Whether you’ve resolved to eat more healthily in 2009, to finally lose those extra pounds, or to improve your mood and energy levels, getting five or more portions of fruit or veg per day will really help you towards your goal.

To make it easy to read, I’ve split this post into three sections: the first explains why fruit and veggies are so good for you, the second explains what a “portion” counts as, and the third gives you some practical tips and guidance on meeting that five-a-day target every single day.

Why are fruit and vegetables important?

Most governments and health authorities recommend a minimum target of five portions of fruit and vegetables per day (and some countries suggest seven or even nine!) Fruit and vegetables are an important food group because they typically contain:

• A wide range of vitamins, which you need to stay healthy
• Minerals, which are essential for keeping your body running smoothly
• Fibre, to help with digestion and to keep you full for longer (very useful for dieters!)

Most fruits and veggies are also very low in fat and contain a lot of water - meaning they have a low calorie-density. For example, a 100g apple contains 50 calories. A 100g chocolate bar contains eleven times as many - about 550!

What counts as a “portion” of fruit or vegetables?

All fruits and vegetables except for potatoes (considered a starch) count towards your five-a-day target: fresh, frozen, or tinned. One portion is 80g. That’s:

• One small apple
• Two clementines or satsumas
• Half a tin (drained) of canned fruit
• About seven strawberries
• Three tablespoons of peas

Fruit juice counts towards your “five a day” target, but you can only count one glass of juice per day. This is because most of the fibre is stripped from fruit and veggies during the juicing process.

Dried fruit also counts, but you only need one tablespoon for one portion (as the water has been removed so the fruit is much more concentrated). Dried fruits are high in fibre, but it’s better to eat fresh whole fruits if you’re trying to lose weight, as the water will help fill you up.

You can find some handy lists of fruit and vegetable portions here.

How can I reach my five a day target?

If you don’t usually eat five portions of fruit and veggies, here’s how to make it easy to hit that target every day:

Breakfast:

• Add dried fruit or sliced banana or berries to your cereal.
• Make a big bowl of fruit salad to keep in the fridge for an easy no-preparation breakfast.
• Have a glass of fresh fruit juice at breakfast time.

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Lunch:

• Have a side salad with your usual sandwich, or choose a pasta salad with lots of veggies instead.
• Fill up on­­ a mixed bean salad (pulses count towards your five-a-day).
• Have a bowl of vegetable soup - lovely and warming in winter.

Dinner:

• Try a tomato-based pasta dish, or a vegetable curry - you may be able to pack all five-a-day into one meal!
• If you want a starter, have melon, salad or a small bowl of soup.
• Cook twice as many vegetables as usual - fill half your plate with them.

Snacks:

• Keep a couple of pieces of fresh fruit on your desk at work, to snack on during the day.
• Try crudities - raw vegetable sticks - celery, carrot and peppers (capsicums) work well. Dip them into salsa or guacamole for extra veggie goodness.

If you want to know more about eating healthily and losing weight, grab a copy of my Dieting Basics ebook. I’ve cut the price to just $4 this January to help out determined dieters during these credit-crunch times, and it gives you all the facts on which vitamins and minerals you need, and which fruit and veggies you’ll find them in … along with much, much more! Find out about the Dieting Basics ebook here and download your free sample here.

Welcome back to The Office Diet! We’ll be posting again as normal from Monday 5th, but I wanted to wish you all the very best for 2009 and give you a sneak-preview of what’s to come.

If you’re anything like me, you probably have lots of goals and resolutions for this year. If 2009 is going to be the year you meet your dieting and health targets, stick around on The Office Diet for a series on “Building Habits”, running every Monday this month. I’ve found that I’m awful at sticking to resolutions but that ingrained habits are easy to keep up without much thought.

And as a special start-of-the-year boost to your dieting plans, I’m delighted to announce that my Dieting Basics ebook will cost just $4 throughout the whole of January. That’s 67% off … a better credit-crunch beating deal than you’ll see anywhere on the high street! Snap up your copy now, and you’ll have all the information you need to succeed in 2009.

I’m going to be away for a week or so, and the next update here on The Office Diet will be a round up of some of the blog’s 2008 highlights as we head into the new year.

I wanted to wish all of you a very merry Christmas: wherever you are with your healthy living goals, be proud of what you’ve achieved, and of what you have planned for 2009. Have a very happy time, however you’re celebrating, and you have my wholehearted permission to completely forget about calories, diets, nutrition and everything else Office-Diety on Christmas day (I know I’ll be tucking into chocolate as soon as I’ve opened my stocking… ;-))

Merry Christmas!

There are two big groups of people who we “have” to associate with in life, whether we like it or not.

One of these – your colleagues – are people who you probably won’t see much of for a week or two.

They’re going to be replaced, though, by the other group – who you might be seeing for longer than at any other point during 2008: your relatives.

So how can you make sure that your relatives don’t have a negative effect on your bodily and mental health this Christmas?

Accept that relatives may not understand your diet

Even if you’re trying to stick to a stringent diet over Christmas, be willing to relax on occasion. If your sister-in-law refuses to grasp the concept of “vegetarian”, insisting that “turkey’s a bird, not an animal”, don’t go into your meat-is-evil rant. Just stick with the veggies and potatoes, and make up for the lack of protein later on.

Don’t obsess – but do stay in control of what you put in your mouth

If you’re counting calories religiously, try not to worry too much when you’re being fed by relatives. Don’t by any means feel obliged to clear your plate, but don’t insist that they provide an entirely separate meal for you, either. If you’re being urged to eat something that you really don’t want (a giant slab of cake, for instance), simply say that you’re full and you might have some later.

Remember to follow the same sort of guidelines as you would with cookie-pushing colleagues: even if it’s your mom this time, screaming “Are you trying to make me fat?” is unlikely to make Christmas go smoothly.

Let other people eat what they like

When you’re the one paying host, especially to relatives with young children, do not under any circumstances comment on what the kids do/don’t eat. Sure, you might be rearing yours to avoid artificial sweeteners and E-numbers, but it’s just not good manners to remark on someone else’s parenting. If the kids turn their noses up at what’s put in front of them, ask their mum or dad what you should offer them instead. You might be appalled at their behaviour, but it’s not worth getting into a fight with your relatives over it.

The same goes for older relatives who are picky eaters. If your annoying brother always refuses to eat brussel sprouts, don’t make a big deal about it. If your (very rotund) uncle eats six helpings of Christmas pudding, resist the urge to comment on the growing similarity between him and the pudding…

Above all, enjoy spending time with your family this Christmas; don’t let food turn into a battle ground. The main thing is that you, and your relatives, should be able to eat what you like without negative comments from others.

If you’ve been reading The Office Diet for a while, you’ve probably noticed that my advice on exercise is often “fit it into your regular routine”. I advocate things like:

• Cycling or walking to work
• Going out for a walk with colleagues in your lunch hour
• Fitting in a gym session at lunch or on your way home

…and so on. The problem here is that when it gets to Christmas and a few days away from the office, your exercise routine is likely to go out of the window.

I know that I’ll need to make an effort to keep up with exercising over Christmas. My regular exercise currently involves:

• Walking to and from college (a total of an hour, and much of it up and down hills!) three days a week
• Cycling to my childminding job twice a week (about forty five minutes there and back), and walking the kids home from school (about ten minutes)
• Going to the gym three times most weeks (this sometimes gets shunted aside for extra childminding and running errands, but at least both are active!)

If you work full time in an office, you may get most of your exercise at around 8am and 5pm. This could present problems when Christmas comes and you end up enjoying long lie-ins and lazy afternoons in from of the television, or when you spend most of the day in the car, travelling for hours to visit some relatives who you’re just glad you can avoid for 364 days of the year…

So how can you keep up with semi-regular exercise when your days are following an unpredictable pattern?

Here are a few things I plan to do:

• Manage at least half an hour’s activity every day, even if it’s just a stroll round the block or a big blitz on the housework.
• Go for a walk every day when staying with relatives.
• Try to fit in at least two gym sessions per week whilst at home.

As well as those “routine” exercises, I’d like to use the Christmas period as an excuse to try out some fun activities too. I’ve not been ice-skating for years, and though I know I’m terrible at it, I also know I’ll have a lot of fun!

Good luck sticking to some semblance of an exercise routine over the Christmas period; remember that doing something is better than doing nothing, and that a brisk half-hour’s walk every day can make all the difference to your health and happiness by the time 2008 rolls into 2009…

(Image above by fiskfisk)

As December draws on, it gets harder and harder to stick to healthy eating and exercising plans. But staying somewhat motivated will really help you to stay fit and unstressed during the busy holiday period. If you’re finding your enthusiasm waning fast, try some of these:

Keep a food diary

Something I usually find in the run-up to Christmas is that the usual cookies, sweeties and cakes that occasionally appear in the office are a far more regular feature than usual. It’s so easy to just pick up a couple of cookies, or a handful of chocolates, when getting a cuppa – and all those little snacks add up, almost unnoticed, throughout the day.

Writing down everything you eat might seem like an extra hassle that you just don’t need during December, but it will do wonders for your willpower. It’s much easier to resist those chocolates when you know there’ll be a record in black and white…

Focus on good choices, not perfect ones

It’s very easy to fall into an all-or-nothing mindset when tackling a big goal like weight-loss or getting fit. Remember that it’s always better to do something towards your goal than nothing. You’re unlikely to be able to stick to a rigid diet plan during the holiday period, but that doesn’t mean you should give up entirely on healthy eating. When you have a choice over what to eat, go for the options which are good for your body.

Don’t worry about being perfect: a mince pie here and there won’t turn you into a Christmas pudding … but try not to let your good eating habits go entirely out of the window. Sticking to a healthy breakfast and avoiding sweets before lunch will help you stay motivated for the rest of the day.

Do some exercise

I’m always more likely to make healthy food choices if I’ve been to the gym: I don’t want to waste all that hard work by stuffing myself with sugary, fatty snacks! Exercise will boost your mood, give you an appetite for proper, filling foods (like wholegrains and lean proteins) instead of junk, and will help you to feel good about your body – all great ways to stay motivated.

If you’re really struggling to stay away from the office cookie jar, why not escape for a quick walk? Or if that’s going to cause your boss/manager to raise hell, get busy with running some errands around the building – perhaps catching up with your photocopying, or finally returning that CD you borrowed from someone on the next floor up. Don’t forget to take the stairs…

Want more tips to get you through the Christmas period? Grab The Office Diet’s RSS feed – or pop your email address in the box on the top right to get posts delivered straight to your inbox.