Jump Start Aug: Healthy Week: Day 4

Healthy week fruit and vegetables 5 a dayIt’s time for some more healthy eating today. We all know the advice about eating at least five portions of fruit and vegetables each day, but we’re going to go two better than that and aim to be super healthy.

Today’s simple idea is to have seven portions of fruit or vegetables, ideally a mixture of both. They all have to be different because variety is important – you can’t count seven apples as more than one portion in total, for example.

In your total count you can include:

  • Any fresh or cooked fruit or vegetables
  • Frozen fruit or vegetables
  • Canned fruit in fruit juice
  • Canned vegetables
  • Small portion of unsweetened dried fruit
  • One fruit juice or smoothie
  • One portion of legumes (soy/soya, hummus, kidney beans, chick peas, lentils etc)
  • One ‘vegetarian alternative’ (veggie burger, veggie sausage, Quorn product etc)

Potatoes don’t count today, sorry!

A portion size is roughly one small handful, a heaped serving spoon or tablespoon, or a small apple.

Here’s an example menu for you:

  • Breakfast: cereals with mixed berries, fruit juice
  • Lunch: Large salad (sweetcorn, kidney beans, tomatoes) and bread
  • Dinner: Veggie sausages, broccoli, courgettes, potatoes

You can also have fruit or veg sticks as a snack, which is easy enough.

To do this on a budget, use value-range tinned fruit in juice, frozen fruit, economy bags of bananas/apples/pears, get groceries from your local street market, avoid most convenience packs at supermarkets (weigh what you need), and use grow your own / grow it yourself fresh foods.

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