Friday, 1 February 2013

Fruity (and Vegetabley) February

I'm setting myself a challenge this month.
I know I'm a month too late for a New Year's resolution but this is more of a month long goal and as February is the shortest month, it seems like good timing.
I've still been eating all the fatty, sugary, junky food I have as treats at Christmas all the time in January. This is not super great for me! I'm not particularly planning to loose weight or "drop a dress size" I just need to be a bit more mindful when I eat and not just inhale a "sharing size" bag of chocolate because I'm bored.

My challenge is to eat 10 portions of fruit and veg a day. 

 I know the usual advice in the UK is to have 5 portions a day but that's based on minimum recommendations of 400g of fruit and veg daily from the World Health Organisation. I wanted to make this a real challenge for myself, I think I generally do ok with 5 portions also, really I could still have 5 portions and eat lots of junk and not feel too full, 10 portions is the normal recommendation in France so I'm going to see how easy it is!( In Japan it's 13 veg and 4 fruit portions!)


Pictures of market stalls in Pisa and Rome taken while I was living in Rome in 2011

I'll be following these NHS guidelines to work out how much I need to eat and trying to get as much variety as possible. I'm pretty excited to see how feasible this is and to see if I notice any effects from increasing my fruit and veg intake.

Does anyone have any advice, recipes or feel like joining in? I'd love to hear from you.

Posted by at
Labels:

12 comments:

  1. Ruth1 February 2013 at 22:26

    We enjoy tinned fruit and/or fresh fruit for dessert with mini meringues & yoghurt.....YUMMY!
    Also smoothies.
    I aim to always have 2 fruit portions of breakfast too, as this is a good start to my day. One glass of fruit juice and fruit in my cereal.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Helen12 February 2013 at 12:34

      I always have a banana on my cereal and a smoothie if I've got time, otherwise a banana and cereal bar on the train

      Delete
  2. Magical Daydream2 February 2013 at 13:01

    I need to do this as well. I always eat veggies with my meals, but I could eat some more fruit in between too!

    x

    Marielle

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Helen12 February 2013 at 12:36

      I'm quite enjoying it, it's reminding me to eat more fruit before biscuits too!

      Delete
  3. the linen cloud2 February 2013 at 17:44

    Thanks so much for popping by and saying hello earlier ... love your idea of eating more fruit and veg this month ... I think it's a great idea to do it in February ... short enough to stick at it and probably long enough for it to become a habit ... love your blog too ... Bee xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Helen12 February 2013 at 12:37

      Thank you,I'm hoping it'll make me start fitting in all my fruit and veg more naturally

      Delete
  4. serious sarah2 February 2013 at 17:56

    lovely pictures!
    gotta love your veggies <3 lol

    -s.

    serioussarahblog.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Helen12 February 2013 at 12:40

      Thank you! yep, particularly loving spinach atm

      Delete
  5. Erica3 February 2013 at 03:35

    It is never too late to set goals, especially healthy ones. I'll be curious to see how easy it is to eat 10 servings a day, but it may not be as hard as it sounds... I already really love fruits and veggies. Best of luck with meeting your goal! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Helen12 February 2013 at 12:43

      I'm thinking this might be the way to go, having short term goals monthly instead of year long things,
      Mostly this has not been too tricky so far

      Delete
  6. Lydia3 February 2013 at 15:06

    Boredom is the main cause of me eating junk food :/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Helen12 February 2013 at 12:41

      me too! I'm hoping this will make me think of biting into an apple instead of rummaging for chocolate though

      Delete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)