You'd think it was obvious, wouldn't you?

Two fruit and five veg; what the doctor actually means

It is recommended that you, and your child each eat two serves of fruit and five serves of vegetables every day.
This appears to have given rise to some confusion. So; to clarify, see below

1)These serves are recommended per person. It is not the recommended serves per family. One apple divided between four people is not a serve of apple each; it is a taste.

2) When we say fruit, we mean the stuff that gets picked off an actual tree. If it comes in a wrapper, it is not a fruit. Fruit roll-ups are not fruit, in spite of the name. Fruit juice is not fruit, no matter how much of it you drink. Cordial isn’t even pretending to be fruit.

3)Children cannot eat what is not there. If there is no fruit in the house, they certainly won’t spend their pocket-money to get it. That means that you will have to buy sufficient fruit and vegetables for every person in the family, for every day of the week. If there are five people in the family, you need to have ten serves of fruit, and 25 serves of vegetables available every day.

4) In order to gain the benefit of eating fruit and vegetables, it necessary to eat them. Buying them is not sufficient. Nor is considering eating them, no matter how hard you think about it. If the organic matter does not pass your lips, then it doesn’t count. Keep in mind that your child may not actually eat everything that you place in their lunch-box. The bin is easy to find in every school.

5) It is pointless to try to convince one person in the family to eat something, when no-one else has to. Or in other words, if one child has constipation and needs to expand their fibre intake, then you should make everyone else follow the same schedule. Hard feelings will ensue. This is better than constipation or lactulose, however.

6) There has been some confusion as to what constitutes a "serve". A serve of fruit is approximately the amount that you can fit in your hand. One grape is not the same as one apple. Nor is a rockmelon.

7) We recommend these amounts of fruit and vegetables in order to supply adequate nutrients and fibre in your diet. It cannot be substituted by tablets. We can use medications to force your body to behave itself, but it is so much better to just eat the fruit. Fruit also costs less. Keep in mind that some people need more fibre than others. That means that one of your children may need more fruit than the others to remain healthy.

8) Some fruit and veg is better than no fruit and veg. Keep trying.