Recent studies by scientists have concluded that the findings they discovered a decade or so ago were actually wrong. 

It is difficult to stay mad at scientists, boffins and other people who push the boundaries of modern thinking. They make discoveries, then with advancements in technology and such, find that all the hard work they put in was actually futile as they were completely incorrect.

This time, the error was in diet and what the human body requires in order to run like the smooth, well-oiled machine that it was designed to be. For years, we have been assaulted with instructions, warnings and labels on everything we eat regarding how many portions of fruit and vegetables we should be consuming on a daily basis. 

It has been so widespread, the phrase ‘getting your 5-a-day’ is part of pretty much everybody’s vernacular. We thought that if we aim towards this, then we would be doing well, perhaps adding a few years onto the mileometer of our bodies? 

The answer is now an emphatic no it would seem. Now, experts on diet and biology have found out that getting our 5-a-day is only the halfway marker. We apparently need to be devouring TEN pieces of fruit and vegetables in the space of a day in order to be hitting the mandatory level of nutrients in our bodies.

TEN. 

Modern day living means that when we buy a bunch of bananas and some apples we think we are heading in the right direction. We were wrong. Now we must be buying shares in Fyffes bananas if we are to be doing the right thing in terms of diet.

Experts may think this just involves a change in what we put into our mouths each day. It is so much more than that though.

Take your average supermarket, with colourful banners and aisles upon aisles of delicious food to feast your eyes upon. We inevitably are drawn to the tasty treats which produce serotonin when we eat them but serve as much nutritional value as eating your own shoes. So, we drag ourselves away from what our brain – and gut – are telling us to chuck in our baskets, and we trudge towards the green stuff. 

Herein lies the rub – we make a concerted effort to purchase what we know is good for us. We want to be healthy and it takes an almighty amount of willpower to continue on this path of food righteousness. We feel the benefits of such a wholesome diet, we know it is helping us – but it doesn’t stop us craving doughnuts. The aforementioned rub? It costs so much more to have a helathy diet than it does to gorge on junk food and fill our cupboards with it.

It is fact that fruits and vegetables are more expensive than a multipack of crisps, a sixpack of soft drinks and a king size Mars Bar. You can live like a king on the offers and deals that are available when purchasing these evil yet delectable foodstuffs, but if you want vitamins, health and overall wellbeing, your bank balance must suffer as a result.

With the news that we must all consume more and more of these earth-hewn foods in order to live a long and healthy life, it is now down to the Government to act and offer incentives to these massive businesses to make fresh produce more accessible to one and all. 

Fruit and vegetables should not be on a higher table. It should be the junk food that is priced a little higher. It would certainly help this obesity crisis that is besetting Western society right now. If fruit and veg were cheaper, our plates and our insides would be a far healthier place. We prioritise food and the weekly shop in terms of price. It’s high time the people in power recognised this.