What really constitutes your Five-A-Day?

Good Health Blog

Author: Sam Silvester

The Government have for some time been encouraging us to eat more fruit and vegetables via their 'Five-A-Day' campaign. Quite rightly their thinking is that if we eat more fruit and vegetables not only will we be increasing our fibre and vitamins but are less likely to fill up on junk food.

The problem is how we interpret the Five-A-Day. For example, many people will count chips, baked beans, canned fruit (in syrup!) dried fruit and fruit juice as part of their quota, and in extreme cases, parents are adding raisins to Coca pops or making banana pancakes, in the belief that at least their children are getting their 'five a day'.

Let's examine this more closely. I'm not saying that potatoes, baked beans, canned and dried fruit and juice are worse than crisps, cakes and biscuits, I just want you to think about better ways of getting your five-a-day.

• Potatoes are a starchy food, with some vitamin C - destroyed by frying, plenty of fibre if you eat the skins, but not a great deal of nutritents, the same goes for parsnips which are high on the Glycemic Index. You would do better to have sweet potatoes (high in vitamin A) or at least bake them in their skins and serve with pesto rather than heaps of butter.
• Baked beans (made with haricot beans) are often in a high sugar, high salt sauce which negates the health benefit of the pulse. Pulses such as chick peas, butter beans and haricot beans are very healthy when added to soups and stews or pureed as a humous or made into bean pate.
• Why have canned fruit laden with sugary syrup when there is a variety of natural fresh fruit. You can always bake apples or poach pears, or make a berry compote yourself. Even canned fruit in natural juice is no substitute for the vitamins and fibre found in its fresh counterpart.
• Dried fruit can be healthy, especially unsulphured apricots and figs, if used sparingly but raisins and dates are very high in natural sugar. Blueberries and strawberries would be a better choice. Less sugary fresh fruit is better e.g. apples, kiwi, pears, oranges, and higher in vitamin C.

In our quest to obtain our five a day, we may be forgetting other healthy foods such as oily fish, nuts and seeds, herbs such as parsley and basil, brown rice, porridge, pulses in the form of humus, olive oil, natural live yoghurt and omega 3 rich eggs.

Adding token pineapple to pizza, or a limp lettuce to a burger bun does not make it healthy. We need a variety of healthy foods as mentioned above, as well as our vital greens, reds, oranges and purples for that matter!

By Samantha Silvester Ch.Ed MBANT - www.whatseatingyou.co.uk at The Wantage Natural Therapy Centre

Keep healthy - enjoy life!