Fruit and vegetables should form between one-third to half of your daily balanced diet. To help you achieve this, the government advises us to aim for at least 5 portions of fruit and veg a day. Remember that frozen and canned fruit and veg counts too, as does a glass of unsweetened juice.

What's a portion?

As a general rule, a portion = a handful, so a child’s portion is equivalent to a child’s handful of fruit or veg. The Food Standards Agency provides more information about portion sizes.

Fruit and vegetables are packed full of vitamins and minerals that are essential for the maintenance and the development of the body. A diet rich in fruit and vegetables, will be naturally lower in fat, and will provide a wide range of nutrients to help the body carry out its day-to-day functions.

Adding fruit and vegetables to meals is an excellent way of keeping your diet healthy - and it’s just as easy to incorporate them into healthy snacks too. Why not try fruit kebabs, carrot and cucumber sticks with low-fat yogurt or houmus, cherry tomatoes in packed lunches, fruit smoothies or fruit purees made into ice cubes and added to low-fat yogurt?

Eat a rainbow

It is important to eat a wide variety of fruit and vegetables, as they all provide different quantities and types of essential vitamins and minerals. Encourage your child to eat a rainbow of fruit and veg each day. Green, leafy vegetables, for example, are a good source of calcium and provide iron, while tomatoes and oranges are both rich in Vitamin C.