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Do the count - 2 & 5
By Kylie Andrew (Dietitian)
Do you snack on fruit daily? Include vegetables every night? Routinely add salad to your sandwiches? If not, then you may not be eating enough fruit and vegetables!
In fact, most Australians eat only half the amount of fruit and vegetables recommended for good health.
Fruit and vegetables are an important part of healthy eating. Vegetables and legumes are an excellent source of vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre and carbohydrate. Fruit is also a good source of vitamins, including vitamin C and folate. It also provides carbohydrates, in particular, natural sugars and fibre. Both fruits and vegetables are an excellent source of antioxidants, and you won’t get that from a supplement!
It is suggested that a lifetime habit of eating fruit and vegetables daily can prevent some forms of cancer, obesity and being overweight, heart disease and constipation, as well as reduce blood pressure, cholesterol levels and improve control of diabetes.
The “Go for 2&5” campaign is an Australian Government, State and Territory initiative, that encourages Australians to eat 2 serves of fruit and 5 serves of vegetables daily.
So what’s a serve?
One serve of fruit
= 1 medium piece, eg, apple, banana, orange, pear
= 2 small pieces, eg, apricots, kiwi fruit, plums
= 1 cup diced pieces or canned fruit
= ½ cup juice
= dried fruit, eg, 4 dried apricot halves, 1 ½ tablespoons sultanas.
One serve of vegetables or legumes
= 75g or ½ cup cooked vegetables
= 75g or ½ cup cooked dried beans, peas or lentils
= 1 cup salad vegetables
= 1 potato.
Tips to get 2 & 5…
Fruity Faves:
- Add fresh or canned fruit to your breakfast cereal
- Make a fruit smoothie (banana, strawberry or mango) with low fat milk and yoghurt
- Freeze fresh fruit like grapes for a summer snack
- Make barney banana ice creams by peeling a banana and freezing
- Keep a fruit bowl on your desk and aim to eat 2 serves each day
- Add fruit to savoury meals eg apple or mango in a salad, peach as a salsa for fish or chicken
- Prepare fresh fruit for dessert with a yoghurt dip
- Make fruit salad with a variety of fresh fruits
Vegetable Variety:
- Top toast or English muffins with cooked mushroom, corn, tomato, spinach.
- Make your own pizzas using pita bread topped with a variety of colourful vegetables. Why not go gourmet with sweet potato and baby spinach.
- Serve vegetable crudités (carrot, celery, capsicum) as a snack with dip
- BBQ vegetable kebabs with cherry tomatoes, baby mushrooms, onions, capsicum, zucchini etc
- Add a variety of vegetables to stir fries
- Make a minestrone or vegetable soup
- Experiment with new vegetables, like bok choy, sweet potato etc
- Enjoy salads with a variety of different vegetables like the typical lettuce, tomato, cucumber, but add corn kernels, capsicum,
- Make warm vegetable salads with potato and sweet potato.
- Use capsicum or eggplant as a serving dish, hollowed and filled with your meal
- Don’t forget to add salad to your boring cheese and ham sandwich.
- Add vegetables to your favourite casseroles and curries