Foodie

5 a day?

myglasgowkitchen October 18, 2019 2 Comments

I try to make sure I eat 5 a day. My friends asked me whats 5 a day when I came back to Malaysia.

It’s a national campaign in UK (and some other countries) based on WHO who recommend a minimum of 400g of fruits and vege a day¹ which makes it 80gram of 5 types of fruits and veggies.

Food that surprisingly count to your 5 a day:

Dried fruits: Dried apricots, raisins, prunes
Mushroom³
Sweet potato
Edamame (refer to soy product below)
Smoothie 150ml⁴ (only 1 a day max no matter how many fruits/ vegetables are in the smoothie)
Pulses 80g⁵: Baked beans, black beans, black eye peas, chick peas, lentils (80g only 1 a day max)

Food that is excluded:

Starchy root vege: Plantain, Yam, Cassava, Potato² (High in carbohydrate)
Soy product: Tofu, soy bean milk⁶ (Protein group)
Nuts: almond, walnut, hazelnut, cashew nut (Protein group)

5 a day in Malaysia

I understand that fruit and veggies can be expensive. Junk food that contains high amount of carbohydrate and fat makes you feel full longer so it is overall cheaper. In fact, I went over my grocery budget when I increased my 5 a day to 10 a day.

In Malaysia, the easiest way to get your 5 a day is to have mixed rice/ economy rice: 2 vege and 1 meat with rice for lunch/ dinner and to snack on fruits e.g. banana, apple.

Portion size

Each portion size is 80g of fruits or vegetables (including canned/ frozen) or 30g of dried fruits⁵. Count only once a day for 80g of beans and pulses and 150ml of smoothie^5.

That is confusing! I generally just try to make sure that I eat at least 5 types with good amounts for each, ‘a rainbow of stuff’. After all, WHO advices at least 400g total of fruits and vegetables.

Examples

Breakfast & Lunch

Weekend brunch: Avocado, tomato, broccoli, carrots and fried egg

Dinner

Stir fried pak choi with mushroom, minced meat stuffed bittergourd, stir fried sweet leaf and egg, fried egg, watercress with goji berry soup, rice and garlic soy dipping sauce

Sambal belacan sweet potato leaf, pak choi, fried egg, old cucumber soup, rice and garlic soy sauce dipping sauce

Stir fried spinach, stir fried black bean bittergourd and potato, ABC soup(carrot, onion, radish and tomato) and steamed minced pork with egg

Fried bittergourd and egg. Stir fried mixed vegetables (cabbage, broccoli, carrot), cucumber and black fungus in balsamic vinegar, ‘3 cup’ tofu (thai basil) and watercress with goji berry soup

Dessert

Fruit Platter: Papaya, Red apple, Promegranate, Guava

Snack

Reference:

2 thoughts on “5 a day?”

seve says:

October 23, 2019 at 8:45 am

wait… mushrooms counts?
how many oz?
which type?
fungus included?

1. myglasgowkitchen says:
  
  October 24, 2019 at 12:12 pm
  
  Yeah, Mushroom counts. 80grams for fresh mushroom. Dried ones will be less than that, approx half the weight of fresh ones. Types: Button mushroom, Portobello, enoki, oyster mushroom, buna shimeji, shiitake…
  
  Hmmm….The fungus I can think of are wood ear fungus, cordyceps fungus and snow fungus that are used in chinese medicine. I’m not sure whether those are considered 5 a day…

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