Yes, eating 10 plants a day can be difficult – but here’s how I do it

Jamie Oliver is back, with his 35th book on food, “Eat yourself healthy“. Jamie always hits the zeitgeist, and he sells books like no one else. As a cookery writer, I have always been in awe of this, maybe even a little jealous at times. I love Jamie. He’s an icon. Our country needs him. And now he’s done it again – this time declaring war on one of Britain’s most sacred health mantras. “Five a day is a lie,” Jamie said recently. “It’s a lie based on someone deciding that we’re not to be trusted. And I don’t like liars.”

Jamie Oliver: 7-11 portions of fruit and vegetables?

The 50-year-old chef, known for his legacy of ushering in healthy school meals across the UK, is insistent that the NHS-backed advice is a myth. He explained that people don’t “see any measurable benefits” until they’ve had “7 to eleven portions of fruit and vegetables“, adding: “Someone in the Government has said that five a day is what you should be getting because they don’t think we can handle the truth.” But Jamie believes Britain can handle it: “I’ve got recipes in [his new book] that have 11 portions. By the time you finish it you will be full, so you won’t be complaining about going hungry on some bloody Jamie Oliver diet. You’ll be stuffed.” Jamie’s plan is backed by research published earlier this year in Clinical Nutrition that analysed data on more than 670 UK adults and confirmed that 11 portions of fruit and vegetables a day are indeed linked to better health outcomes. (Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty)

Upping fruit and vegetable intake

I know there will be people questioning Jamie’s pedigree in nutritional science and that annoys me. He’s had a 40-year career in food and 25 years of publishing under his belt, he’s moved our health system forward in his political activism – and he has studied nutrition. He knows his stuff. Almost 10 years ago – way ahead of its time, I opened a revolutionary brand “Filth” with one of my closest friends, the “supermodel nutritionist” Rosemary Ferguson. We made plant based fast food – our campaign was to get everyone to up their fruit and veg intake, giving people five to seven plants in just one of our meals. (Photo: Tanja Ivanova/Moment RF/Getty)

Vegetable burgers and air fried sweet potato fries

We made our own aged burger patties from fermented black beans and mushrooms and the burgers were the antipathies of the faux meat burgers that were popping up all over the market. They were genuinely more delicious and “beefier” than most of the processed faux meat burgers. You got nutrition from everything from the buns, which were made with vegetable juices, the ketchups and even the cheese had hyped nutrition. We air fried sweet potato fries, served it with salads with nutritionally dense yet indulgent dressings. Even the milkshakes had one of your five a day in. I loved that brand. It was about to be very successful before Covid hit but ended up being demolished alongside many small brands at that time. It lived on for a bit as Rose and I did a health and recipe column, “10 a day the easy way”. (Photo: Grace Cary/Getty/Moment RF)

Increasing to 10 plants a day

Our philosophy was to increase your nutritional load to 10 plants a day. This includes carbohydrates and things like rice and boiled potatoes, that are critical for good gut health as they are prebiotic and lay down the foundations. Legumes do something similar. Then we showed people how to layer: next comes green or brassica vegetables, salad vegetables you can eat raw. Fruits and herbs are a place where you can really pack a punch nutritionally, and don’t forget all your aromatics like ginger and garlic are supercharged nutrition. Then ramp up the ferments with kimchis and krauts. As far as I’m concerned, Jamie’s new book is the best health plan on the block as we speak but here’s the question I want to ask: at a time when things are so expensive and I imagine even hitting your five a day would be tough, is upping it to 10 an untenable health plan for the everyman? (Photo: Mas Bro/500px/Getty)

Making good nutrition a luxury?

I could be another middle-class nightmare and say yes, pulses are cheap, as are grains and if you buy cleverly, you’d be surprised. There is very good advice in Jamie’s book that shows how you can eat affordably, but you’ve got to really care about cooking to make that work and we all know that a lot of the economic disparity comes down to convenience to purchase ratio. Many people simply won’t have the time or money. There is a worry that it just divides class even more, and creates a whole new world of guilt for those who can’t afford it. Still, what Jamie is saying is correct. The real enemy isn’t ambitious health advice—it’s a system that makes good nutrition a luxury. Eat as much fruit and veg as you can afford and then don’t shoot the messenger, especially if he’s an easy target. (Photo: Sean Gladwell/Getty).

Top 5 tips for upping fruit and veg intake

1) Pure carbs come in as one of your five a day, so brown rice, whole wheat, barley and even white potatoes are all one portion. / 2) Make sauces like chimichuri or a pesto to get the power of herbs into your dishes. / 3) Frozen berries are invaluable. You can whip up a healthy pudding in no time. / 4) Pulses are your friends. They sweep your guts out and have the same kind of nutrition as peas and beans. Plus they are cheap and diverse. / 5) Blend spinach or beetroot into the batter of crepes for a micronutrient dense container for a sandwich wrap. (Photo: Gabriela Tulian/Getty/Moment RF)