Eat more fruit and veg

Monday 29 December 2003

Having at least five portions of a variety of fruit and veg each day has lots of health benefits. For example, it reduces your chances of developing heart disease and some types of cancer.

Most people in the UK don't eat nearly enough fruit and veg. And plenty of people think they're eating enough when they're not.

Each of these provides one portion of fruit and veg:

• one apple, orange, banana or pear
• two halves of tinned peach
• two small fruit such as plums or satsumas
• three heaped tablespoons of veg
• three heaped tablespoons of pineapple chunks or fruit salad
• one heaped tablespoon of dried fruit such as raisins
• a dessert bowl of salad
• a handful of berries

Try to change your daily diet so that eating lots of fruit and veg becomes a habit. Here are some tips on how to increase your fruit and veg intake:

• Drink a glass of fruit juice at breakfast time.
• Add some sliced banana or raisins to your breakfast cereal.
• Keep some fruit handy for a mid-morning snack.
• Add tomato or lettuce to sandwiches.
• Eat fruit salad for dessert.
• Add vegetables to curries, casseroles and pasta sauces.
• Serve an extra vegetable or side salad with a meal.

Remember that fresh, frozen, tinned, dried and juiced fruit and veg can all count towards your daily portions, but juice can only count as one portion a day, however much you drink. This is because you don't get the same nutritional benefits from juice as you get from whole fruit and veg.

And even though potatoes are vegetables, they are classified as a starchy food, so they don't count towards our five daily portions of fruit and veg.