5 Servings of Fruits and Veggies
VeganFaceHole
Posts: 39 Member
Hi everyone!
Quick question: How accurate/important is this recommendation?
I only have 2 fruits a day, should I be aiming for the 5?
Will I lack in vitamins if I dont eat a lot of fruit?
Quick question: How accurate/important is this recommendation?
I only have 2 fruits a day, should I be aiming for the 5?
Will I lack in vitamins if I dont eat a lot of fruit?
0
Replies
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VeganFaceHole wrote: »Hi everyone!
Quick question: How accurate/important is this recommendation?
I only have 2 fruits a day, should I be aiming for the 5?
Will I lack in vitamins if I dont eat a lot of fruit?
I would put the premium on veg, not fruit...I eat one or two servings of fruit per day and usually four or five servings of veg. Personally, I think it's pretty important and substantially lacking in the SAD.5 -
I'm not a big fan of fruit and rarely eat it, but I do try and get several servings of veggies in each day. If you're eating a lot of vegetables then I wouldn't be too concerned about fruit.
eta: also, isn't it 5 servings a day total between the two? Not 5 servings of fruit and 5 servings of veggies. I could be wrong though-off to google lol.
Yep, it looks like 5 servings total is the recommendation, so if you're eating a couple servings of fruit and then some veggies, you should be fine
http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/5ADAY/Pages/Why5ADAY.aspx
Ooh, hang on-dried fruit counts according to that article, so then I eat a lot more than I thought (eating dried blueberries in my oats as I type this). I learned something new today 2 -
crzycatlady1 wrote: »I'm not a big fan of fruit and rarely eat it, but I do try and get several servings of veggies in each day. If you're eating a lot of vegetables then I wouldn't be too concerned about fruit.
eta: also, isn't it 5 servings a day total between the two? Not 5 servings of fruit and 5 servings of veggies. I could be wrong though-off to google lol.
Yep, it looks like 5 servings total is the recommendation, so if you're eating a couple servings of fruit and then some veggies, you should be fine
http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/5ADAY/Pages/Why5ADAY.aspx
Ooh, hang on-dried fruit counts according to that article, so then I eat a lot more than I thought (eating dried blueberries in my oats as I type this). I learned something new today
Oh! If thats the case then...I think Im set xD
I go through 2 romaines, 2 zucchinis, 2 carrots, an avocado and 2 fruits all in one day. Thank you so much for the input!
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cwolfman13 wrote: »VeganFaceHole wrote: »Hi everyone!
Quick question: How accurate/important is this recommendation?
I only have 2 fruits a day, should I be aiming for the 5?
Will I lack in vitamins if I dont eat a lot of fruit?
I would put the premium on veg, not fruit...I eat one or two servings of fruit per day and usually four or five servings of veg. Personally, I think it's pretty important and substantially lacking in the SAD.
Thank you so much
I dont care too much for fruit!0 -
Oh, is that why some keep saying that 5 servings of fruit are recommended. No, it's together, although 5 is quite low--I've also seen 7 or 9 recommended. I also would focus on vegetables and treat fruit as a bonus, personally.2
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Here in Australia it's 3 and 2.
3 serves of veggies and 2 of fruit everyday. At least it was last time i checked, they like changing things around every so often.0 -
crzycatlady1 wrote: »I'm not a big fan of fruit and rarely eat it, but I do try and get several servings of veggies in each day. If you're eating a lot of vegetables then I wouldn't be too concerned about fruit.
eta: also, isn't it 5 servings a day total between the two? Not 5 servings of fruit and 5 servings of veggies. I could be wrong though-off to google lol.
Yep, it looks like 5 servings total is the recommendation, so if you're eating a couple servings of fruit and then some veggies, you should be fine
http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/5ADAY/Pages/Why5ADAY.aspx
Ooh, hang on-dried fruit counts according to that article, so then I eat a lot more than I thought (eating dried blueberries in my oats as I type this). I learned something new today
Yes, it's a combination...not five of each.0 -
Christine_72 wrote: »Here in Australia it's 3 and 2. 3 serves of veggies and 2 of fruit everyday. At least it was last time i checked, they like changing things around every so often.
3 veg seems super low to me. US recommendation does too, though, and is in cups and basically meaningless to me anyway. One thing I like about MyPlate is the more useful "make half the plate fruit and veg" although I ignore the fruit bit of that and think of it as about veg.2 -
The UK rec is 5 overall, and a serving is defined as 80g of fresh, frozen or canned fruit or veg, 30g dried, 150ml fruit juice or smoothie. Pulses and juices or smoothies can only count once each per day, and potatoes don't count.
It's based on WHO's recommendation of a 400g/day minimum.1 -
Christine_72 wrote: »Here in Australia it's 3 and 2.
3 serves of veggies and 2 of fruit everyday. At least it was last time i checked, they like changing things around every so often.
They are saying 2 (fruit) and 5 (veg) now - which I think is pretty good as far as general guidelines go. The emphasis is on veg with some fruit, and they suggest 100% juice and dried fruit only occasionally.
Like all of these general public health messages, they are there as a guideline, not as a hard and fast rule but I think that if you aim for five veg and two fruit each day that could be the basis of a good and healthy diet. Especially for people who aren't using tools like MFP or any other way to track or plan their intake, these guidelines can be helpful.
So, to get back to the initial question - 2 fruit a day sounds good, just make sure you are getting some veggies too. Eating a variety of different fruit and veg (and other foods) is the best way to make sure you a good range of vitamins and minerals.1 -
My problem is: do they mean botanical fruit or what everyone considers fruit? My salad for lunch today only has one "real" vegetable in it (lettuce).
I've always heard 5 a day, but only recent learned it was a combo of fruit/veg, not 5 of each. Oh, and a serving is smaller than I thought.0 -
They mean, what everyone considers fruit.
Botanical fruit that are culinary vegetables count as vegetables. The defining nutritional difference is probably sweetness, really. Obviously some veg are quite sweet though.
The portion size thing can be confusing. Many apples would be big enough to give two portions of edible fruit. Often an eyeballed portion of salad leaves would be much less than 80g.
The problem with raising the recommendation, as Oz has, is that many do not even reach 5 a day. Raise it to 7, and people think it's unachievable and don't bother.
At the start of my weight loss, I ran a tally, based on grams (I often have a lot of veg, small quantities of each), to see that I was getting enough.
Also - many culinary nuts (not just peanuts) are not botanical nuts. Their defining characteristic nutritional characteristic is their fat content.0 -
Christine_72 wrote: »Here in Australia it's 3 and 2.
3 serves of veggies and 2 of fruit everyday. At least it was last time i checked, they like changing things around every so often.
It's been 2 fruit & 5 vegies for as long as I remember....just checked, the campaign was started in 2005.0 -
But Australians do poorly in meeting those targets:
https://www.heartfoundation.org.au/about-us/what-we-do/heart-disease-in-australia/fruit-and-vegetable-consumption-statistics
Their overall consumption is quite similar to the UK's.
AUS:
On average, men aged 18 years and over consumed 1.6 serves of fruit and 2.3 serves of vegetables each day in 2014-15. Women of the same age consumed an average of 1.8 serves of fruit and 2.5 serves of vegetables.
UK: "adults aged 19 to 64 years consumed on average 4.1 portions per day and adults 65 and over consumed 4.6 portions"
These figures are on self-reported intake on 24 hour recall, so are probably high - people will report what they think the researchers want to hear.0 -
ShammersPink wrote: »They mean, what everyone considers fruit.
Botanical fruit that are culinary vegetables count as vegetables. The defining nutritional difference is probably sweetness, really. Obviously some veg are quite sweet though.
The portion size thing can be confusing. Many apples would be big enough to give two portions of edible fruit. Often an eyeballed portion of salad leaves would be much less than 80g.
The problem with raising the recommendation, as Oz has, is that many do not even reach 5 a day. Raise it to 7, and people think it's unachievable and don't bother.
At the start of my weight loss, I ran a tally, based on grams (I often have a lot of veg, small quantities of each), to see that I was getting enough.
Also - many culinary nuts (not just peanuts) are not botanical nuts. Their defining characteristic nutritional characteristic is their fat content.
Speaking of serving sizes and what counts for 5 a day, only some count. If I ate 50 grams of lentils today, only half of that would count while a whole banana would count as 2 servings.
And I know about nuts, seeds, and fruits. Many people don't though and it can be confusing when people believe they need to eat more but find out that they are already at the 5 a day goal or surpassed it.0 -
Yes, lentils or other pulses only count once per day (in UK guidelines, at any rate).0
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IMO it is far easier to fit vegetables into ones calorie allowance than fruits. 5 servings isn't too hard really.2
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Both are easy, in my experience. Most fruit isn't very calorie-dense.0
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