10 fruits and veggies every day?!

I read the other day - in the Ottawa Citizen newspaper - that we should be eating 10 servings of fruit and vegetables a day...

A day?!!

Is that the goal I should be striving for?

Several years ago, after being told that my blood sugar was too high and my good cholesterol too low, I asked my doctor - What can I do to improve things?

His immediate reply was: Eat more vegetables!

It was then that I started to notice how much I preferred carbs to veggies, how often I reached for a few cookies or a piece of cake - and not for carrots or an apple - when I wanted a snack.

So I am trying to mend my ways...

This morning I added an apple to my normal breakfast of bread, jam and cheddar cheese.

My lunch? Cottage cheese with cucumber, tiny tomatoes, blueberries mixed into yogurt on top of a bowl of sliced pears. That makes 3 1/2 servings, plus my breakfast apple - a total of 4 1/2 servings!


What can I eat to get another 5 1/2 servings into my day?!!

I'm not sure, but I'm going to try... Maybe, like my mother, I'll have to carry around a score card and keep track. Only she writes down how many steps she takes (aiming for 10,000 a day) plus how much water she drinks. (Here she tries for 8 to 12 glasses!)

Her goal is to become one of the few dozen 100-year-old retired teachers in the country.

My goal is a little different: I would be happy just to have "normal" blood-sugar and cholesterol again...