How much fruit and veg should I be eating?

Recommendations   5 PORTIONS A DAY

 Eat a wide variety of fruit and vegetables and aim for at least five portions a day.

Fruit and veg should make up about a third of the food you eat each day.

 And it's also important to eat a variety.

Five-a-day is a good, achievable target.

 If you count your portions each day it might help you to increase the amount you eat.

But what is a portion?

ONE portion = 80g = any of these

1 apple, banana, pear, orange or other similar sized fruit

2 plums or similar sized fruit

½ a grapefruit or avocado

1 slice of large fruit, such as melon or pineapple

3 heaped tablespoons of vegetables (raw, cooked, frozen or tinned)

3 heaped tablespoons of beans and pulses (however much you eat, beans and pulses count as a maximum of one portion a day)

3 heaped tablespoons of fruit salad (fresh or tinned in fruit juice) or stewed fruit

1 heaped tablespoon of dried fruit (such as raisins and apricots)

1 handful of grapes, cherries or berries

a dessert bowl of salad

a glass (150ml) of fruit juice (however much you drink, fruit juice counts as a maximum of one portion a day)

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Getting your five portions a day

 If you eat one or two portions with each meal and have the occasional fruit snack you might be surprised at how easy it is to eat five-a-day.

At breakfast you could:

    * add a handful of dried fruit to your cereal
    * eat half a grapefruit or an apple
    * drink a glass of fruit juice

At lunch you could:

    * eat a bowl of salad
    * have a banana sandwich
    * have some fruit salad

At your evening meal you could:

    * add vegetables or pulses to your curry, casserole or stir fry
    * serve at least two types of vegetables with your fish, chicken or meat

And don't forget, when you fancy a snack, reach for an apple, banana or perhaps even some dried fruit.
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Getting the most out of fruit and veg

Carrots - baby sized Some vitamins and minerals can be easily lost when fruit and veg are prepared or cooked, so try to remember:

    * eat fresh fruit and veg as soon as possible rather than storing for a long time - or use frozen instead

    * don't overcook. Start with boiling water and cover tightly to keep in the steam, because this speeds up the cooking. You could use a steamer or a microwave

    * use as little water as possible when you cook fruit and veg. If you use the cooking water for sauce or soup, you'll recapture some of the lost vitamins and minerals

    * avoid leaving any vegetables open to the air, light or heat if they have been cut. Always cover and chill them. But don't soak, because vitamins and minerals can dissolve away

    * don't keep food hot for too long because vitamin levels start to drop within a few minutes

Why it's important

 Fruit and veg are good sources of many vitamins and minerals, yet most of us don't eat enough of them.

There is evidence to suggest that people who eat lots of fruit and veg are less likely to develop chronic diseases such as coronary heart disease and some cancers.

And don't forget, fruit and veg are also very low in fat.

Recommendations

 Eat a wide variety of fruit and vegetables and aim for at least five portions a day. Try to avoid:

    * adding fat or rich sauces to vegetables (such as carrots glazed with butter)

    * adding sugar or syrupy dressings to fruit (such as stewed apple)

THIS IS HEALTH PROMOTION

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Are raisins a healthy snack or do they contain too much sugar?

Dried fruit, including raisins, is a healthy choice if you want a snack because it's full of fibre and vitamins and counts towards your daily fruit and veg portions. Prunes and dried apricots contain beta-carotene, while figs, prunes, raisins, sultanas and dried apricots are good sources of iron. But dried fruit doesn't contain vitamin C.

All fruit contains sugar, but the type of sugar in fruit is less harmful to teeth than the added sugars you find in sweets, cakes, biscuits, ice cream, honey, fruit juice and processed foods.

If you're concerned about the amount of sugar in your diet, you might want to cut down on these types of foods. And it's better for your teeth to have them at mealtimes rather than between meals.

The amount of sugar varies depending on the type of fruit. Dried fruit contains more sugar than the same weight of non-dried fruit because the water has been removed. For the same reason, a portion of dried fruit is smaller than a portion of fresh fruit.

Half to one tablespoon of raisins counts as one portion of fruit and veg.

Other healthy snacks include fresh fruit such as bananas, oranges and apples; raw vegetables such as sticks of carrot, celery and cucumber; low-fat yoghurt or fromage frais; currant buns without icing, scones or teacakes.