Is Your 5 a Day Affecting Your Results On The Scales??

Our meetings have been looking at the quantity of fruit we consume daily, particularly if you have been to a weight – loss group, is often considered to be either ‘free or zero’ and obviously the understanding is that we need to get our 5 a day in for health reasons, so let’s not include the calorie values, but it can lead down the mindset route of ‘I can eat fruit in any amount I like’ Which can lead to an over familiarity leading to unplanned snacking on unlimited amounts of fruit.

The general understanding is that we should have 3 servings of vegetables and 2 servings of fruit a day, but actually the majority of us regularly consume at least 4 – 5 of fruit alone.

We thought it would be interesting to look at the calorie content of individual types of fruit. There are several reasons for looking at this, not least the mindset that is associated with ‘cheating/feeling guilty’, ‘mindless snacking’ and ‘being good’. For example, if you have enjoyed a delicious bowl of home-made fresh fruit salad as a dessert after your lunch, and again after your evening meal, then felt a little peckish whilst watching the television so polished off a punnet of grapes. You would feel extremely virtuous, expect a fabulous weight loss when you weighed in, but actually that could have cost you up to an additional calorie intake of……..

Over 1,000 calories!!!!

Please check on the NHS Weight Loss app for your individual calorie allowances which will be based on your age, height and weight.

You have actually had nearly an extra half a day in calories! Imagine that over 1 week you’ve consumed an extra 7,000 calories more than your body requires. No surprise that the scales don’t budge, but imagine how distraught you will feel, knowing that you didn’t ‘cheat’ have chocolate, crisps, alcohol, in fact nothing that could cause the result you’ve just had on the scales!

If you had eaten a bag of popcorn whist watching the television, you may have felt a little guilty, felt like you’d ‘blown it’ and then gone on to eat more!! The question is, did you eat it because you were hungry? Or is it mindless snacking? Butterkist sweet popcorn 100g bag is actually 507 calories. Knowing the calorie value can definitely influence and affect your mindset regarding being ‘good or bad’

Obviously fruit and vegetables are a crucial part of a healthy diet, and not for 1 moment is it suggested you shouldn’t have them – however, if you ARE eating them mindlessly as an alternative to snacking, they could be impacting your results if you are over indulging and considering them to be ‘calorie free’

Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.

kofi annan