Drop It with 7/day

 

This is a new one…7 a day. Let’s talk about it a bit…can we?

I’ve heard of the health advise to go for 5 a day but new research says 7 a day is better… that is portions of fruit & veg! Consider this: 5 portions of fruit/veg a day may reduce risk of health related death by 29% and 7 portions of fruit/veg a day may reduce the risk of health related death by as much as 42%. If this is true (and who am I to disagree with eminent scientists?) the more fruit and veg I eat the greater the possibility of me being healthier than someone who eats less fruit and veg each day.

According to the article I read (http://www.bbc.com/news/health-26818377) fresh vegetables had the most beneficial effect on overall health, followed by salads and then fruit. Surprisingly fruit juice had no noticeable benefit while canned fruit caused more harm than good.

If you are like me, you would be thinking…’okaaaayyyy…so how do I make up 7 a day, when I have a really busy life?’, ’okaaaayyyy…so how do I make up 7 a day, when fruits and fresh vegetables are so expensive?’, ’okaaaayyyy…so how do I make up 7 a day, when I do not really like fruits?’. I could you on, but I think you get my gist.

First off, the biggest question!

WHAT ON EARTH MAKES UP 7 A DAY!

Dr Oyebode (who was the lead researcher according to this BBC article) says that a portion is roughly one large sized fruit/vegetable or a handful of smaller fruit/vegetables. This is a lot - does that mean 7 mangos, apples, oranges a day? That’s kind of much isn’t it? Isn’t this a recipe for mega diarrhea? I think it will be much easier to eat 7 portions of vegetables than fruits. Or better yet a combination that’s heavy on vegetables than fruit. Like, a healthy veg salad (which could be approximately 4-5 portions of veg, then an apple or two, and end the day with a one fresh orange. (I’m just thinking… but that kind of makes up 7 a day, and as a plan it doesn’t seem that bad or difficult to achieve, right?).

Quite the conundrum, right? Well, I did some digging and stumbled on this http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/apr/03/seven-simple-ways-seven-a-day-fruit-and-vegetables and just had to share…coz it’s worth a shot.

Onions are vegetables, and one onion can count as one portion! This is excellent news for me because I LOVE onions and only add them to my meals after the meal is cooked – so I have extra crunchy onions J (I am entitled to my quirks).

Potatoes COUNT as vegetables – so your boiled or baked (not fried, please) potatoes do count as part of your 7 a day. So if you are having a baked potato (BP) with sweet corn (another veg), one BP with half a handful of sweet corn can count as 1.5 portions of your 7 a day!

Other interesting (but easily forgotten) options for veg/fruit include:

• Eggplant
• Cucumber
• Kale
• Regular Tomatoes
• Avacados (and other pear varieties)
• Baby corn
• Garden Eggs
• Honey dew melon
• Groundnuts (peanuts)
• African Cherry (aka Agbalumo/Udara) – I’ve heard that some people call this ‘white star apple’
• Cherry tomatoes
• Fonio (also called acha in some parts of Nigeria)
• Cauliflower
• Broccoli
• Pepper fruit (Igbos call this nmimi)

It takes some doing – reading, thinking and all that… but it is not altogether impossible. The end result is that you and I are more likely to lead healthier lives and drop those pesky extra kg’s in the process! Worth it, wouldn’t you say?

For me it makes sense to try to up my fruit and veg consumption – I may not hit 7 a day at once, but it’s a good target to aspire to. And I’m thinking that if I increase the quantity of fresh fruits I consume every day it should help fill me up so I don’t end up snacking…! That’s in addition to the normal benefits gotten from fruits and veg.

What do you think? Is this type of lifestyle possible – especially considering the stables readily available at your location? Or should we stick to our yam, pasta and beans?

If you don’t remember anything, please remember that the order in terms of benefits to health is:

Fresh vegetables

Salads

Fresh fruit (real fruit)

Fresh fruit juice

Canned fruit (AVOID)

How do you incorporate fruits and veg in your daily diet? Care to share? Drop a comment!

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