Five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, is what the Department of Health is constantly reminding us to eat. Like most mothers I want my three twittering starlings to stay fit, healthy and energised so I spend time loitering in local farm shops or in the grocery aisles of supermarkets feeling and sniffing my way amongst the mounds of broccoli.
However, I sometime wonder if our shining examples in Government have ever tried to persuade their children to consume the five 80 gram portions of fruit and veg a day, let alone allow for the poor parents who have to prepare it. In the first instance, we have to find five portions that we know the children will eat and not prod at with a fork. My six-year-old daughter spends a few moments at the start of each meal scanning the contents of her plate for any unidentifiable object or trace of dirt that dares to appear on a small steamed carrot. As for The Toddler, despite having vegetables put on his plate religiously over the past two years, not a pea has passed his lips. The closest he gets to a vegetable is beans of the Heinz tomato sauce variety. When it comes to vegetables, I have refined the art of disguising the courgette, carrot and mushroom in a casserole by cutting it up into miniscule pieces so that it goes unnoticed.
Fruit is a safer bet. Seedless grape boxes are empty moments after entering the fridge and apples and bananas rather boringly make a regular appearance in the lunchbox. The Toddler would gladly consume a punnet of blueberries for breakfast, lunch and supper. At this time of year, strawberries are a welcome change from yoghurts, although please spare a thought for the mother who has most probably hulled at least 1,000 strawberries this summer alone.
As for smoothies, they are firm favourites with my children and until recently were another tick in the five per day box regularly making an appearance in the lunchbox when we run low on apples. However, now we are told that these contain as much sugar as Coke, are ruining our teeth and have no nutritional value at all. Personally, I am struggling to see how the sugar contained in the fruit in these drinks comes close to the sugar contained in Coke, but who am I to argue with the experts. However, the alarm bells ringing through the media have no doubt impacted the concerned parent and as a result I am sure that many lunchboxes will be smoothie-free next term.
At least the autumn will be upon us soon and the trees and bushes will be full of different fruit. That is until the media tell us the news on the latest level of sugar content in a blackberry.
