You may think that you’re a pro at ensuring you eat your five a day, but it turns out what counts as a portion varies widely depending on the colour of the fruit or vegetable you’re chomping on.
BBC Good Food magazine has released six handy infographics – yellow, purple, red, white, orange and green – to show just how much you need to eat of different foods to reach your goal.
The healthy eating target, set by the World Health Organization, is key to making sure you’ve got a balanced diet. So, check you’ve been eating enough of your favourite healthy foods with these colour-coded charts.
Green
Good news for avocado fans – just half of one counts as a portion, whereas you need a whole apple or a pear for it to be one of your five a day. And if you’re partial to a kiwifruit as an afternoon snack, you should have two to notch up a portion.
Meanwhile, when it comes to green vegies, you need three whole sticks of celery to reach one portion, whereas a single 5cm slice of cucumber will do the trick.
Purple
One of the surprises on the purple chart is the amount of passionfruit that counts as one of your five a day – you need to consume an impressive six to make up a portion. That’s a lot of seeds to be spooning out …
Go for an easier 10 blackberries to meet one of your goals, or only 1/2 an eggplant is enough.
Red
Tomato puree has to be one of the most versatile ingredients and you only need one tablespoon of the stuff to make up a portion. Compared to seven cherry tomatoes, that’s quite significant.
Chopping up just half a pepper also counts as one of your five a day. And, yes, that’s even if you’re using it to scoop up hummus.
White
Next time you’re chopping up an onion, it’s worth bearing in mind you need to use a whole one for it to count as a portion. That’s a lot of trying not to cry … While they tend to be a bit less tear-inducing, you also need eight spring onions to be eating one of your five a day.
When it comes to mushrooms, it varies quite a lot – you can either go for 14 button mushrooms or two tablespoons of dried mushrooms.
Orange
Satsumas, tangerines and mandarins must come as a pair for you to be on track with a serving of fruit, whereas just one glass of fruit juice will do it.
You need to have a whole sweet potato but three tablespoons of baked beans on your toast will swiftly get you to a portion.
Yellow
One slice of pineapple is all you need but you’ll require a whole banana.
When it comes to sweetcorn, yellow lentils and chickpeas – it’s three tablespoons of each for one serving of veg.
So overall, every colour (except white) offers some fast five a day fixes.
But the speediest option of all, we reckon, is purple’s 10 blackberries. Or maybe we just eat berries far too quickly …
Did any of these portion sizes surprise you? How do you ensure you get all portions of your five a day in?
– With PA
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Related articles:
https://www.yourlifechoices.com.au/food-recipes/food/keep-your-produce-fresher-for-longer
https://www.yourlifechoices.com.au/health/wellbeing/are-vegetarians-healthier
https://www.yourlifechoices.com.au/health/wellbeing/lovehate-vegetables-tops-for-the-heart
