Opinion

Five serves of veg!

I have a theory. Well, yes, I have many theories, but my theory today has to do with the perennial cry that we should eat five serves of vegetables a day, a cry that is ringing through the Hunter Region this week as part of the national Fruit 'n' Veg week and the Cancer Council's Eat It To Beat It campaign unique to the Hunter.

The five serves of veg a day is teamed with two pieces of fruit a day, and it all sounds fine and dandy. It's not so hard to eat two pieces of fruit a day, although I know people who have not eaten fruit for decades and I know one fellow who has never eaten a piece of fruit. He's in his 70s, by the way.

But I say that five serves of veg a day is not so easy. Unless, of course, you're a vegetarian, and if being vegetarian is the healthy option why are so many of them fat? Sorry, overweight?

A serve is half a cup of condensed veg or a compressed cup of salad. Typically we don't eat veg for breakfast, or morning tea, or lunch. There is an inconsequential quantity of veg, or none, in a sandwich. So five cups for dinner! In spaghetti bolognese or other pasta? Yes, you can grate carrot into the sauce for half a serve. Asian noodle soup? Add a few leaves of choy sum for a quarter of a serve. Curry and rice? No, rice is not a vegetable. Fish and salad? One serve perhaps. A hamburger? A slice of tomato and beetroot does not make half a serve, and tomato is a fruit anyway. Even in a traditional roast with roast vegetables you'd be eating heartily to put five cups of the stuff away.

And now to my theory. Which is probably better expressed as a suspicion. I suspect that the mantra of five serves of vegetables a day has been hanging over us since the days of nightly meat and three veg when we did eat five cups of veg, when adults and children were harangued about eating more and eating up our vegetables. Remember the stuff about curly hair and growing up big and strong?

Modern families that have home-cooked meals don't so often sit down to a meal offering vegetables separately and in quantity, and families that eat junk have even fewer vegetables with the possible exception of hot chips.

Home cooking is much more varied these days. Are we the worse for it? Could it be that setting the bar at five serves of veg a day is more about encouraging people off junk food? Whatever, it is a bar set so high it guarantees failure for most.

Do you, could you, eat five serves of vegetable a day every day? Are you laden with guilt because you don't?

Posted By: Jeff Corbett on 9/09/2009 5:59:00 PM | Comments (56)

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I'm not a small feller and i don't think i could eat 5 cups of anything at dinner time. For eg, last night i had 2 snags, prob half a cup worth of pumpkin, and broccoli, 2 small potatos and half a cup of peas and i was chocka block at the end of it, That wasn't even the 3 cups, same for lunch a couple of sandwiches or if i eat leftovers, its about half the amount i usually eat at dinner. So really no chance. What i don't get is all these fan dangled diets of low carb etc. For EG, (Not being Racist) but you would be hard pressed to find an overweight chinese person, they are few and far between and they love their rice. So why is everyone saying Rice (carbs) is so bad for us westerners when the chinese live on the stuff and look mostly fit and healthy? Sorry a bit off track but i have wonderded that for years.

Posted by Nafe, 10/09/2009 10:18:23 AM, on The Herald

Rice like potatoes have a high starch content, it is the cooking process eg, fried rice, chips that make it unhealthy. Steamed, boiled or pilaf rice and risotto are all good options.

Posted by Chef Dude, 10/09/2009 11:40:24 AM, on The Herald

But the Eat it To Beat It dietitian assures me, Chief Dude, that rice is not a vegetable. Like bread and pasta, it is a grain.

Posted by Jeff Corbett on 10/09/2009 11:42:17 AM

Thanks Chef Dude, I love my boiled rice so i can eat it comfotably knowing its not to bad for me after all.

Posted by Nafe, 10/09/2009 11:42:26 AM, on The Herald

MMMmmm Vegies.. I'll eat all vegtables except Brussel Sprouts .... Yuck, it tastes like super sweet cabbage, it making my body shudder just thinking about it <-- The words of a person force fed Brussel Spouts as a Kid !! Now it's my 2nd generations turn for the Old Brussel Sprouts feeding techniques, wish me luck & does anyone have any handy hints to make the kids love them, because it didn't work on me ??

Posted by The Real Tough Titties, 10/09/2009 12:04:27 PM, on The Herald

Are we worse off for it? Well the incidence of diseases such as obesity and cancer is on the rise, so I'd say yes, we are worse off for not eating as many vegetables these days.

Posted by B, 10/09/2009 12:16:48 PM, on The Herald

I think you are overestimating somewhat the quantities that need to be consumed. I've worked in this field in the past (I am after all an expert on most things) and I find it not all that onerous to consume the recommended 5/2 vege/fruit serves most days. Dietitians often use food models which give you a nice visual impression of what a serve of a particular vegetable is. The recommendations are based on epidemiological studies, which show lower mortality/morbidity associated with fruit and vegetable consumption. Unfortunately you can’t cheat and take supplements instead of your F&V. There was a lovely study done showing diets high in Vitamin E and beta carotene reduced the incidence of lung cancer in smokers, so the logic went that if you supplemented these nutrients you would have the same effect, and the study was duly set up. It turned out that by consuming these nutrients by way of supplement actually increased the incidence of lung cancer, and the trial was stopped. Moral of the story - avoid supplements and eat your fruit and veges. Tit – try microwaving/steaming your brussel sprouts until they are quite soft, and serve with a bit of butter and salt - delicious.

Posted by Directeur Sportif, 10/09/2009 12:46:36 PM, on The Herald

Tried that one Sporty..Also with Garlic in the butter... Thanks anyway<--------Shock horror!

Posted by The Real Tough Titties, 10/09/2009 1:09:26 PM, on The Herald

Nafe in your dinner you are eating 3 serves of veg anyway (1 serve veg = 1/2 cup cooked veg), so it's really not hard to get an extra 2 more serves during the day, especially if you're having veg at lunch. I think also you are underestimating the amount of veg Asian diets contain - is it the rice or the veg that keeps them thin? Just my 2 cents!

Posted by LG, 10/09/2009 1:31:06 PM, on The Herald

yes i remember eating tons more vegetables as a kid. boiled potato and pumpkin cooked within an inch of its life, so soggy it would fall off your fork. and the peas,i can feel them coming back up now.

Posted by catl, 10/09/2009 1:34:07 PM, on The Herald

The generation above mine insisted on boiling vegetables to a mash, as you say, catlicker. Often you couldn't pick them up off the plate with a fork. I believe that children have a taste different from adults. By that I mean that the impact of a certain food on their taste receptors may be very different from that food's impact on ours.

Posted by Jeff Corbett on 10/09/2009 2:14:52 PM

i have often wondered why the recommendation is 5 serves of veg and 2 of fruit. i could easily eat 4 of fruit per day and 3 of veg. what is the difference between having a variety of fruit OR veg.? i think the directeur would be able to answer this one after all he is the expert as he says (warning: humour intended). and i agree brussel sprouts are great when cooked properly - which is not hard.

Posted by senior sergeant smith, 10/09/2009 1:54:27 PM, on The Herald

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