five a day (again)

[bednobs]

Hi, i am trying to increase my fruit and vegetable intake, and find the 5 a day a good target to work towards. I've had many q's about this in the past (mainly about fruit juice and smoothies, but now my question is - can you count vegetables that are in things? For example, tonight i made a chicken chasseur with 2 onions and 3 big mushrooms in it and we had 1/2 each - can i count the onions and mush as part of 5 a day? what about soup and stuff? Pizza toppings?

[237SJ]

I would, yes. I saw something on the TV about pizza tomato being one of the 5 a day. I`m not sure about mushrooms though. They`re not a vegetable. If you make your own soup, those veg would count too.

[sara3]

yes, you just have to bear in mind the size of a portion.

[bednobs]

thanks. Im presuming tha the "a handful" rule means i had at least 1 with the onion. Do mushrooms really not count?

[237SJ]

I don`t know whether they count but they`re a fungus, not a vegetable. I`ve never looked up to see what nutrients are in them.

[ummmm]

It doesn't matter bednobs....mushrooms are really really good for you. I watched something on morning TV about it. The doc was more or less saying they are one of the super foods...

And yes, the onions will count :-)

[annie0000]

Does chicken chasseur not have tomatoes in it? that would count too. You can think of soup as the vegetable equivalent of smoothie so a decent sized bowl would probably count as 2 - that's if it is actually vegetable soup, cream of chicken would get you nothing! In general there are more nutrients in raw veg/fruit than cooked, so you need to allow for that in your portion size. Pizza would count but a pizza with multiple veg on it would probably only count as 1 or 2 unless you had mountains of it.

5 a day is honestly really easy to achieve without really thinking about it.

[ummmm]

Do you like fruit bednobs?

[daisya]

I'd like other info to go with the 5 a day as well...just how much chemical and pesticides are we always taking in on our fruit and vegetables...wonder if they cancel out the "goodness" of the fruit and veg...hmmm.

[Hopkirk]

Apparently there is no scientific justification behind the five - they felt it was worth setting a target and didn't think the Brits would stay onside if it were set higher.

[ummmm]

daisya - do you not peel or wash your fruit and veg?

[annie0000]

I generally buy organic but even so I always wash my fruit with dish washing detergent to make sure it is really clean....unless it is something like a banana or orange.

Incidentally I am really into persimmons at the moment - no seeds, no core and taste like a cross between a mango and a pear, lovely!!!

[DTCwordfan]

I would say yes if fresh veg used in the preparation of the dish....

two other points: what are the size of your veg portions as often we eat two in one, if you get my drift.....like a yummy cauli cheese and we have eaten the equiv of two or three portions.

secondly, as ummmm says, fruit - some mixing and matching helps with fav fruit, especially berries. (I love raspberries!).

[annie0000]

Hopkirk I heard that too - I think they would really like 7-10 if possible.

[ummmm]

And a variety of foods.

[daisya]

I most certainly do wash and peel my fruit and veg always have but it doesn't stop the pesticides and chemicals going into the "body" of the item as far as I know. I read once that you should peel carrots very thickly because of the problem of pesticides...

[Hopkirk]

Apparently during the Second World War, at one stage it became illegal to peel your potatoes - it's a waste of food.

[ummmm]

Well all the programmes and articles I've watched/read on the subject say that washing and/or peeling, is perfectly adequate.

[ethandron]

mushroms do count but you need to eat quite a lot to get what is considered a portion - 14 button mushrooms or 3 handfulls of sliced.
you might find this interesting;
http://www.nhs.uk/Liv...Pages/Whatcounts.aspx

[daisya]

Ummmmm...well they would say that wouldn't they....<wink>

[237SJ]

I always thought this 5 a day thing had been dreamed up by someone with hard scientific knowledge about all these foods. It looks to me like it`s just been compiled by someone who`s done a City and Guilds in nutrition. Mushrooms count (they`re fungus, not veg or fruit). Pulses count (strictly speaking legumes not fruit or veg). There are a lot of nutrients in potatos but they don`t count because "we eat them as starch". So that negates the vitamins then I presume? Plantain don`t count because "we eat them as starch". Plantains are virtually bananas which I presume do count "because we don`t eat them as starch". Of course if you live in the Caribbean where plantain are a large part of the diet I presume they DO count because they DON`T eat them as starch! I`d be more likely do die of stress worrying about these rules than I would from malnutrition. I`d just follow the simple idea that the more varieties of colour fruit and veg you eat, the more variety of nutrients you will get.