Woman takes the 40 different fruits and vegetable challenge- see how she went!

During a LIVE chat with our Zing Wellbeing members, nutritionist Mel shared with us how important it is to eat a variety of fruit and vegetables in our diet and that we should aim for 40 different types of fruit and Vegetables each week.

Ness immediately thought how little variety she had in her diet each week and how impossible that sounded. 

So that was it, challenge accepted!  Ness was determined to prove to herself she could consume 40 different fruits and vegetables over the week.

By Saturday Ness said she woke up feeling amazing, "I had slept well, my energy levels were higher than they have been in a long time, and I wasn’t craving sugar, it was weird I was feeling good."

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Woman takes the 40 different fruits and vegetable challenge- see how she went!

I didn’t really think about this video again until Tuesday night I when I reflected on my meals over the past 2 days.

On Monday I had used 5 types of vegetables, Tuesday's Zing Wellbeing meal for lunch had 4 vegetables, I had crammed vegetables into the humble Bolognese for dinner, and had fruit during day.

I realised I had already consumed 13 fruit and vegetables and that was before dessert.

I posted in our Zing Wellbeing community that whilst I thought I was off to a good start I might need to lower the bar.

At this stage, I was not aiming for 40 I was just reflecting on my situation and hoping to do better.

Monday consisted of Banana, Pear, Carrot, Capsicum, potato, peas, corn (7 varieties)

Tuesday added more variety of celery, onion, baby spinach, tomato, zucchini (13 varieties).

I was rallied on by the positivity in the community and for dessert I had mixed berries from the freezer with some yoghurt.

The mix contained blueberries, blackberries, black currants and raspberries bringing me to grand total of 17 in the first 2 days, I thought I wonder how many I can do.

I still didn’t believe I could do 40 I was just trying to improve.

Wednesday, I added on my 3 new fruits and veg being avocado, orange and cucumber and expressed that the next 4 days were going to be a challenge, almost starting to set expectations that may not make it.

The support group gave some awesome suggestions and at this point I thought, I wonder if I can do it?  Let’s see what I can do to tweak my intake.

Thursday, I added one of kid’s lunch box apples to my porridge for breakfast
At lunch, I had a chicken wrap. Then I blended a Zing shot which I had honestly been procrastinating over for a week, as I was too scared to mix the ingredients.

I substituted lime instead of lemon using ingredient I had and conquered that fear…. It was surprisingly yummy.

Lettuce, red onion, lime, pineapple, were now on my list.

I had already planned a Zing Wellbeing stir-fry dinner but thought I would give it an extra boost after an awesome suggestion from our community to add some coleslaw mix.

Off to our local shop I went to pick up a few supplies. I browsed the deli and fruit and vegetable section and picked a few individual items to boost variety.

For Dinner I added broccoli, cauliflower, red & green cabbage plus spring onion.

That was a massive 10 for the day and with about 11 to go I was motivated, there was no turning back.

Friday, I ate tangelo I found in previous days shop. Yummo! I looked in my cupboard and fridge, beetroot and jalapenos looked back at me, excellent another chicken and salad wrap yummo.

Dinner was homemade pizza which used up the sundried tomatoes from the deli and some green chilli.

Saturday – I woke up feeling amazing, I had slept well, my energy levels were higher than they have been in a long time, and I wasn’t craving sugar, it was weird I was feeling good.

Like the hungry caterpillar, on Saturday I ate brown pear and kiwi, I was now at 36 of 40. I did some gardening; my kitchen had a deep clean.

The challenge was on my mind, once again back to the cupboard, mmm… coconut and sultanas, bliss balls were made… Just 2 more to go…

Sunday - I eyed the dill pickles in the fridge, I would still need one more, we were having lunch out at pub… I needed one more from the menu.

I looked at the menu… Hallelujah!

Warm Quinoa salad, pumpkin, kale and cranberries, delicious.

That's a total of 40 fruits and vegetables! 

Target met! I still have the dill pickles…. Maybe next week.