Anca set herself a challenge based on the recent news that we should be eating 10 portions of fruit and vegetables a day (see Metro here). I was very intrigued by this and thought I would like to try and keep a log on what I was eating and see how many portions I was averaging daily.
I had a look at this NHS article on what constitutes a portion, only now (see here) and thought it would be interesting to see what I managed in the average week. It ended up being a week and 2 days but hey ho.
Photos don't always correspond to the day as I inevitably photographed very little food, esp food at lunchtime because I don't want to be photographing my food in the staffroom as it would inevitably lead to, "Why?"...
Sunday:
Breakfast: None!
Snack: 1 apple: 1 portion.
Lunch: Scrambled eggs accompanied by mixed leaf lettuce: hopefully 1 portion!
Snack: banana, 3 cream-cheese stuffed pepperdew peppers. 1.25 portions, snack cucumber.
Dinner: Salmon and watercress fishcakes with roasted sweet potatoes, courgetti with tomato puree, tenderstem broccoli, leeks 4 portions
3 slices of mango: 1 portion
Total: possibly 8.5 portions.
Breakfast: 15 grapes, 20 blueberries, 4 slices of mango: 3 portions
Lunch: Chickpea homous with mixed salad leaves and bread: 2 portions
Snack: 4 strawberries. (2 very, very large strawberries.)- 3/4 portion
Dinner; Beef, chicken and veg Enchilladas- one of which was mixed veg plus refried beans (but don't count as I already had chickpeas) 1 portion
Glass of apple and rhubarb juice 1 portion
Total: 7.75 portions.
Tuesday:
Breakfast: 15 grapes, 20 blueberries, 1 Satsuma: 2.5 portions
Breaktime- 1 banana: 1 portion
Lunchtime- Homous with bread and salad leaves: - 1.5 portion
Dinner- vegetable soup- 2 portions?
Total: 7 portions.
Wednesday:
Breakfast: 15 grapes, 20 blueberries: 2 portions
Snack: Chocolate cake in abundance: 0 portions.
Lunch: Left over Mexican vegetable rice and refried beans plus salad leaves- 2 portions
Snack: Cream-cheese-stuffed pepperdew peppers x 4: 1/2 portion?
4 strawberries: 1/2 portion
Dinner: left over chips with tomato sauce, gherkins and Spring roll, chocolate in abundance: 0 portions.
Total: 4.5 portions- disaster!
Thursday:
Breakfast: 15 grapes, 20 blueberries: 2 portions.
apple
Lunch: Homous, bread and salad leaves - 1.5 portions.
Snack: 4 strawberries, 1 glass of apple juice, donut, cake slice: 1.5 portions
Dinner: Takeaway Beef with mixed vegetables and rice (carrots, bamboo shoots, peppers, onions, mangetout, peas), shrimp rice: 2.5 portions
Total: 7.5 portions
Friday:
Breakfast: 10 raspberries, 15 blueberries, banana: 3 portions.
Lunch: homous, rocket, bread: 1.5 portions
Snack: 3 strawberries, Cream-cheese-stuffed pepperdew peppers x 4: 1 portion in total
Dinner: Prawns in filo pastry, Prawn thai green curry with vegetables - 2.5 portions
Drink: 1 glass of apple juice
Total: 9 portions.
Saturday:
Breakfast: bacon roll, 1 banana: 1 portion.
Lunch: Bread plus 1 enormous bowl of lentil, sweet potato, sundried tomato soup- 2-3 portions
Snack: chocolate bar x 2
Dinner: 1 cheese and cucumber sandwich, pork scratchings: not really any.
Total: 3-4 portions.
Sunday:
Breakfast: Scrambled egg on toast : 0 portions.
Lunch: 20 blueberries, 10 grapes, 10 raspberries- 3 portions,
Crackers with cheese and gherkins, 3 pepperdew peppers: 1/2 portion.
Snack: Chocolate x lots
Dinner: Chicken kiev with roast potatoes, 1/2 roasted courgette, 1 leek, 3 tomatoes, broccoli: 4 portions
Total: 7.5 portions.
Monday:
Breakfast: 10 raspberries, 20 blueberries, plus multigrain hoops plus milk: 2 portions.
Lunch: instant noodles with a portion of rocket stirred in: 1 portion.
Snack: large handful of chilli peanuts, 2 plums: 1 portion.
Dinner: Pepper flatbread, vegetable stew: carrots, tomatoes, chickpeas, sweet potatoes, onions, courgette:
1/2 an avocado: probably 4 portions total.
Total: 8 portions.
Tuesday:
Breakfast: 2 plums, 10 grapes, 2 crackers: 2 portions.
Snack: chocolate muffin: 0 portions.
Lunch: Beans on toast with cheese: 1 portion.
Snack: cup of chilli peanuts, 1 small pear: 0.5 portions, 2 pepperdew peppers: 0.12 portions.
Dinner: Vegetable stew with Cavalo Nero Cabbage added: Carrots, chickpeas (don't count), sweet potatoes, onions, courgettes, tomatoes: 5 portions
Total: 8.62 portions.
So, in conclusion, I didn't manage 10 a day once. My rough average would be about 7 I would guess (did the calculation- in fact, 7.2 portions per day). I could do more and I am aware that I have probably missed out several snacks and things but I did monitor my veg intake mainly. I think it would be easy to add in the extra 3 portions by adding an apple, a pear and something like some tomatoes to my lunch or as a snack on the way home and have a glass of juice as I only did this on a few days. I try to remember to keep a glass in the fridge at school to have at lunchtime to avoid the constant tea marathon throughout the day (not mentioned in the diary but very, very regularly...).
There were days where I was busy and didn't manage to get enough portions, mainly due to organisation but I decided last week that I would ensure I always had a breakfast by taking fruit to eat on the train and it largely worked. This is a habit I wish to continue.
Would you try the 10 a day challenge? How many would you say you eat?
xx
I find this quite interesting. What a challenge to journal what you eat for a week +.... I never tried to see if I eat my 10 portion a day but I know I eat lots of veggies and fruits. I eat mostly fresh, frozen or dried fruits. I eat raisins most every day. On rare occasions I eat canned fruits. I tend to eat a lot of veggies but I also include some meat, seeds and grain in my meals. I eat a lot broccoli, but I like just about any veggies in stir fries, especially cabbage. I love sweet potatoes but don't eat it as often as I should. It's a very healthy food.
ReplyDeleteAll in all I think you eat a great variety of good food. Your meals looks healthier than mine.
Hugs,
Julia
Nothing like 10 a day. And I keep reading that we are getting the balance wrong, and only 2 or 3 of the 10 should be fruit, the rest should be veg, because Fruits contain too much sugar... 3 days away from home, eating meals provided by other people has made it difficult for me this week, I am really aware of the difference. Your veg and fruit intake is way higher than most other people's Kezzie. Well done!!
ReplyDeleteYour diet is amazing compared to mine! I rarely manage 5 portions so there's no way 10 is happening! I was devastated when I read recently that beans are only allowed to count once, so every time I thought I'd done well by making 3 bean chilli only 1 portion of beans was actually a portion :-(
ReplyDeleteI have decided to do this and started writing down what I eat, so expect a blog post in about a week and a half. Then you can see how bad I am at eating fruit ;-)
DeleteI think you did really well, I'm going to give this a go, and will almost certainly show myself up with a shockingly low amount.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the 10-a-day thing is really farcical (especially since, as Angela says, they should be weighted heavily towards veg rather than fruit). Even 7-a-day is way more than most people get, or would ever aim for.
ReplyDeleteThat said, an easy way to add a portion, if you're so inclined, would be to add a glass of fruit juice to breakfast - apple especially is very good for helping you to wake up. Allegedly.
I'm still proud of myself if I manage to achieve 4 or 5 portions. The problem is that I love salad but I really don't enjoy fruit. Your diet is impressive! Jx
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I've inspired you. You did good having more than 5 a day almost every day. Well done!! xx
ReplyDeleteThis is actually a really useful post for me as I definitely don't eat enough fruit and veg so seeing different recipe ideas and getting to grips with portion sizes is really useful for me, and all of your dishes look really yummy! - Tasha
ReplyDeleteWe would struggle to eat five a day, Kezzie. This is impressive. Scary! But impressive!
ReplyDeleteAn interesting post and an interesting idea to, to take stock of this! I think you do really well. I'm terrible - I don't eat breakfast and only really eat lunch if I'm working all day as I always prioritise getting other things done over meal times. It doesn't help that we only have one shelf in the fridge for our shopping too - I'm sure we'll do better one day, when we finally get out own fridge and can shop and stock up properly!
ReplyDeleteI still think did pretty well, Kezzie. I'm not sure my count would be as good. But I'm definitely feeling peckish now after looking at your food photographs ;-) xxx
ReplyDeleteAn interesting experiment. I always start the day with a glass of fruit juice (100% juice, nothing else added) and that counts as one, so I get off to a good start but it goes down hill from there! I doubt I get 5 a day, so 10 a day would be a real challenge. I can imagine myself chomping on a carrot, a banana, and some peas before bed to reach my goal!
ReplyDeleteI think I eat five or six a day!
ReplyDeletehttp://lizziedailyblog.blogspot.co.uk/
I try for 5 a day, I think you've done really well!
ReplyDeleteMy problem is that I don't like raw veg (apart from salad leaves) and I try to eat only 1 or 2 pieces of fruit a day with a meal because of the sugar - so that cuts out fruit or raw veggies as a snack! If I was going to eat 10 portions of cooked veggies a day it would mean a lot of cooking and eating huge meals!!!
I am most impressed that you achieved the the amount you did, you diet is very varied and very healthy. Well done you. I always have juice at breakfast with my weetabix so start well!
ReplyDeleteLisa x