When it comes to eating more fruit and vegetables, people often struggle to eat enough on a daily basis. In the UK, we are advised to have at least 5 portions a day, in France it’s about 7 portions a day and last I heard, in Australia they aim for at least 9 portions a day.
Firstly, do you know what a portion is?
Well, it’s simple- a portion is anything that fits in the palm of your hand. So, for example, one medium apple, a small orange, 3-4 chunks of melon, 6-10 grapes (depending on the size), is a portion. When it comes to vegetables, it’s approximately 3 heaped tablespoons.
Now, most poeple can’t seem to get more than about 3-4 portions of a mixture of fruit and vegetables a day. Some people also don’t even include any fruit – not even one! Lots of excuses include; the fruit doesn’t look nice, it goes off quickly so I don’t buy them etc.
The good news is that nowadays there really aren’t any excuses left because we now have tinned, dried and frozen fruit and vegetables to choose from and use. And yes they are just as good as fresh versions. Just imagine this – fresh fruit and vegetables first have to be picked/harvested at the site they grow on, then they get boxed up and put onto trucks to then travel long distances to get to the supermarkets. Once there, they gat ofloaded and then stacked up, to then be placed onto the shelves of the shop on display by the time the shops open. Then customers come along and pick what they want to purchase later in the day – usually lunchtime onwards. This is hours later. What you have to bear in mind is that nutrients start to deteriorate as soon as the fruit/vegetable is picked.
Now when it comes to tinned, dried and frozen foods, they get picked at their optimum nutritional state and usually immediately frozen, or go through a quick heating/drying process. The latter two processes will cause slight vitamin deterioration, but also increases other nutrients such as ?- carotene and iron levels. With the tinned fruit, however, you must buy those in natural fruit juices, and with dried fruits you have to be careful not to overeat on these (which is very easily done!).
So take a look at your intake, and find ways to increase it – no excuses now!
Until soon with more musings…
Loretta
