
People who eat 10 portions of fruit and vegetables a day - Mz
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/feb/24/meet-people-eat-10-portions-fruit-vegetables-day
======
DeBraid
Plant-based food list I've compiled:
[https://github.com/DeBraid/medicine/blob/master/plant-
based-...](https://github.com/DeBraid/medicine/blob/master/plant-based-
diet.md)

Nutrient density per calorie is the magic formula. High nutrient density, high
ANDI scores.

A good video on the topic of plant-based nutrition
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ8dkLYWrw0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ8dkLYWrw0)

~~~
alexpw
>Nutrient density per calorie is the magic formula. High nutrient density,
high ANDI scores.

The "magic formula" is the problem. There are many approaches to nutrient
density scoring and ANDI is among those horribly flawed. Why? I'll defer to
someone credible:

> According to the explanation of this ranking system posted on Fuhrman’s web
> site, he also excludes a number of other important nutrients. The B vitamins
> biotin and pantothenic acid, preformed vitamin A, and vitamins K1 and K2 are
> among those absent. Major minerals such as sodium, chloride, potassium,
> sulfur, and phosphorus are excluded. Essential trace minerals such as
> copper, manganese, boron, molybdenum, and chromium are nowhere to be found
> in Fuhrman’s list. Essential fatty acids like EPA, DHA and arachidonic acid
> are likewise absent. Finally, none of the eight essential amino acids is
> included in his ranking system. - Chris Masterjohn, PhD Nutritional Sciences
> [1]

A bit suspect to exclude essential nutrients from a nutrient score. He also
doubles the ORAC (antioxidant) importance, when including ORAC at all is very
controversial. Please read [1] for the rest.

A more objective formula [2] will always include organ meats, like liver, at
the top. A serving of liver is practically a multi-vitamin and if consumed
daily will cause an overdose of vitamin A very quickly.

[1]
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:WLAXWpG...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:WLAXWpGUX3YJ:www.westonaprice.org/book-
reviews/eat-to-live-by-joel-fuhrman/&num=1&hl=en&gl=us&strip=1&vwsrc=0) [2]
[http://ketopia.com/nutrient-density-sticking-to-the-
essentia...](http://ketopia.com/nutrient-density-sticking-to-the-essentials-
mathieu-lalonde-ahs12/)

~~~
szemet
That's my experience too. When I was a student I have made a linear
programming excercise just for fun: to find foodsets with all the required
daily nutritions at cheapest price

Basically chicken liver was IT, just a few hundred gramms per day and nearly
all requirements are fulfilled. When I've disabled liver, then came some diets
much harder to realize: with elements such as 4 kg of oranges a day :)

~~~
DeBraid
Organ meats are under-appreciated in terms of their nutrient value.

When wild animals kill prey they eat the organs first, then move on to the
less nutritious muscle meat.

~~~
antisthenes
Humans did that too in the hunter-gatherer days.

Especially when killing bigger prey, some organs were consumed by the hunters
on the spot to compensate for calories lost hunting(liver/brains/heart?) and
the rest of the meat was brought back to the tribe.

------
stagbeetle
There are so many things wrong here.

> _10 portions of fruit and veg a day_

You're comparing fruit to vegetables here. Vegetables contain much more
flavenoids and micronutrients than fruits (unless you include berries). It's
good to replace unhealthy food with a fruit, but health authorities should be
wary of allowing fruit consumption to dominate over vegetable consumption
(which it mostly certainly will).

I'm not pedantic enough to post everything I have wrong with this, but
nutritional authorities need to get with the times.

Being health-conscious is great, but do not just eat "10 servings of fruit or
vegetables" a day. Use a nutrient tracker and make sure you're getting what
your body needs, and if needed, supplement everything else.

------
cylinder
I love fruits and vegetables so the only real limiting reagent for me is
having enough of them in the fridge. My thoughts:

If you live in a seasonal climate, try to eat in tune with the seasons.

Subscribe to a farmers co-op or some sort of delivery of a weekly box of
whatever produce is being harvested now at a nearby farm. This is when I've
had the best success eating lots of vegetables. Especially good value are
"ugly" produce boxes of "reject" vegetables that won't make it to supermarkets
due to insignificant cosmetic marks. Not a complete solution, as you may end
up with too many of a vegetable you don't like / need. Less thinking and
decision making is better, and I know I'm getting the fresh stuff, and I will
be determined to just use whatever I have since I paid for it.

If you have good cooking skills, and maintain "momentum" in cooking often, you
will be able to just open your fridge and figure out what to cook based on
what you have and how you feel. I find this better and more enjoyable than
trying to plan out meals in advance. I find fresh vegetables inspiring. Moreso
outside of winter of course.

Blendtec or Vitamix grade blender: you can throw pretty much anything in these
and it will blend with minimal water added. Allows you to consume a huge
amount of vegetables and fruits.

Soups: soups are so easy to make. Chop whatever you have, add a bit of chicken
broth, water, turmeric, chicken drumsticks (optional), salt, pepper and
whatever else you want. Usually you'll at least want carrots, celery, ginger,
onion and mushroom. Bring to a boil then leave on low for a couple of hours.

~~~
mrob
>the only real limiting reagent for me is having enough of them in the fridge

Most vegetables freeze well, and frozen vegetables are often more nutritious
than fresh because they're picked in peak condition instead of early for extra
shelf life. They're usually cheaper than fresh too. With the exception of
vegetables like onions that don't need refrigerating I mostly eat frozen
vegetables.

~~~
tracker1
+1 ... Depending on what you're wanting, and where you live. Also, when
cooking just for yourself, the mixed veggies allow you to make just enough,
instead of having to break down and cut up have a dozen different veggies, and
have way too much leftovers.

------
bryanlarsen
It's really not that hard, a "portion" is quite a bit smaller than you think
it is. For instance, a large apple is 3 portions.

~~~
1wd
That terminology really seems more confusing and misleading than helpful then.
Also this usage of "portion" kind of conflicts with the usage in advice about
"smaller portion size".

[https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/healthy_eating/portion_siz...](https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/healthy_eating/portion_size.html)

~~~
DanBC
Here's what the UK means when it talks about portion size.

[http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/5ADAY/Pages/Portionsizes.aspx](http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/5ADAY/Pages/Portionsizes.aspx)

> Small-sized fresh fruit

> One portion is two or more small fruit, for example two plums, two satsumas,
> two kiwi fruit, three apricots, six lychees, seven strawberries or 14
> cherries.

> Medium-sized fresh fruit

> One portion is one piece of fruit, such as one apple, banana, pear, orange
> or nectarine.

> Large fresh fruit

> One portion is half a grapefruit, one slice of papaya, one slice of melon
> (5cm slice), one large slice of pineapple or two slices of mango (5cm
> slices).

Note that this is for fresh fruit, and definitely not juices or smoothies.

> Unsweetened 100% fruit juice, vegetable juice and smoothies can only ever
> count as a maximum of one portion of your 5 A DAY.

> For example, if you have two glasses of fruit juice and a smoothie in one
> day, that still only counts as one portion.

A rough rule of thumb: one portion is what fits in a cupped hand.

------
M_Grey
The people saying it isn't hard are right... it really isn't. What's hard is
leaving everything you should be doing for the end of the day, then trying to
cram in a whole head of broccoli with dinner. That said, fruit is delicious
and nutritious... _very_ nutritious. You have to think about any family risk
of diabetes, and frankly think about the long-term health of your teeth.

That said, 10 portions seems like moderation to me, assuming good dental
hygiene.

Edit: Oh, and if you're eating that kind of thing, it helps not to eat too
much high-salt, high-sugar foods along with them. It's like... trying to look
for a rainbow under a floodlight.

~~~
dingleberry
Yudkin mentioned about dental hygiene in his book Pure, White and Deadly: The
Problem of Sugar (1972)

it's the form of sugar that matters.

the sticky (think twinkie) sugar does more damage because it sticks to
cavities, fueling bacteria producing acid.

the stickiest, the sweetest fruit i can think of is fried dates. banana comes
close.

but fruits don't even compare to twinkie, so don't worry too much about it.
chewing fibrous non-sweet veg should be enough to 'brush' teeth naturally. of
course brushing your teeth won't hurt

~~~
stagbeetle
> _chewing fibrous non-sweet veg should be enough to 'brush' teeth naturally_

Side-to-side, _maybe._

Check out Miswak, it's an alternative to the toothbrush + toothpaste combo.

~~~
mrob
I've tried it, and it does clean your teeth effectively, but it's harder to
use because the bristles point in the same direction as the handle instead of
to the side. It doesn't work any better than a normal toothbrush so unless
you're using it for religious reasons I don't see any reason to use it.

~~~
M_Grey
Few people I've met really worry about their dental hygiene beyond their daily
brushing. In that regard, carrying around anything that keeps you engaged in
that, is a good thing. In the morning and at night though... it's hard to beat
a good modern electric brush.

------
jpalomaki
Blendtec. One Apple, one pear, couple of oranges, one kiwi and some green
stuff results in a smoothie portion that is easy to drink along with morning
coffee.

For lunch throw in some cucumber, tomatoes, carrot and peppers and you get a
gazpacho (Google for more detailed recipe).

No need to do much chopping, just throw the stuff in and let machine do the
work.

~~~
orev
Putting stuff in a blender removes one of the primary things that makes them
healthy: fiber. Or specifically the digestion of fiber. That's the "work" that
makes fruit healthy, because it allows for the slow release of the sugar. Once
you smash all the fiber, you're just consuming a sugar bomb with some smashed
fiber on the backend. At that point, the sugar rush isn't any different than
drinking soda.

~~~
eddietejeda
Juicing removes fiber but a blender does not impact the fiber content.

More info: [http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/23/science/q-a-finer-
fiber.ht...](http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/23/science/q-a-finer-fiber.html)

~~~
orev
It does not remove the fiber but it changes the structure. The natural
structure is like a balloon with good stuff inside. The digestion process
breaks down those balloons one at a time and liberates the contents. That
process slows down the absorption of sugar. Blending pops all of the balloons
so you everything can be accessed/absorbed at the same time, leading to sugar
spikes, etc...

~~~
jpalomaki
Sounds plausible, but is this backed by some research and is the quick release
of sugars the only issue? Quick googling did not reveal any good information.

------
wodenokoto
How much is 7 million annual premature deaths?

I tried googling "Annual premature deaths" to get an idea of how many people
die prematurely a year, but it doesn't look like it is a figure that is worked
with. The closest I found was that WHO apparently considers the 7 million
people who die annually of pollution to be 1/8th of total annual death.

So apparently 12.5% of deaths can be avoided if we ate more fruit and
vegetables.

------
selmat
Recently, i saw interesting speech about eating habits, by Michael Pollan:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c31cAdYUvT8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c31cAdYUvT8)

------
lngnmn
Let them run 5 km.

