Hitting 5 a Day

            I just hit my five-a-day. To a lot of people this might not be that much of an achievement but I’ve been lucky to hit two a day for the last six months of so and today while moaning about how Morrisons didn’t have my preferred sandwich (Ham & Mustard, 291 calories, £1.40 – all round winner) I slouched into M&S after checking Boots didn’t have anything and sulkily picked out a chicken salad and some sort of berry juice drink which looked like it might contain something resembling vitamins. On the way out, my co-worker Will reminded me that carrots were rich in vitamin A, which I’d been hunting down since I started this, so I reluctantly grabbed a pack of raw carrots with hummus (the hummus was not touched).

            The berry drink was just about okay, a little too sweet and full of what I can only imagine is referred to as ‘zest’, but the carrots were too much. Despite my cunning plan to mix them with the (surprisingly good) chicken salad I couldn’t finish them all – I really don’t like raw carrots. Disappointed in myself, I threw the four remaining carrot slices away and slumped back into my chair to contemplate finishing the berry juice.

            And that was when I noticed it was two of my mythical five a day. With some fruitandvegebra (in which apples, bananas and carrots all = 1) I realised I had, after years of indifference and apathy, hit my five portions of fruit and/or vegetables a day, completely by accident and before midday. A fantastic success! I am no longer upset about not finishing the carrots – which also provided 300% of my daily vitamin A so if I had eaten healthily until now I could probably get away with a half portion. As it is, I need to play a little of catch up so 300% is most likely about what I need.

            I don’t think I’ll have the berry drink every day, but I have been eating a full portion of sweet corn with my dinner most nights so I can replace it with some kind of orange juice drink which will keep me at the five-a-day mark. From now on I will be including a score out of five for each day in my weekly progress reports so I can track how successful I am at keeping this up. Hopefully, very. On a slightly separate note, my lunch was very filling and only 707 calories so while I feel like I have shards of carrot stabbing into my gut I can console myself with the knowledge it was nutritiously worth it.

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