Hate to break it to you, but not all fruit and veg are created equal.
To get a balanced diet, we should all be aiming to eat at least five diverse fruits and vegetables a day (chugging fruit juice nonstop won’t cut it).
In a bid to make this more widely known, dietary researcher Dr Duane Mellor has been advocating for ‘the 3:2 method,’ which involves earing at least three vegetables and two pieces of fruit every day.
He told the MailOnline the bod-standard five-a-day rule is an ‘oversimplification’ that needs updating, because health data can vary widely, depending on the different types of fruits and veg people eat.
He argues that there’s more variety in veggies than in fruit, so we should be prioritising the former over the latter in our diets.
But is it doable? And should we throw ‘five a day’ out the window?
Registered nutritionist Rhiannon Lambert tells Metro.co.uk there’s debate about the 3:2 concept, because the nation is already struggling to hit the well-known target.
‘At the moment, according to the latest National Diet and Nutrition Survey, only 24% adults and 11% children meet the current guidance of five-a-day alone,’ she says.
As Rhiannon writes in her book, The Science of Nutrition, a big part of healthy eating does mean including a wide variety of fruits and veggies, and attempting to aim for at least five portions every day.
‘This could include fresh, frozen, dried, and canned fruit and veg,’ she says.
A 2021 Harvard study that followed over 100,000 adults from 1984 to 2014 found that eating two fruits and three veggies a day was in fact the best combo for living longer.
They also found that not all fruit and veg had the same impact on our health, with green leafy veggies like including spinach, kale and lettuce, citrus fruits and berries being positively impactful.
However, they found starchy veg like corn and potatoes, as well as drinking fruit juices did not carry the same weight when it comes to reducing the risk of chronic diseases and death.
But where Dr Duane started to lose us was when he brought the fact that veggies are lower in calories and sugar than fruit into his argument.
Are we really meant to be counting calories in apples and pears? Sounds a bit bleak.
‘To caveat this,’ Rhiannon says, ‘fruit does not contain added or free sugars when eaten whole, so it’s still perfectly okay to eat them when looking at overall health outcomes, and for weight management.
‘Plus, eating fruit is strongly encouraged as part of a balanced and healthy diet for the positive health benefits, relating to gut health, immunity, and heart health, that are associated with them.’
Rhiannon’s clinic sees a lot of clients who use calorie counting as a way to watch what they eat.
‘Use the numbers if you wish as a tool,’ she tells us, ‘but know it is not the ultimate answer to defining nutrition and health.
‘Fruits and veg should not be feared for the amount of calories they contain as these are typically much lower than many other snack options, such as high fat/sugar options.
‘They also have many important nutrients within them, such as vitamins and minerals, fibre, antioxidants, carbohydrates, that are needed for our body’s to function properly and form the basis of many meals across the globe.’
So if you want to use the 3:2 method, knock yourself out – just don’t make calorie counting your justification for it.
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