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Why eating 10 portions of fruit and veg a day is easier than you think

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Thu, 21 Mar 2019, 10:04AM
Photo / Getty Images

Why eating 10 portions of fruit and veg a day is easier than you think

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Thu, 21 Mar 2019, 10:04AM

We've all heard for years that eating five portions of fruit and vegetables a day is the way to go. But now recent studies say that should actually be 10 portions.

Renowned botanist and food scientist, James Wong, has written a book on the subject called 10 A Day: The Easy Way.

He told Mike Hosking eating 10 portions may seem daunting, but it’s not actually as hard as it seems.

"You might think that an apple is a serving or a carrot or an onion. That's kind of how we visualise what a serving is like...but to a scientist, a serving is 80 grams and that's what these recommendations are based on."

"If you look at an apple, that's 160 grams, an onion is probably 150 or 100 grams, generally what people think is one serving is two servings."

Wong said it's not all or nothing and even one extra serving of fruit and vegetables a day will make a huge difference.

"You don't have to get top 10 a day to see a significant benefit, so every extra serving of fruit and vegetable you have...there's a statistical reduction in your risk of pretty much every dietary related disease."

He said one of the biggest concerns people have is the extra cost of buying a lot of fruit and vegetables.

However, he said stable foods like carrots, onions and canned foods are often very cheap and count towards your 10 a day.

Wong said juice, beans and even guacamole all counts as well.

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