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Keeping Fit the Five a Day Way

Best Way to Keep Fit - Fruit and Vegetables in a Healthy Diet

Oct 10, 2007

Five a day of fruit and vegetables is considered the minimum necessary for healthy eating. But five a day of what, and what constitutes a portion for the five a day diet?

Five a Day

‘Five a Day’. That’s the slogan that’s being promoted to encourage us and our children to eat more healthily. Five a day refers to the number of portions of fruit and vegetables that each person, whether adult or child, needs to eat to keep themselves in good shape.

What Does Five A Day Mean?

While the slogan is one that most people are now aware of, what does it actually mean in practice? To put the issues into two simple questions, “If you need five a day, what is that five of?” and, “If you need five a day, how much makes one?”.

Five A Day of What?

The requirement for five a day refers to any vegetable or fruit. It doesn’t really matter whether its raw, cooked, tinned,frozen,pureed, sautéed, steamed, mashed or turned into a smoothie. They’re all good. That’s good news for parents who have difficulties persuading their children to move beyond burger and fries.

What is important to remember, however, is that any one type of fruit or vegetable can only be counted as ‘one’ of the five a day once during the day. It’s no good drinking five bottles of strawberry smoothie (probably the nicest single way of eating fruit!) and thinking ‘that’s my five a day’. Because different fruits and vegetables bring different benefits, and contain different minerals, amounts of ruffage and vitamins, the body (and the mind) needs a variety of fruit and veg to keep it working at full efficiency. So, remember, mix up the fruit and vegetables and makes sure that everyone in the family gets a ‘real’ five a day.

The Size of a Portion

Now that the mix of five a day is determined, what makes an appropriate five a day portion? Basically, a portion of fruit or vegetable should be about the size of a fist. So,

if it's peas, cooked cabbage, turnip or carrot, two or three heaped tablespoons should do the trick
an apple, orange or grapefruit is very handily sized being about the size of a fist, so one of those constitutes a portion
plums are a little smaller, so two or three will fit the bill
for smaller berries, a third of a breakfast cereal bowl is about right
if it’s a mixture of salad leaves, the lower density means that a portion constitutes a larger volume.

Staying Healthy Through a Good Diet

Five a day is both a slogan and something people should aspire to. (There are those who suggest that people need more than five a day, something closer to eight.) For those who don’t already have many fruit and vegetables in their diet, it’s something to work towards. For parents, thinking about how to get the kids interested in eating healthily can provide a lot of mental stimulation (also good for you)! There are lots of interesting ways of preparing fruit and veg to make them appealing to kids. The internet is awash with recipes and many can be found here at Suite101. Take a look around. Five a day can and should be enjoyable and fun and it constitutes an essential part of a healthy lifestyle.

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The copyright of the article Keeping Fit the Five a Day Way in Balancing Meals is owned by Alistair McCulloch. Permission to republish Keeping Fit the Five a Day Way in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.