Veg smoothie as alternative to eating? Also 5 a day (UK) newbie

It's 5 portions of fruit and veg a day as the recommended minimum.

They don't have to be different colours, but the idea is that those of different colours have different nutrients, so if you get a range of colours you get good nutrition.

So for example - glass of fruit juice with breakfast, salad leaves in your sandwich and an apple with your lunch, 2 types of veg with dinner.

If you don't like veg much I would suggest trying roast veg, and having a go at making veg soup. A carrot soup for example can take a lot of paprika or curry powder that might make it more palatable for you.

I’m pretty sure the 5-a-day advice has been somewhat superseded by 10-a-day as a general recommendation.

Either way, a portion is considered to be 80g so lettuce leaves in a sandwich, or a slice of tomato on a burger won’t really be sufficient to count as a portion. As already mentioned potatoes don’t count but I think Sweet Potatoes do.

Only one of the counted portions can be fruit juice.

I can’t even begin to imagine drinking down a blended chicken, rice and veg ‘smoothie’ but if you can do it, it would work in terms of comparative nutrition since the nutrients & fibre etc are still there, unlike a juiced product.

I’d also suggest soups as a more palatable alternative, so much scope for hiding all sorts of vegetables in an almost endless variation of flavours. Also agree, ‘hiding’ vegetables in meals can work. Very finely grated carrot disappears into bolognese and chilli style dishes etc with just a few minutes of simmering, for example.

sollyn23l2 wrote: »

@cjdavies82 I think 5 a day is just in reference to eating 5 servings of vegetables a day, no matter the color. O think the smoothies are a great way to get vegetables in as long as they're in addition to your regular meals, not replacing them.

Why in addition? I don’t understand the reasoning behind that? The calories, fibre and nutrients are still present whether eaten with a knife and fork or blended and spooned or glugged down.

Tomato tomahto ….. what one calls a veggie smoothie someone else calls a blended soup. So it appears everyone agrees that vegetables can be eaten in whatever form you wish. I think people are just debating how they prefer to eat theirs and what to call it. Spaniards have been blending vegetables together in cold soup form for centuries and calling them Gazpacho (They have tomato, cucumber, pepper, grape, even almond). In the winter people in the US go nuts over butternut squash or pumpkin soups that are essentially roasted (or cooked some other way) butterrnut squash, blended together with chicken stock and herbs and often things like roasted onions, garlic and apples to complement the taste.

As for Sollyn’s comment about the blended veggie concoctions being in addition to your meals (like sides) rather than replacements I am betting it was in the vein of the good advice most people on this site would also give that eating as normally as possible while losing weight is best and that one should not undertake “diets” that call for switching out standard meals with replacement meals while trying to lose weight, because that leads to regaining weight once you go back to a “normal lifestyle”. But incorporating cold or hot blended soups or smoothies or fresh veggie juices or whatever you decide to call your delicious concoctions should be something you continue to do forever as a lifestyle change.

One last comment - a lot of nutritionists actually recommend having a small serving of clear/non cream soup as an appetizer before meals because it helps fill you up. Note though that whole veggies actually take up more volume than blended veggies so be careful about calorie loads of blended soups that contain anything starchy like squash or beans, peas or corn (and you already got the verdict on potatoes from other posters above) because those in particular will add up very quickly. You can also almost always skip adding any sort of dairy to blended soups and use a vegetable or chicken stock instead if you are watching calories. If you crave creaminess stir in a spoonful of fat free greek yogurt to your portion when eating.

Try lots of different recipes for preparing vegetables - there are so many different ways, you are bound to find something you like 👌 I'd suggest you also try all in one meals, so it's in the sauce, for example sweet & sour chicken with red peppers, pineapple chunks and onions, or a meaty curry with a tomato-based sauce.

Try starting any meat dish with soffrito - either made or bought, which is finely chopped onion, celery and carrot, gently fried. You can start small quantity and work up, your taste buds will adapt.

Also look up veg side dish recipes that roast the veg and dress it - roasted tends to make it caramelised, sweeter and nicer tasting, and the dressings can liven the taste up! To begin with, recipes that sweeten the veg may make it more palatable for you. Try a portion of roasted Mediterranean vegetables, roasted baby carrots, or roasted butternut squash cubes (buy frozen cubes, peeling and cutting butternut squash is a pain in the *kitten*!) with a honey and mustard dressing, or a maple and walnut glaze 🤤

The ideal for 5 a day is in both quantity (NHS has a little video about what counts as one of your 5 a day), and variety (of colours and types), but Rome wasn't built in a day. If you're normally getting 0-1 a day, aim for something a bit better to begin with - maybe 1-2 portions consistently a day without worrying about variety, or if it would work better for you,
aim for getting 5 different veg in a day but teeny tiny amounts to begin with? If that's too daunting how about trying 3 different veg per week? Better is still better