New research: Do you think you are eating enough fruit and veg?
We have all heard that we should eat more fruit and vegetables to stay healthy but nationwide studies show only 7.5% of adults and only 6% of kids eat the recommended number of serves of veg each day. The picture for fruit is better with around 50% of us eating enough but most of us could do with eating a bit more.
Some research that Cancer Council NSW undertook sought to dig deeper into the reasons why adults are not eating as much fruit and vegetables as they should – that is 5 serves of veg and 2 serves of fruit each day.
The study
We surveyed 1600 adults in NSW to ask them how many serves of vegetables and fruit they ate each day, whether they thought they ate enough and what stopped them from eating more.
We found that more than half of the people that were not eating enough vegetables thought that they were meeting the recommend number of serves. And for fruit, 21% or 1 in 5 of those who were not eating enough thought that they were.
The study showed that the most common reasons people didn’t eat more vegetables were that they thought they were already eating enough, their preference for other foods and habit. The most common reasons given for not eating more fruit were their preference for other foods, fruit spoiling too quickly and habit.
Perceptions of adequacy of fruit and vegetable intake as a barrier to increasing consumption is published in Nutrition and Dietetics.
What does this mean?
For good health we really do need to aim for 5 serves of vegetables and 2 serves of fruit each day.
- Check out our get your 5 and 2 blog for tips on how easy it can be to include more fruit and veg in your day.
- Small steps make a big difference so start with adding just one extra serve a day.
- Get your kids to eat more veg by eating them yourself! The more vegetables the adults in the family eat, the more children are likely to eat. You won’t win forcing veg on your kids but try serving more vegetables, be excited about them and prepare them in a variety of appealing ways. The rest is up to your child. You may need to be patient.
Perceptions of adequacy of fruit and vegetable intake as a barrier to increasing consumption is published in Nutrition and Dietetics.
Try these vege-ful recipes
