The Diary of our 10 a day Fruit and Veg challenge.
At home, we are always doing little goals which are food related, no choice when I’m a Nutritional Therapist. Here’s the day by day blow of our 2 week, 10 a day challenge.
Day 1 – I got home from work to find that my husband has started putting his list of fruit and veg on the list. No.1 was Jam! It’s got fruit in it, yes, very true, but not quite what I had in mind. Having said that by the end of the day we had hit 11 (without the Jam!) Tomorrow may be tough, as I need to go shopping!
Day 2 – Talked to my lovely friend Sam today and we talked about the 10 a day increase from the UK government guidelines. I told her that we were doing the 10 a day challenge and she wants to join in, so I have sent the count sheet for her to put on her fridge. We did it again: Red grapes, Tomato and Watermelon Gazpacho, orange juice, then for tea we had Piri-Piri Rice, Turkey with lots of veg; baby sweetcorn, broad beans, peas, red onion, white onion, chillies, black beans, red cabbage and tomatoes.
Day 3 – I brought some fruit for my team at work today and a couple of nectarines and oranges were eaten. Yay. Should have bought the nectarines home, so that hubby hit is target. He did 7 today, happy with that as it beats the old 5 a day guidelines. Also tried to get the lovely Lorraine on the 10 a day challenge. She had already eaten 3 oranges and 2 plums, will send her the sheet tomorrow. I completed 10 today including beetroot juice, veggie sushi, grated carrot stir fried with garam masala and poppy seeds.
Day 4 – We both failed massively on our challenge today, but we did have a lovely day, we went to a wedding in the evening, they did BBQ food, so we managed to get some coleslaw and salad on our plates. I still haven’t been shopping, so feel this was a bad week to start this challenge. Having said that we met the previous guidelines LOL!
Day 5 – Must have been feeling guilty from yesterday, lunchtime has been and gone and we have done 5 already. I spent the evening on a course in London right by borough market, so popped in before the course started and had a very lovely Dosa. Potato crepes with onions, chickpeas, pomegranates and other lovely stuff (see picture). On the way home I bought a banana and pear and hit 10. When i got home, Hubbie had gone for a Chinese, but he did hit 8. I’m on the same course for the next few days so hope he can keep this up as I’m the chef.
Day 6 – It’s 7am on Saturday and I’m on the train up to Borough again. Will be early so I’m popping into Borough Market for breakfast, will also be going for lunch too. Had a blueberry flax jack and one made with courgette too (that counts as one!) for breakfast with some fresh watermelon. Went back to the market at 1pm and had a garlic prawn and salad wrap, and spent lots on spices and unusual stuff, fortunately I only had an hour, otherwise my purse would have been empty. Did I forget to mention that I also had a Liquorice and blackcurrant goats milk ice-cream which was delightful, but obviously doesn’t count for 1 LOL! Hubby cooked a pork and veggie chilli and took us up to 8 pieces, this is hard when you not at home and still haven’t been food shopping! Hoped my loving husband might of gone today, but no such luck, it was qualifying for F1 at Silverstone today. On the course again tomorrow (Sunday) and then we have a bbq to go to, not sure the shopping will get done tomorrow either, I’m now planning it in for Monday night.
Day 7 – Last day in London. Bought some delicious coloured tomatoes from Borough market yesterday. They were red, yellow, green, purple and orange. I cooked them in balsamic vinegar and served them on a toasted bagel. Lunch was an apple, a dried coconut and mango pot and another flax jack. Going to a bbq tonight so I hope there’s some salad otherwise it’s gonna be another tall order. Result, there was a huge bowl of salad, so i had a double helping, plus there was spring onions and red onions in the potatoes. Piste de resistance was a huge fruit salad. Ten done today. Well for me anyway.
Day 8 – Apricot on my cereal. For Lunch I shopped at Tesco’s and found Sweetcorn fritters and had a veggie Quinoa, also had a pear and some grapes during the day. And when I got home I was happy to find the fridge was full, one less job to do. And dinner was ready, hubby had prepared Pork and caramelised onion burgers, with spicy sweet potato wedges, sweetcorn and peas, fried red onion and rocket on the side. Lots of results today including hitting 10.
Day 9 – Boring today for breakfast, cereal again but I jazzed it up with a chopped conference pear. We went for a walk that finished at a tea room, just knew my hubby would go for cake. BUT I was wrong, he had a ham and cheese salad sandwich, I had a cheese, tomato and pesto toastie, with salad and coleslaw on the side. We had an early dinner of salmon, stir fried veg (carrots, mange tout, onion, chilli, garlic, spring onions and ginger) and Edamame Spaghetti. This was a great find, would recommend it, good flavour and texture, it got the thumbs up from Hubby (will post details on my social media accounts). He has also hit his 10 before me, so has been bragging like a good ‘un. I’ve just had an apricot so am up to 9. We have friends for dinner on Saturday (day 13) so have just prepared Peach Bellini ice lollies, and am trying to work out what else to cook.
Day 10 – Hubby has cracked it, finally! Second day in a row he has done 10. He cooked a Chilli for dinner tonight packed with tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers and beans. Have sent my spreadsheet to 2 others who are joining my challenge. Yipee!
Day 11 – Spoke too soon. He only hit 5 today. I’ve done 11, how funny, but while I am typing this he has just picked up an apple, so it’s gonna be 6 done today. He’s a bit of a sweet fiend, but this challenge seems to have changed his need for sweets. BUT he wants to go to the cinema tomorrow. The pick’n’mix is fatal, so I said I would only go if he didn’t have any sweets or ice-cream, but I don’t hold much hope for that. Wish me luck.
Day 12 – Wrote this on day 13, so we’ve been to the cinema, how do you reckon it went?
So did he, or didn’t he? We did 9 each today, we had Chicken, Avocado and pomegranate salad just before we went out and I took a bag of cherries and some roasted nuts to the cinema, just in case. We walked in the foyer and I got a bottle of water and that’s all we paid for, no sweet were purchased, I didn’t react we went in to watch our film and there was no mention of sweets. So amazed, but I haven’t said a word. I didn’t want to make a meal of it.
Day 13 – Hubby slept all through the night and woke up for a wee at about 7:30, that’s unheard of, wondering whether the no sweets or the 10 a day challenge is helping on that. Time will tell. We have friends round for dinner tonight and i’m doing Chipotle pulled pork taco’s, if you could only smell the delightful aroma’s coming from my oven. It’s a slow roast and it’s only been in for 30 minutes, 6 hours to go, it’s certainly making me hungry. I bought the Chipotle sauce from Borough market last weekend. Going out now, not sure I can survive these smells for another 6 hours. We had 12 on our challenge on day 13, most so far. Only one day left. Our guests enjoyed their meal too, there may have been a bit too much alcohol involved.
Day 14 – Hubby cooked breakfast this morning, we had 2 boiled eggs with toast. Hmm, no fruit or veg! We went to the coast for a walk at lunchtime and as we parked up, the heavens opened, we dashed into the nearest pub. We ended up having a sandwich, only saving grace was salad an the plate. We ate lunch really late, so when we got home we had a large bowl of strawberries. Because we ate so late, we haven’t bothered doing dinner, so i just had rye bread , peanut butter and an apple. Our last day on the challenge and we only hit 5.
It’s actually been good fun, i would definitely recommend doing the challenge.
Day 15 – Ha ha! Hubbie asked if we were going to do it again. So we have put another blank list on the fridge, but don’t worry, I won’t be posting this.
If you want my spreadsheet, please feel free to ask.
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