A 4-Part Strategy to Help You Squeeze in Your 5-A-Day

What did we do before smoothie bowls?

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I’m pretty proud of my health journey. I went from eating crappy and not exercising (apart from walking), to eating healthy and not exercising, to eating healthy and exercising. That’s pretty decent progress over the course of a two-year period, I’d say.

Here’s where I slip up though. I’m not a ‘fruit person’.

That’s a cop out, and I know it is, but more on that tomorrow.

I’m just kind of picky when it comes to fruit, and I have a couple weird allergies. I can’t eat ordinary apples, only cooking ones. I hate how ‘banana-ry’ bananas are. I can do pears as long as it’s without the skin, something about seeded fruits literally makes my throat itchy (so no nectaries, or plums either). I love strawberries, blueberries and oranges, but it hugely depends on where you buy them. Nobody wants watered down fruit. Pineapple is probably my favorite but it’s not exactly an on-the-go fruit. Mangoes are incredible, but cutting them can be a little tough sometimes, also how do you know when they’re ripe enough?

You get where I’m coming from yet?

It was always going to be a little tougher for me than it is for others when it comes to eating lots of fruit. So I have to make more of an effort. Here’s my strategy:

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Throw some berries on it

It doesn’t matter what breakfast it is. If you can’t eat berries with it, i.e. it really weirds you out to put boiled eggs and berries in your mouth at the same time, then just grab a handful as a kind of post-breakfast dessert.

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Fail to plan, plan to fail

Cut up the ‘difficult’ fruits before you go to bed, put them in some stasher bags, and throw them in the fridge. Take them with you wherever you go.

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Out of sight, out of mind

Would you leave your phone out of sight? Would you travel for a week and not bring your phone? I sure as heck wouldn’t. Don’t do it with fruit either. Put fruit everywhere. In your bag, on your bedside table, on your desk at work, on the dinner table.

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Blend it out

For some reason, drinking fruit is way easier than chewing it. Throw some frozen fruit, some almond milk, some flax seed, and anything else you fancy, a little coconut oil even, into a really good blender or smoothie maker and blend away. Done.

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/Femi, The Girl Who Hates Working Out

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