10 a day!!!!

I must say my DMIL lived until she was 94 (fit and well until her last couple of years) on what my DD1 described as a diet of pure lard. She wasn't too far off the mark! I suppose good genes are what we could all do with, but it never hurts to give nature a bit of a hand. Luckily I like eating the fruit and veg, and DH likes growing it. Sorted!

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." So wrote Michael Pollan, who also advised eating foods your great grandmother would recognise i.e. not processed.

I think that most of us who cook on a daily basis have no problem with eating enough fruit and veg - soups, stews, stir fries, all bulked up with vegetables, do the trick. Also, with using the low cost stores (Aldi & Lidl) bargain offers (69p for each pack of six different fruit or veg) helps with cost. I find cooking very cheap these days if I avoid the large supermarkets although I notice that even they have similar low cost fruit and veg. I do vary what I buy with what is on offer and have indulged in strawberries out of season balanced with blueberries at 69p per punnet as I have my grandson on a daily basis and every afternoon he has a "fruit bowl". Today it was strawberries, blueberries, slices of banana, segments of clementines and grapes. He had a sliced apple with cheese for his mid morning snack so hopefully he is on the right track!

I love vegetation and eat lots but my family has many members who are extremely limited in what they eat. Several are autistic. Most ot these fussy eaters grew up eating little or no fruit or vegetables but all are fit and healthy.
There's Vitamin C in chips and tomato sauce and none of my kids got scurvy. Some never drank milk after weaning but didn't get rickets. One girl grew to 5' 10 on beans on toast.
This dietary advice is a counsel of perfection and few people lead lives of perfection.

The meta-study on which this recommendation is based is just that: a meta-study. The 'results' of meta-studies (which look at the results of lots of studies on a subject and kind of round off their conclusions) should always be taken with bucketloads of salt.

One interesting thing about vegetables in one's diet is that as the amount increases the benefits become less. It's a bit like the expensive wine problem: above a certain 'ordinary' price, more expensive wine does not improve as much in proportion to what you're paying as one might expect.

Bottom line is include some fruit and veg (I think nuts and seeds count too) in your diet every day. Even if you only eat a quarter of this latest recommendation you'll have half at least of the benefits.

Just by the bye, I'm not sure I eat much more than 800g everything in a day! Must do some measuring. I might be surprised.

It is more veg than fruit. Baked beans on toast will count as a portion. The veg you put in a casserole as well...even the onion. Chopped tomatoes in an omelette. A portion of tinned tomato soup is a portion. As said above those frozen veg count as well. It is not expensive to have all the veg. Oh and home made soups are so quick and easy to make...throw any chopped veg into stock with a tin of tomatoes, cook and blitz with a stick blender in saucepan...cheap and easy to make.

I wonder if this 10-a-day thing is sponsored by the manufacturers of toilet rolls. Just a thought!

Yes Azie I agree. Sorry to hear about your friend.

I find it easier to pack in more vegetables when I am not busy. I like to cook from scratch and OH likes mainly vegetarian meals. Over the winter I usually have a big pot of soup on the hob. We both have a bowl at lunchtime and sometimes before dinner. I shop at Aldi to try and keep the price down.

Soup made with lentils, carrots, potatoes, celery, onions, leeks, peppers, tinned tomatoes, spices, 8 vegetables off the hob. Low cost, make simple bread and serve a leafy salad. Ten.

Sorry to break it to some of you but soup made with 10 varieties of vegetables would still only count as two portions unless you eat/drink a gallon of the stuff. A portion is a portion, 80 grams being the common size. If you make that 80 grams up from 10 different sources it still only counts as one portion. I shall ignore the report and just indulge in a varied, mostly healthy diet. Now where's my chocolate?

Soup cooks down, veg compact, a big bowl of veg soup is many portions of veg.

I try to look at my weekly consumption and never bother about amounts per day. Every week I buy my regulars. There are 2 of us and we eat all the following, rarely throw anything away: Cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, lettuce/mixed leaves, spinach, red and green peppers, celery, blueberries, apples, lemons, bananas & black grapes. Occasionally add swede, cabbage, leeks or turnip/ parsnips etc. In summer these are supplemented by strawberries, raspberries, kiwis and peaches or melon. Some days, we eat 10 portions, others 3. Depends what I’m making or if we go out etc. I certainly feel that we’re getting a good selection every week.
In summer we try to have lunch outside and it never varies & we never get tired of it! Slice of brown toast with peanut butter + half a sliced apple, handful of black grapes, 2 strawberries, half a kiwi, half a banana & a handful of mixed nuts and seeds. It’s delicious and very filling.

That looks delicious,Lilihu - Just the kind of meal I like; Not sure about husband though.
What do you do with blueberries? How much do they cost? I've never seen them here.

We have them with our cereal every morning. Fab with porridge, just stir in after the porridge is made. A nice addition to muesli or granola or any cold cereal. We chop them so they blend in better.

I agree with you janipat. Soup is not a particularly good way to eat vegetables, especially if the fibrous content is broken down or removed. Bananas have a high carb content.

Yesterday I had:

Egg Benedict (one portion spinach)
Greek salad (tomato, cucumber, onions, olives - but not 80gm of each, so maybe two portions)
Apple
Chicken, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower

That's still only seven portions of fruit and veg and I honestly couldn't have eaten any more! :-(

Because I have to lose a bit of weight (not much) so that I can have a knee operation, I have switched sandwiches to fruit. Most fruits are delicious and quite honestly I am enjoying my lunch more. Bonus...I have already lost a few lbs! I have halved my dinner portions too and only have a cup of tea first thing. Onwards and upwards because needs must. So many varieties of fruit to chose from, add a few nuts and you have a nourishing meal. I also have a peddle bike but my doctor says it is what you put in your mouth that counts more than exercise.

jacq10 blueberries were £2.50 in Waitrose this week!

For the poster who doesn't know what they are they are purple berries which tast a bit bland imo. Not sweet, not sour.

And no better for you than blackcurrants apparently, which are easy to grow in this country and freeze well - and taste much better imo!

We can't seem to grow blueberries despite a couple of attempts.

TriciaF blueberries are fine, nice with yogurt for breakfast but they are much hyped as a 'superfood'.
Not as tart as blackcurrants though.
They are an American import now imported to the UK from various places around the world, possibly not seen where you live.

To grow blueberries you need an acid soil or ericaceous compost and always water with rain water. They will thrive then. Think moorland. You can pick the equivalent up there.

Yes, we dug out a huge hole and filled with a bag of ericaceous compost but the roots just did not spread out at all even after a couple of years.
Tried again in a very large pot and no luck.
We have a couple of large tubs of rainwater too.

So we grow blackcurrants and I buy blueberries which DH doesn't eat anyway (too bland apparently!).

Think moorland.
Think moorland - think bilberries! Tiny but delicious.
It would take all day to pick a portion.

Oh well the only thing I can think is that they dried out too often. Think moors and how damp it is. Mind you I'm with your DH they are too bland for my liking. I do prefer blackcurrants.

Blueberries grow well near the fens, I have them in the garden, love them mixed in porridge.