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Here is the use of the verb "to count" from a text on NHS-diet-veg and fruits

1- Almost all fruit and vegetables count towards your 5 A Day, so it may be easier than you think to get your recommended daily amount.

2- Some portions only count once in a day: 150ml of fruit juice, vegetable juice or smoothie. Limit the amount you drink to a combined total of 150ml a day.

The "count" in the 1st sentence is clear for me, however "count" in the 2nd sentence is confusing and I am not sure about the meaning.

Does "Some portions only count once a day" mean; however many times you eat them, it won't benefit to your body. Even if you eat it 3 times, your body will process it as if you have eaten only once, and get rid of the excess amounts of food?

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  • The second is unclear. Some items should be consumed only once per day. Even to say that they "should be counted only once" would be ambiguous. It's not that you can ignore the fact that you have consumed one of them and do not need to "count" them.
    – TimR
    Commented Oct 6 at 11:10
  • The author is using "count" as if it were synonymous with "count towards" although it isn't. It is lazy writing. They don't want to have to say "Some items count towards your 5 A-day only once per day". And already "your 5 a-day" is an abbreviated version of a longer phrase.
    – TimR
    Commented Oct 6 at 11:22

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The meaning is that you can't drink lots of fruit juice instead of eating vegetables and think that you have satisfied the 'five portions a day' requirement. (I believe that that is because juice is often high in sugar.)

It's not about how the body processes it, but that to be healthy you need four other kinds of fruit or veg that day. A drink of juice can only be counted once.

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