UK Vegetable recommendations now 7 servings daily

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  • Jenky85
    Jenky85 Posts: 190 Member
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    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:
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
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    Australian government serving size guidelines:

    http://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/food-essentials/how-much-do-we-need-each-day/serve-sizes

    ETA the recommendations are 5 portions of vegetables and 2 portions of fruit. However, a vegetable 'portion' is 75g but a fruit 'portion' is 150g = 675g total.
  • Jennikitten
    Jennikitten Posts: 142 Member
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    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'
  • thankyou4thevenom
    thankyou4thevenom Posts: 1,581 Member
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    That's cool. I'll just have an extra potion of tomato ketchup with everything. That'll sort it.
  • sneaks
    sneaks Posts: 19
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    I average about 1 a day. Usually salad with my evening meal, but it's definitely not 80g worth so probably not even that.

    I'm hoping tea counts, I have loads of tea and that's made out of leaves, leaves = veg ;-)
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,717 Member
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    That's cool. I'll just have an extra potion of tomato ketchup with everything. That'll sort it.

    In Texas I remember they reclassified ketchup as a vegetable, so that school lunches would fall within the nutritional guidelines.
  • thankyou4thevenom
    thankyou4thevenom Posts: 1,581 Member
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    That's cool. I'll just have an extra potion of tomato ketchup with everything. That'll sort it.

    In Texas I remember they reclassified ketchup as a vegetable, so that school lunches would fall within the nutritional guidelines.

    I'd better move to Texas then. :laugh:
  • Boogage
    Boogage Posts: 739 Member
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    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.
  • Boogage
    Boogage Posts: 739 Member
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    Not to mention that the day before yesterday scientists were saying that global warming is likely to cause starvation and war because we can't grow the crops.
  • fitness_faeiry
    fitness_faeiry Posts: 354 Member
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    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.
  • Beckilovespizza
    Beckilovespizza Posts: 334 Member
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    Most definitely an April fools :)
  • brevislux
    brevislux Posts: 1,093 Member
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    Here they recommend at least 9 a day in five different colors.
  • orangesmartie
    orangesmartie Posts: 1,870 Member
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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: 4,141 Member
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    They want us to eat less meat
  • FruityLoops
    FruityLoops Posts: 138 Member
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    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
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    ...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.

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