If you are having trouble getting enough fruit in your daily diet but you are still managing to squeeze in that all important breakfast meal then try adding fruit to your cereal. Adding freshly chopped chunks of banana to your cornflakes, sultanas to your Weetabix, or fresh chopped strawberries to your bran flakes. Almost any fruit can be added to your favourite breakfast cereal in the morning to get an extra portion of fruit into your day and help you on your way to the five a day target.

Make sure your cereal is a healthy cereal and not a sugar loaded one and then top it off with freshly chopped fruit to sweeten it up and help your healthy diet. If you don’t feel like cereal today, try fruit with natural yogurt instead as a sweet and delicious substitute to mix things up a little.

In order to have the right amount of fruit and vegetables per day for good health, you need to consume 80g per portion of both fruit and vegetables. It will be easier if we look at some examples:

1. Two Apples, One banana, One 80g portion of carrots, One 80g portion of Peas.

Example one consists of two portions of the same kind of fruit (Apples) so this is only FOUR of the five a day.

2. One Apple, One Banana, One Pear, One Plum, One Orange.

Example two contains only fruit. Vegetables are needed as well to make the five a day so this is at best only FOUR of your five a day.

3. One Apple, One Banana, One portion of mixed carrots, sweet corn and peas.

Example three has five different fruit and vegetables in it but does not have enough of them. In order to count as three separate portions of vegetables, the mixed vegetables would need to be at least 240g! This is therefore only THREE of your five a day.

4. One Apple, One Banana, One 80g portion of Carrots, One 80g portion of Peas, One 80g portion of Potato (Either Jacket, Chips, Mashed, Grilled, Roasted etc).

Example four has potato included which does not count as one of your five a day. Potato is a staple carbohydrate and not included in your five a day despite being a vegetable. This is therefore only FOUR of your five a day.

Just bear in mind that eating the same thing does not count as extra portions and potato in all its forms does not count as a portion at all.

Your health is important; you don’t need us to tell you that. A person’s health can affect their lifestyle, how they feel and what they can do. Likewise, a person’s lifestyle can affect their health. Health is on everyone’s lips this year as we are inundated with the dos and don’ts of health and wellbeing.

Have you had your five a day?

A shocking proportion of the population actually hasn’t, but believe in earnest that they have. The advertising for the five a day has been poor at best and the information that is most getting through is from food companies advertising their products as “One of your five a day” to cash in on this health advice. What people don’t understand is what constitutes a portion. Many believe having two or three apples, for instance, counts as three portions. This is not the case; the daily recommended amount of fruit and vegetables is based on the idea of you having five separate portions of different fruits and vegetables.