The Best Guide for the PO13 Area

How to get your 5-a-day

Only 1 in 7 of us are getting the recommened daily intake of fruit and veg a day.  There are many reasons why you should include 5-a-day:

• Maintain a healhtier lifestyle
• They are full of vitamins and nutrients
• They reduce the risk of heart disease, strokes and some forms of cancer
• They taste delicous!
• it will help you maintain a healthy weight
• They contain an excellent source of fibre and antioxidants

The fruit and veg can be fresh, frozen, dried, canned or in juice form.  To save money, buy what is in season.  Frozen can be good value and can be eaten gradually without going off.

Try making brightly coloured fruit salads to appeal to children and adults alike, have some made in the fridge that can be used as a healthy snack.

So what is one portion?

Here are just a few examples of what counts as one portion

Fruit

• 1 medium banana, apple or pear
• 3 dried apricots
• 2 handfuls of blueberries
• 5-6 damsons
• 1 handful of grapes
• 2 kiwi fruit or small satsumas
• 1 meduim orange
• 1 tablespoon of raisins

Vegetable

• 3 heaped tablespoons butter beans, kidney beans or carrots
• 8 cauilflower florets
• 3 celery sticks
• 1 meduim onion
• 1/2 pepper or courgette
• 7 cherry tomatoes
• 3 heaped tablespoons sweetcorn

Try putting salad in your sandwhiches to make them more interesting, adding plenty of vegetable to a stir fry and put kidney beans in soups.

Don't throw away over ripe fruit - try making it into a smoothie or use banana for a homemade milkshake.  The banana will be sweet enough not to add any sugar.

Try making ice lollie smoothies, using fresh fruit and 100% fruit juice.

Healthy snacks can include carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes, raisins, or fruit salad.  Use your imagination.

 Here are a few more unusual fruits to try:

• Custard Apple - this is a apple shaped fruit with green-brown scales.  It has a similar flavour to pineapple but has a creamy custard like texture.  Can be added to desserts or cut in half and spooned straight from the skin.
• Guava - Now widely available in super markets.  They have a soft sweet pink flesh with small edible seeds.  They will give slightly when squeezed if ripe.  Slice into fruit salads or on its own
• Passion Fruit - This fruit has a deep purple skin and is egg shaped.  They are ripe when wrinkled and will reward you with sweet golden flesh.  The deep red seeds will brighten up yogurt, or eat the fruit with a spoon
• Papaya - This is a delicous pear shaped exotic fruit which, when ripe has a golden skin and juicy orange flesh.  It can be scooped stright out to be eaten as it is or add to fruit salads.

Sign up here for our free newsletter!!