Sometimes, when you're eating out a lot, or staying with friends who are scared of vegetables, it can be hard to get your 5 a day. And that always makes me think about unexpected places to get your vitaminy goodness...
I was quite surprised to recently discover that Heinz Spaghetti Hoops count as one of your 5 a day. I always thought of them as 'Spaghetti' (no idea where I got that thought from?) and so counted them more as a carb than a vegetable. On slightly closer inspection of a can, I discovered that they are 47% tomato, and it seems that the spaghetti has lessened and the sauce grown in order to make them more healthy. So, half a can of tomatoes is pretty good for you. Tick one.
Cider? Anyone who's met me will know that I am a cider lover, and being from the West Country, that's exactly how it should be. Now, my favourite thing to drink is proper warm cloudy cider with only one ingredient....apples (well and a bit of yeast), and lots of them. Wikipedia tells me that you need around 10lb of apples to make a gallon of cider. So that's a lot of apples. Does this mean then that if you drink a gallon of cider, it count towards one of your 5 a day. I know that obviously all the pulp and pith will be strained out, and so it's not as good as actually eating an apple, but if apple juice is good for you, and counts as a 5 a day, how can cider not count?
Sweets. Another thing you will probably learn within minutes of meeting me is that I am a sweet addict. I have an incredibly sweet tooth and have been know to eat half a bag of Haribo instead of dinner. Oops. But what if there was some sort of goodness in there. Maybe not Haribo, but I am also a big fan of Natural Confectionery sweets, and these definitely have lots (?) of fruit juice in them. One 150ml glass of unsweetened 100% fruit or vegetable juice can count as a portion to be one of your 5 a day, so how many sweets would equal 150ml of fruit juice?
I've been doing some Googling but I haven't really found any definite information. Concentrated Fruit Juices are the 5th or 6th ingredient though, so there's obviously quite a bit in there. Maybe a few packets would be enough to be a portion of fruit, but my dentist would probably murder me!
But in my researching, I have found out that Jelly Tots are 25% fruit juice. So roughly converting fruit juice from g into ml, this would mean that 100g of jelly tots contains 25ml of fruit juice. So you would only need to eat 6 packets to get one portion of your 5 a day. Again, my dentist may kill me. And I probably wouldn't be able to sleep.
Another alcoholic one. Wine? Main ingredient is grapes. You need to eat about 15 grapes to count this as one portion of your 5 a day. Again, after some Googling, it seems the average answer is that it take 1.2kg of grapes to make one 750ml bottle of wine, which is about 7-8 bunches or 600 - 800 grapes, and definitely a lot more than 15! So you wouldn't even need to drink a whole bottle to get a portion of fruit, although you may wish to to ensure that you have absorbed all the grapey goodness.
Lastly, how about cake. I am a great lover of cake, in all varieties (except chocolate - yuck!) but I particularly love a good gooey carrot cake. When I make it, there's at least 2 or 3 carrots, some walnuts, orange juice and sometimes pineapple in there, so surely that's 2 or 3 portions of fruit and vegetables straight away. Cooked vegetables still count as a portion so why don't vegetables cooked in cake count? Not that I have ever eaten a whole cake in one go, but if it was divided into 6 scrummy slices, that could be half of one of your 5 a day, there sorted.
I'd love for a nutritionist to read this some day and actually let me know if there is any truth in my rambles, but for now I am very happy to keep up with the cider and wine drinking, and sweet and cake eating, along side my salad nibbling.
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