[syhprum (OP)]

The latest dictate from the ministry of food is that I should eat ten portions of fruit and vegetables a day.
I hate vague measurements I want to know grams per kilogram of body weight, where can I get information as what weight of various fruit and veg equates to a portion for a 85Kg male. 

[Colin2B]

The usual quoted portion size is 80g. Although an adult reference weight is not quoted directly, on all uk food labelling the Reference Intake (RI) is based on an adult female eating 8400kJ/2000kcal - what is supposed to be an average woman doing average amount of physical activity.


If you want to personalise the 80g you could work out your kJ and scale up, but to be honest if you achieve 10x80g you will be doing far better than the 200g total the research was baselined against.

[vhfpmr]

Salt is another one that is specified as an absolute level rather than in proportion to calorie intake or body weight. I don't know whether that's correct, or just a simplification, but it makes the target more difficult to meet for those with a high calorie intake.

[zx16]

Does anyone here actually eat five, or ten, portions of fruit each day? 

[syhprum (OP)]

Including canned tomatoes I probably make about 0.5Kg a day .

[zx16]

Including canned tomatoes I probably make about 0.5Kg a day .

Do you really eat a pound of vegetables a day? Personally I avoid all vegetables, except potatoes and carrots and peas. And fresh tomatoes, and lettuce.
 But I don't really like eating them, it's just from a kind of sense of dietary duty.

What  I like is meat.  In the form of pork sausages, and corned-beef, and Spam. All the rest is propaganda.

[syhprum (OP)]

A third of a large can of peaches an a can of tomatoes plus peas, beans, potatoes it soon adds up.

[zx16]

Including canned tomatoes I probably make about 0.5Kg a day .

Do you really eat canned tomatoes every day? I'm only asking this for the sake of truth!

[syhprum (OP)]

Yes I am real fond of tomatoes on toast , juice in soup, with meat and pasta and I love fresh ones with olive oil and vinegar.

[evan_au]

I like the convenience of frozen vegetables that get steamed when you put them in a microwave.
Each pack is 150g, and I eat 2 packs on most days = 300g, or a bit under 4x80g serves.

[Colin2B]

Salt is another one that is specified as an absolute level rather than in proportion to calorie intake or body weight. I don't know whether that's correct, or just a simplification, ...

On uk nutritional labelling, which I assume is EU also, salt is also referenced to 2000kcal intake - you should see a note on the label somewhere. Worth looking at the DASH diet for guidelines on salt, my sister in law was put on it after a heart attack. I've read up on the research it's based on and it is very solid. Although developed for blood pressure control it turned out to be best for heart health as well. Look at the official sites rather than those selling books and diet plans and you'll find a lot of guidance.

Does anyone here actually eat five, or ten, portions of fruit each day? 

Not fruit, but between 5-8 of veg + 2 fruit.
Research shows veg more important than fruit, but that's not why we do it, we just like a lot of veg and wide variety.

Yes I am real fond of tomatoes on toast , juice in soup, with meat and pasta and I love fresh ones with olive oil and vinegar.

If you mean Italian plum, I'm with you, love em


Evan, just seen your post while typing. You probably know that a lot of frozen veg has more vitamins than supermarket fresh because it's frozen quickly within a short time of picking.

[vhfpmr]

Does anyone here actually eat five, or ten, portions of fruit each day?

Not fruit, but I average eight portions of fruit and veg a day.
(Edit: Just totted up, I've had just over 11 portions today.)

[alancalverd]

"Portion" has no meaning, and five (or ten) a day has no scientific basis. The UK numbers were dreamed up by a committee under Ministerial pressure to make a pseudoscientific pronouncement for the greater glorification of the Minister, so they picked up on a commercial campaign that originated in the USA, driven by Californian fruit and vegetable producers. Nobody on that committee has ever attempted to justify their recommendation.

It started as the “National five-a-day for better health” program in 1991 as a public-private partnership between the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Produce for Better Health Foundation. The programme started in California, the sunshine state, and has become the world’s largest public-private nutrition education initiative. All States in the USA have a five-a-day co-ordinator and, as we can see above, the programme has spread as far as Australia and Latvia. (Five-a-day has since been trademarked by the National Cancer Institute).

The National Cancer Institute was established in 1937 and is the USA government’s principal agency for cancer research and training. The Produce for Better Health Foundation can be found at the web site “fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org” and their purpose is to get us to eat more fruit and vegetables.

When the Mexican fruitpickers have all been repatriated, there will be a shortage of fresh fruit and veg in the USA, so we can expect the number to drop to 3 or 4 per day. It seems bizarre that the imminent clampdown on East European migrant workers in the UK, and recent salad crop failures in Spain, have resulted in an increase in the spurious and baseless UK recommendations. 

The fittest two kids I ever coached at the junior rugby club, only ever ate jam sandwiches. They passed from my hands to play for Scottish Universities. I thought this extraordinary until I met a 21 year old college baseball  hero and skier whose diet from the age of five consisted entirely of cheese and tomato pizza. I introduced him to vegetable curry and he is now a proud father, which says a lot for the aphrodisiac qualities of garlic.