Its no longer good enough to eat your 5 a day

Status
Not open for further replies.


rockaway said:
When the '5 a day' push was announced, the research showed that actually 7 a day was more beneficial. But for marketing reasons they decided to go with 5 cause its a more relatable number. - Or so a drunken conversation with a doctor last year went.
Click to expand...
Was just about to post something similar.
 
I think these sort of things can be dangerous, make the number high enough and a lot of people will say "fuck it, that is unachievable" and not bother at all.

Going the other way, they have done things similar with drinking and obesity. Something like 3 pints is now considered binge drinking. You don't have to put on much weight from your ideal BMI points to go quickly from normal to overweight to obese. It all means your average everyday people, who could probably be a bit more healthy are all being branded as major health risks, distracting from the people who really need help and lifestyle changes. It also means people look at each other, see relatively healthy people with perhaps a bit of middle age spread and dismiss all advice.

A couple of months ago, they were on about the shocking results from an NHS survey website. I give it a go and most of the questions almost forced you towards giving unhealthy answers. Stupid things like "what would you prefer, chips or boiled potatoes", rather than how often do you have chips, how often do you have boiled spuds etc. I eat a fairly balanced diet, I love sports so I do at least 5 sessions of CV stuff per week, sometime rising up to 10. Many of them last 1 hour, like 3 lots of 5-a-side. I don't drink much these days, 1 or 2 pints after my Wednesday football and sometimes one at the weekend when watching the match - unless I'm having a night out, which is rare. The conclusion was that I need to radically change my diet, get out and do more exercise and seriously cut down on the drink. If I'm at deaths door like the site suggested, no wonder it said most of the country is in an unhealthy state.
 
rockaway said:
When the '5 a day' push was announced, the research showed that actually 7 a day was more beneficial. But for marketing reasons they decided to go with 5 cause its a more relatable number. - Or so a drunken conversation with a doctor last year went.
Click to expand...
Doctors shouldnt be drunk at work like.
 
17 a day in japan :eek: I had 2 of these this morning

Logon or register to see this image


Logon or register to see this image


which is about 3 apples , 10 tomatoes , 6 carrots, 2 parsnip, kale etc etc farting like a trooper :p

Is five a day enough?
While we Brits struggle to meet our fruit and vegetable quota, in Japan they aim for an astonishing 17 portions daily. But who is right? And what counts anyway? Luke Waterson reports

It is a fact universally acknowledged by health advisers the world over: consuming more fruit and vegetables is A Good Thing. After all, they are the only foods to feature in the nutritional guidelines of all major countries, and everyone agrees that eating more of them may help to reduce the risk of heart diease and some cancers. But that is where the consensus ends. Although in Britain we are told to live by the five-a-day maxim, the Danes must aim for six, the French 10, and Canadians are urged to get through between five and 10. The Japanese government, however, now recommends up to 13 portions of vegetables plus four of fruit daily.

So why are British guidelines so low? How did the government settle on five a day anyway? Are all fruits and vegetables equally good in the eyes of top nutritional gurus? And do baked beans really count? The answers to these questions and more, below.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/may/25/healthandwellbeing.health

Do baked beans count?

Yes. "They count as a portion because they contain dietary fibre," says Lowdon. "But beans and pulses would only count as one of your five a day regardless of how much of them you eat, and remember that baked beans, like many tinned products, are high in salt." NB: spaghetti hoops don't count: they come under carbohydrates, as do potatoes. And don't think you can substitute a vitamin pill or other dietary supplement either: fruit and vegetables contain additional beneficial substances, such as fibre.
 
Last edited:
DaveH said:
I think these sort of things can be dangerous, make the number high enough and a lot of people will say "fuck it, that is unachievable" and not bother at all.

Going the other way, they have done things similar with drinking and obesity. Something like 3 pints is now considered binge drinking. You don't have to put on much weight from your ideal BMI points to go quickly from normal to overweight to obese. It all means your average everyday people, who could probably be a bit more healthy are all being branded as major health risks, distracting from the people who really need help and lifestyle changes. It also means people look at each other, see relatively healthy people with perhaps a bit of middle age spread and dismiss all advice.

A couple of months ago, they were on about the shocking results from an NHS survey website. I give it a go and most of the questions almost forced you towards giving unhealthy answers. Stupid things like "what would you prefer, chips or boiled potatoes", rather than how often do you have chips, how often do you have boiled spuds etc. I eat a fairly balanced diet, I love sports so I do at least 5 sessions of CV stuff per week, sometime rising up to 10. Many of them last 1 hour, like 3 lots of 5-a-side. I don't drink much these days, 1 or 2 pints after my Wednesday football and sometimes one at the weekend when watching the match - unless I'm having a night out, which is rare. The conclusion was that I need to radically change my diet, get out and do more exercise and seriously cut down on the drink. If I'm at deaths door like the site suggested, no wonder it said most of the country is in an unhealthy state.
Click to expand...
Even as a pensioner, I'm pretty fit and strong, walking several miles a day with my dog and eating a varied diet. The only thing I keep an eye on is sugar, and I only bother my doctor once every three years to get blood tests for cholesterol, PSI, liver counts etc. I've never had treatment in a hospital.
Yet I'm obese because my BMI is 30. I've got my Dad's coalminer body-not tall-huge shoulders and thights-deep chest etc. I carried a dead washing machine to the car the other day!
And the daily recommended intake of salt is a joke. What's the daily recommended output of sweat? Some figure made up by a geek who spends all day tapping computer keys and worrying about dying, probably. I worked at Pyrex for while, and not taking your salt-tablets was a sacking offence!
Fortunately my blood pressure is rock-solid normal or this shit would give me a stroke.
 
I saw something on ten a day! I struggle to name ten fruits let alone have the time to find them and eat them. Doesn't that much fruit cause problems with acid etc?
 
Some places say 3 a day, some say 5 a day, some say 7 a day.
Although fruit vegetables are obviously quite good for you,
Just eat what you want and don't let yourself get fat. If you consume 5000 calories a day, make sure you burn about 1500 calories. Its not hard really to avoid being fat and still eat what you want.
Extreme example but michael phelps had about 10,000 calories per day, but only because he was burning it off.
 
Reet, me and him have just decided to give this a go, we currently do about five. So looking for advice oh wise SMB - there must be some of you healthy buggers out there who already do it. Can't see a way to do it except by becoming almost completely vegetarian :(. We both work so we're thinking things like big slow cooker of veg curry to go on in the morning, learning to love cruciferous veg (whatever they are) and having them for breakfast :(:(.

Any tips?
 
janiep said:
Reet, me and him have just decided to give this a go, we currently do about five. So looking for advice oh wise SMB - there must be some of you healthy buggers out there who already do it. Can't see a way to do it except by becoming almost completely vegetarian :(. We both work so we're thinking things like big slow cooker of veg curry to go on in the morning, learning to love cruciferous veg (whatever they are) and having them for breakfast :(:(.

Any tips?
Click to expand...

Try it for a couple of weeks?
 
James said:
Try it for a couple of weeks?
Click to expand...
Think we're gonna have to. It's gonna be quite a big change to up the anti in this way. Currently we do the 5 to a large extent by just a bit of fruit here and there - an apple at breakfast, banana at elevenses etc. Ten seems to me on,y achievable by putting veg right at the heart of the overwhelming majority of meals.
 
janiep said:
Reet, me and him have just decided to give this a go, we currently do about five. So looking for advice oh wise SMB - there must be some of you healthy buggers out there who already do it. Can't see a way to do it except by becoming almost completely vegetarian :(. We both work so we're thinking things like big slow cooker of veg curry to go on in the morning, learning to love cruciferous veg (whatever they are) and having them for breakfast :(:(.

Any tips?
Click to expand...

What do you do for lunches? If you make a big pot of veggie stew/curry/pasta at the start of the week and take that into work with you it'll be at least two plus a couple of pieces of fruit. I think stuff like dried fruit still counts so that can be a snack.

There's five. It must be easy enough to do two portions at breakfast and three at dinner. You can always have a desert of fruit and yoghurt!

It's worth investing in a decent veggie cook book or two. Ottolenghi's Plenty books are really good (the second one has loads of salads that you could also take for lunches) and the Leith's Vegetable Bible has loads of stuff in. It's pretty easy to whack some meat in if you want to as well.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Back
Top