The Five-A-Day Challenge | Four Weeks On

Hello and Good Morning!

Today marks the end of my four week five-a-day challenge...and it's been an interesting one.
Overall I think I found this challenge a lot more...challenging than I thought it was going to be. The Water Challenge came very easily to me and that turned into a habit. I continue to drink approximately two litres of water a day. So why is eating five portions of fruit and veg a day so difficult?

One possibility is that sometimes I simply forget. I'll make my cheese sandwich (or similar) at lunch and think...oh...I probably have put some tomato or something in that and then hurriedly eat a tomato afterwards to make up for it.



Or sometimes it's about the quantity. What I mean by this is that a portion of fruit or veg is classed as approximately 80g and sometimes it's difficult to incorporate that into what you're already having. Like when I'm making a cheese and tomato sandwich, I only usually would use about 2 slices of tomato which only equates to about 20g, so I have to basically cram an entire large tomato into a sandwich in order to make it count. Maybe I'm just making it way more complicated than it actually needs to be. Meh.

Something I definitely stuck to without fail and have actually really enjoyed is my two portions of fruit with my breakfast. I tend to have granola every day with yoghurt and I now out of habit put some blueberries on top or some raspberries fresh out of the garden and that is really yummy. And I'll also have some juice...so I always have at least 2 portions by 9 oclock every day. Simples.  Also, incase you didn't know...a portion of juice is roughly 150ml and however many glasses of juice you have throughout the day, it still only counts as one portion.



My dinners haven't really changed that much except that I now simply use more of the veg that I'd already be using and cut down the proportion of meat. I try to make it so that a meal is half veg, a quarter meat and a quarter some sort of carb like pasta or potato. I can't remember where I first read that...but it's supposed to be the proper way. It's really simple just to chuck extra carrots into a meal I suppose.

With regards to how I'm feeling and whether or not I've noticed any changes or improvements since I've started getting my five a day regularly...honestly I can't say that I've noticed any. When I did my water challenge, I could honestly say that I noticeably saw my skin condition improving, my mood changed, my motivation improved but I've not noticed anything like that since I've started making sure I get my five-a-day. Maybe it's because when I did my water challenge, I went from drinking very little water each day to suddenly drinking two litres. Whereas it's not like my diet was completely devoid of vegetables before...I just changed how often I was getting them? Meh...who knows.

I quite like being healthy and getting my five-a-day. Although I don't feel any different physically, I do just feel better about myself in general. I feel proud of myself. I definitely feel like I'm changing and adopting new habits that I'll be happy to pass onto my children as and when the time may come.

Speaking of which...so planning a wedding is stressful yes?! Trying to get all the groomsmen together so that I can get them to try on the shirt I want them to wear to make sure it will fit everyone and look good on everyone is proving to be a bit of a nightmare. I keep thinking that I might just say "fine, everyone just wear what you want!" But then I think how bad the pictures would look and I carry on with the stressful planning. Thank goodness for FMIL who is basically a one-woman decorating committee and has taken a HUGE weight off my shoulders with regards to table decorations and flowers etc. Seriously, huge.

Something that has helped me immensely with my life planning (including tracking my five a day) over the last couple of weeks has been the introduction of a bullet journal. Now if you don't know what a bullet journal is, don't worry. Up until a couple of weeks ago I didn't realise it was a thing either. It's a very efficient, individual way of planning/journalling and you can basically adapt it to include whatever you like. And you must have pretty patterns and colours. Always. Go to Google Images now and search Bullet Journal and you'll see exactly what I'm on about. I will write a post about my bullet journal at a later date once I've perfected my technique.

On another note, The Great British Bake Off is starting!! Who's excited?! I know I am!!!!!

Have any of you folks been joining in the five-a-day challenge? How have you got on? Let me know!