So how do you, as a student, eat healthy? There are some easy ways of making sure that you hit your '5 a day' fruit and veg recommendations:
- Try a smoothie from The Terrace, packed full of fruit they contain on average 2 and a half portions of your recommended fruit intake per day, and in lots of exciting flavours you can try a different one every day of the week.
- When choosing your lunch make sure you are including a piece of fruit or some vegetables (in the form of salad if you want).
- Drink fruit juice - although did you know that no matter how much fruit juice you drink it will only count as one portion of your fruit intake.
- Try vegetable soups, these are often packed with different types of vegetables and are a perfect warm lunch when it's cold outside.
- Potatoes don't count as part of your 5 as they are considered to be too starchy, why not try to get a portion of vegetables included with your jacket potato by having it with baked beans!
- Snack on fruit rather than chocolate - it can be just as sweet but much more healthy. Try dried fruit as an alternative, 1 tablespoon of raisins counts as one portion.
- Chuck in some vegetables when you're cooking pasta and sauce such as mushrooms, onion, peppers, or sweetcorn.
Eating healthy doesn't just have to be about your '5 a day'. The Government has brought in a standardised labelling scheme on food which makes it easy to see if something is high in fat, salt, sugar or saturates. Different retailers and companies show the 'traffic lights' system differently but if fat is red then the product is high in fat, if sugar is green then it's low and if sugar is yellow/orange then it's midway. The more green on your traffic lights the more healthy it will be! Have a look through your cupboards or shopping to see what your food tells you.