Posts: 1,870 Member
    The british public health recommendation has always been 7-8 portions a day, but the government back in the day (around 2004-5) decided that the public wouldn't wear that, so it was decided thay 5 portions would be a much more reasonable and achievable figure.
  • Vicxie86
    Vicxie86 Posts: 181 Member
    Today i'm having 200g sweet potatoe, 60g tangerin, 100g cucumber, 50g salad, 165g sweet corn, 50g tomatoe, 30g sweet pepper and 40g onions. Fruit and veg total for the day equals 685g *pat myself on the back*
  • orangesmartie
    orangesmartie Posts: 1,870 Member
    It has always been known that it should be 7+ but the government thought that setting it so high would put people off trying (hence the 5)

    additionally the reason potatoes are excluded is so that people can't say 'chips count'

    I really should read the whole thread before commenting.
  • asciiqwerty
    asciiqwerty Posts: 565 Member
    This is a bad joke. Most people are struggling to get food on the table at all and they come out with this just to rub salt in the wound. Potatoes, canned and frozen veg and fruit isn't included and we have no hope of being able to afford that much fresh food for the 7 of us. I'll just keep doing the best I can for my family.

    Interestingly in the UK - where this has got into the news today though potatoes do not count, frozen fruit and veg does, as does canned fuit and veg so long as it's canned in water or natural juice and not syrup.

    the key thing is that more veg and fruit is better than less - and variety is important - so I like hte five colours thing :)
  • naomigee161
    naomigee161 Posts: 41 Member
    This is a bad joke. Most people are struggling to get food on the table at all and they come out with this just to rub salt in the wound. Potatoes, canned and frozen veg and fruit isn't included and we have no hope of being able to afford that much fresh food for the 7 of us. I'll just keep doing the best I can for my family.

    I'm pretty sure frozen veg counts....also things like beans, lentils, and tinned tomatoes in sauces count too :)
  • skinnyinnotime
    skinnyinnotime Posts: 4,078 Member
    They want us to eat less meat
  • FruityLoops
    FruityLoops Posts: 138 Member
    I am not sure why people have so much trouble eating their portions of fruit and veg. Vegetables are possibly the single most nutritious things you can put into your body. Low calorie and full of vitamins minerals and micronutrients. The easiest thing to do is to make sure you're eating some at every meal time. Spinach and mushrooms in an omelette - 3-4 vegetables in a stiryfry, it's pretty easy if you base every meal around veg. Plus if you're eating your protein at every meal, you need a good quantity of high fibre vegetables to aid with digestion. I'm no nutritionist, but educating yourself on the fundamentals is important and should be taught to kid at an early age.

    This! I put veg in pretty much everything I eat, yesterday I ate over 1200g of fruit and veg, which came from white onion, mushroom, radish, carrot, red pepper, red onion, lettuce, red cabbage, beetroot, passata, pineapple, plum, apple. That was omelette for brekkie, chicken salad for lunch, red pepper and tomato soup for dinner, plus fruit for snacks. I do admittedly love veg but I try and squeeze as much veg as I can into everything I eat, it fills me up for less calories, and then I have more calories for chocolate and wine ;-)
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member

    ...as does canned fuit and veg so long as it's canned in water or natural juice and not syrup.

    so accordingly to guidelines, just because the fruit is mixed with syrup it is no longer classed as fruit... Interesting.
  • stuffinmuffin
    stuffinmuffin Posts: 985 Member
    Sponsored by the union of green grocers association?

    Haha yeah. It wasn't based on anything scientific anyway, just a way for the Gov't to persuade the general British public to eat any vegetables or fruit rather than beige carbs!
  • msf74
    msf74 Posts: 3,498 Member
    Oh noes. How terrible. Big brother is now trying to get people to eat more fruit and vegetables! The horror. The outrage.

    I fail to see the problem. It's a recommendation, not the law.

    If you don't want to do it then - don't. I personally think it's a sensible target.
  • naomigee161
    naomigee161 Posts: 41 Member

    ...as does canned fuit and veg so long as it's canned in water or natural juice and not syrup.

    so accordingly to guidelines, just because the fruit is mixed with syrup it is no longer classed as fruit... Interesting.

    well, that's because it's a tonne of extra sugar so hardly 'healthy', just like eating chocolate covered raisins or fruit and nut dairy milk doesn't count..
  • asciiqwerty
    asciiqwerty Posts: 565 Member

    ...as does canned fuit and veg so long as it's canned in water or natural juice and not syrup.

    so accordingly to guidelines, just because the fruit is mixed with syrup it is no longer classed as fruit... Interesting.

    well, that's because it's a tonne of extra sugar so hardly 'healthy', just like eating chocolate covered raisins or fruit and nut dairy milk doesn't count..

    Yes the target was in fact to generally improve intake of "healthy" foods, fruit in syrup has the same nutrient intake as the fruit in water (but the added sugar is "hidden" and unnecessary)
    who said said it was ever logical? :)
  • mortuseon
    mortuseon Posts: 579 Member
    I am not sure why people have so much trouble eating their portions of fruit and veg. Vegetables are possibly the single most nutritious things you can put into your body. Low calorie and full of vitamins minerals and micronutrients. The easiest thing to do is to make sure you're eating some at every meal time. Spinach and mushrooms in an omelette - 3-4 vegetables in a stiryfry, it's pretty easy if you base every meal around veg. Plus if you're eating your protein at every meal, you need a good quantity of high fibre vegetables to aid with digestion. I'm no nutritionist, but educating yourself on the fundamentals is important and should be taught to kid at an early age.

    +1

    If you make sauces, soups etc it's quite easy to get a large number of portions in - there's no need to stuff yourself full of plain vegetables every day.
  • catcalledjinx
    catcalledjinx Posts: 85
    :drinker: Well, wine is basically just grapes!
  • ironanimal
    ironanimal Posts: 5,922 Member
    The "research" was data analysis against two snapshots of people's eating habits versus disease in 2003 and 2008.

    So basically the whole thing is correlation = causation :noway:
  • msf74
    msf74 Posts: 3,498 Member

    Yes the target was in fact to generally improve intake of "healthy" foods, fruit in syrup has the same nutrient intake as the fruit in water (but the added sugar is "hidden" and unnecessary)
    who said said it was ever logical? :)

    I'm guessing it was meant to be a simple and easily applicable recommendation for a general population which in the main has little idea of the amount of calories they are consuming or their nutrient intake with any degree of certainty. Avoiding syrup simply means you will probably get a similar nutrient intake for less calories.

    I see it's a study out of UCL. Knowing UCL students as well as I do I have no doubt however that this is an ultra liberal covert agenda to erode liberty and the fabric of society by increased fruit consumption. Bananas are clearly weapons of mass destruction.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    This is a bad joke. Most people are struggling to get food on the table at all and they come out with this just to rub salt in the wound. Potatoes, canned and frozen veg and fruit isn't included and we have no hope of being able to afford that much fresh food for the 7 of us. I'll just keep doing the best I can for my family.

    canned and frozen stuff counts!
  • SuMcP
    SuMcP Posts: 244 Member
    Since the serving size is a set amount it seems mad that all adults are being recommended the same amount of servings. A percentage of total calories would make more sense to me.

    Surely little old me at 8.5st eating 1300 calories can't be expected to fit in as much fruit and veg as my 16st husband who scoffs 2000+ calories a day?

    I'd have no room left for wine!

    Wine is one of your 5 (7) a day though...right....right?! :embarassed:

    If it isn't, it should be :glasses:
  • fitness_faeiry
    fitness_faeiry Posts: 354 Member
    I am not sure why people have so much trouble eating their portions of fruit and veg. Vegetables are possibly the single most nutritious things you can put into your body. Low calorie and full of vitamins minerals and micronutrients. The easiest thing to do is to make sure you're eating some at every meal time. Spinach and mushrooms in an omelette - 3-4 vegetables in a stiryfry, it's pretty easy if you base every meal around veg. Plus if you're eating your protein at every meal, you need a good quantity of high fibre vegetables to aid with digestion. I'm no nutritionist, but educating yourself on the fundamentals is important and should be taught to kid at an early age.

    +1

    If you make sauces, soups etc it's quite easy to get a large number of portions in - there's no need to stuff yourself full of plain vegetables every day.

    Totally! :smile:
  • RussT1
    RussT1 Posts: 8 Member
    Since I've been sticking within the "green" with my MFP nutrition values, my intake of fruit has decreased because of my sugar allowance :(
    I guess make up on veg.
  • msf74
    msf74 Posts: 3,498 Member
    Since I've been sticking within the "green" with my MFP nutrition values, my intake of fruit has decreased because of my sugar allowance :(
    I guess make up on veg.

    Unless you have a specific medical condition which requires the close tracking of added sugar I wouldn't worry about it. You can either disregard or not choose to track in this regard and treat it as included in your carb total.

    In short if you are following a reasonably sensible diet centering around whole veg, fruit and lean protein and meeting your cal and macro guidelines then you will be fine and there's no need to be obsessive.
  • RussT1
    RussT1 Posts: 8 Member
    Thanks msf' :drinker:
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    They shouldn't be.

    "Remember that potatoes,
    yam, plantain, and cassava do not count towards your
    five a day because they are starchy foods"

    http://www.bda.uk.com/foodfacts/FruitVeg.pdf
  • Achrya
    Achrya Posts: 16,913 Member
    Let me go ahead and add this to 'things I still won't be doing.'
  • fruitsalad15
    fruitsalad15 Posts: 102 Member
    Since the serving size is a set amount it seems mad that all adults are being recommended the same amount of servings. A percentage of total calories would make more sense to me.

    Surely little old me at 8.5st eating 1300 calories can't be expected to fit in as much fruit and veg as my 16st husband who scoffs 2000+ calories a day?

    I'd have no room left for wine!

    Love this! Well said!
  • SuperSexyDork
    SuperSexyDork Posts: 1,669 Member
    Meh, it's a recommendation not a requirement so if you don't like it/don't think it pertains to your diet, ignore it.

    Personally, I like vegetables. OI plan on eating about 940 grams of fruits/vegetables today without much effort at all...
  • randomtai
    randomtai Posts: 9,003 Member
    Let me go ahead and add this to 'things I still won't be doing.'

    This... vegetables suck. Bleh :sick: :sick: :sick:
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    Arg. It was hard enough getting 5x80g daily. Now the recommendation has apparently gone up to 7-10 servings of 80g, depending on the news source..

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/10735633/Healthy-diet-means-10-portions-of-fruit-and-vegetables-per-day-not-five.html
    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/forget-five-a-day-new-research-suggests-that-you-need-seven-portions-of-fresh-fruit-and-veg-per-day-to-live-longer-9226653.html
    http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/apr/01/fruit-and-vegetables-seven-portions-ucl-study
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-26818377
    A nice salad and a couple pieces of fruit will get you there. It actually isn't that difficult.

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