Food, tips

Eat Well

Easy Ways to Achieve Our Five A Day

It is important we eat a wide variety of fruit and vegetables to reach the recommended five a day.

Written by: Mary WilsonThe NHS recommends that we aim for at least our five a day (five portions of fruit and vegetables) to reduce the risk of certain cancers and cardiovascular disease.This can be tricky sometimes, so how can we make it easier to meet this target?

Our Health Practitioners are here with a few suggestions:

  1. Swap half of your meat dish for veggies - curry, casserole and chilli and bolognese recipes are great opportunities to do this!
  2. Dress up your breakfast - add fruit to your cereal, porridge or yoghurt in the morning. Fresh, frozen or tinned - it all counts toward your five a day.
  3. Did you know sweet potatoes count towards one of your five a day? Well, they do! However, potatoes don't count. Sweet potato wedges anyone?
  4. Stir fries and omelettes are great vehicles for getting more veggies in, as well as a great variety of them.

What makes a portion of fruit or veg?

Fruit Small-sized fresh fruitA portion is 2 or more small fruit - for example. 2 plums, 2 satsumas, 2 kiwi fruit, 3 apricots, 6 lychees, 7 strawberries or 14 cherries.Medium-sized fresh fruitA portion is 1 piece of fruit, such as 1 apple, banana, pear, orange or nectarine.Large fresh fruitA portion is half a grapefruit, 1 slice of papaya, 1 slice of melon (5cm slice), 1 large slice of pineapple or 2 slices of mango (5cm slices).

VegetablesGreen vegetablesA portion is 2 broccoli spears or 4 heaped tablespoons of cooked Kale, spinach, spring greens or green beans.Cooked vegetablesA portion is 3 heaped tablespoons of cooked vegetables, such as carrots, peas or sweetcorn, or 8 cauliflower florets.Salad vegetablesA portion is 1.5 full-length celery sticks, a 5cm piece of cucumber, 1 medium tomato or 7 cherry tomatoes.

For more information on what makes a portion of fruit or vegetables, check out the NHS website.

Looking for more support?You can start your own journey today. It takes less than two minutes to apply for one of our free weight loss programmes. Visit our Get Started page to find out more.

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