Judi, over at Mommy of Two‘s blog, is so sweet! She wrote me and suggested a couple of great questions that I can ask here on my blog, as a “Question of the Day“. Thanks Judi! I hope everyone has a chance to stop by and leave us a comment!
Here’s her first question – do you eat the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables a day? Do you come close?
I did a quick Google search on fruits and veggies and found the following info at this site:
Fruits and Vegetables
Fruits and vegetables are rich in nutrients. Many are excellent sources of vitamin A, vitamin C, folate or potassium. They are low in fat and sodium and high in fiber. The Food Pyramid suggests 3 to 5 servings of vegetables each day. One serving of vegetables can be:
1 cup of raw leafy vegetables
1/2 cup of other vegetables, cooked or raw
3/4 cup of vegetable juiceThe Food Pyramid suggests 2 to 4 servings of fruit each day. One serving of fruit can be:
One medium apple, orange or banana
1/2 cup of chopped, cooked or canned fruit
3/4 cup of fruit juice
Count only 100% fruit juice as a fruit, and limit juice consumption. Many commercial bottled juices come in containers that hold more than 2 servings – which can add lots of sugar and calories to your daily diet. Punches, ades and most fruit “drinks” have only a bit of juice and lots of sugar. Fruit sodas are sugary drinks, and they don’t count as fruit, either.
Me first – I try, I really do, but I think most days I fall really short. I honestly am not sure if the info that I posted above is up to date (I admit, I didn’t spend that long searching!). I actually thought they had raised it to a recommended 7-9 servings a day. Irregardless, I don’t think I get enough. I want to eat better and try to make healthy meals for us. I try to make better choices when we eat out, but that is really hard. When we eat out, it’s sort of a splurge and I tend to make bad choices. However, I think I do better than Tim does, just because I love fruit and eat more of it than he does (as well as yogurt, dried fruit and other things he won’t touch). I also drink a glass of orange juice every morning with breakfast, and I think that counts as a serving. I’d say on a good day, I might eat 3-4 servings of fruit and vegetables a day, but I would fall really short of 7-9.
So, how about you? Do you eat the recommended amount per day? About how many do you think you eat?
I come fairly close on this because I try to incorporate vegetables and fruits into most of our meals, but I could do a lot better! Especially if it’s supposed to be 7-9, I do 4-6 pretty good I think. Except when I find chocolate cake in my freezer!
I don’t usually drink juices, even the 100% ones, because they have so much sugar in them and I guess I prefer to save my sugar for you know, the chocolate cake!
Thanks for sharing this. There are days I eat lots of veggies and fruits and there are days I don’t eat any.
No, I don’t come even close. 🙁 I eat maybe 3 servings a day, on average. Philip rarely eats any at all. G, however, has fruit at all 3 meals plus his snack, and veggies for 2 meals.
You do pretty well, compared to me & Philip anyway! 🙂
I know I eat the right amount of veggies. I’m not a fruit person so I don’t eat the right amount of that. I don’t even drink juice, ick!
Not even close! I probably do eat the fruit, but not the veggies!
I fall short most days, too. I love both fruits and veggies, but I’d have to be eating them all day to get enough.
Hmmm. I often eat a lot of fruits and veggies, but I’m sure I don’t meet the mark every single day.
Like Gail, I don’tusually drink juices. I get my fruit straight from the fruit. I have it at every meal and pick at it through the day (frozen grapes!!!!). 7-9!!!!!???? nope but definitely 2-4. If I have a salad, I for sure get the veggies I need. I probably still do get enough as I tend to lean heavily on the veggie side at dinner as well. LOVE my fruits and veggies, but I don’t really like starchy veggies like peas or potatoes.
Generally, I’d say I miss the mark on both fruit and vegetables, but I usually come close. On days when I have a salad, I probably get the veggies in. I’ve been eating a lot of dried fruit lately — we got a big bag of mixed dried fruit at Sam’s about a week ago, and I’ve had a lot of that. I discovered that while prune juice is about the most disgusting thing imaginable, *dried prunes* are actually very good, so I usually have a serving of those a day.
But even though I don’t always get the recommended daily amount, I’m still doing MUCH better than I was before 2006, when the only fruit I got was probably underneath a flaky crust, and my vegetables were mostly made up of white potatoes. 😉
No, rarely make it. Love fruits and veggies, but I know I usually don’t eat enough each day. The only one in our house who does is Annie (our little vegetarian).
i don’t know when i am supposed to squeeze in so many servings! i would be eating all day! i think i get 3-4 veggies per day. and maybe 1-2 of fruit. but that’s having a veggie at lunch, a veggie & salad with dinner, some raw veggies for a snack, some fruit for a snack & a glass of juice! i might edge in another fruit if the fruit that comes in my yogurt counts for anything. =P
When I am being healthy, (meaning, when I am not in binge mode!) I most defintely get in more than the recommended amount of veggies. But fruit? Nope. I don’t eat much fruit! I make up for it w/ the veggies though!
Sherry
Whew! I am glad I am not alone! I don’t even come close. I saw a nutritionist on TV that says 7-9 servings for overall health plus brain health as you age. She said 1-1/2 cups at lunch and 1-1/2 cups at dinner and two fruits sometime during the day will do it. I don’t know if I can do that or not! Thanks for using my question!
I’m not even close, although I love veggies and fruits! The most I eat is 2 vegs and a fruit per day! :-O
I love fruits and veggies, but fall seriously short of the recommended amount for each day. I do much better in the summer when fresh produce is more readily available. Great question of the day, Stacy!
I would say I do better some days than others. I would say that I average two fruits and two veggies a day. Yesterday, I had 1 fruit and 3 veggies–it just changes from day to day. I think I’ll go eat a banana right now…
I don’t eat fruit of any kind! It makes me gag… but love veggies. I don’t eat enough. It’s very pathetic.
I would say that I come really close these days. With a toddler around and another baby on the way, I try to make better choices in what we eat. Joshua loves fresh fruits, and we have been eating plenty of them. Most days I prefer to eat the sides that I cook over the main course.
I’m not sure I eat the recommended servings but I do eat veggies everyday. I eat fruit if we have it on hand and lately we have. So, I’ll grab a banana when we have them or an apple. We eat alot of salad so there aren’t many days when we don’t have that. We love steamed green beans also so we eat those alot!
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