how do you work out what 5 a day is regarding fruit and veg?

Question

how can you work out the portion sizes of things you need for 5 a day.

Answer 1

Generally 1 piece of fruit or 1 tablespoon of veg

Answer 2

Veggies should be one serving = 25 calories.
that is about 1/2 cup cooked veggie OR 1 cup raw or 1/2 cup veggie juice (none of which includes things like salt or butter)

Fruits are one serving = 60 calories.
that is about 1 small apple or banana or orange; OR 1 medium peach/nectarine OR 1 kiwi OR 1/2 grapefruit.

There is a great place you can go to track your foods, weight and exercise and it figures up all the calories, fat, carbs and so much more... its called Fit Day and its free. The web site is below for you. The other info above was from the National Heart, Lung and blood institutes food exchange list. The site is listed below too.

Answer 3

Excellent Q.
I joked to someone and said 5 a day fruit = 5 single pieces of grapes.

The idea of 5 a day is to eat enough fruit and veg everyday.
Toms
Banana
Orange
Potato
Carrot
Cherries
Strawberries
to name a few

Answer 4

In general,

1/2 cup = 1 serving

except for green leafy vegetables like spinach, lettuce, etc.

Then, it's

1 cup = 1 serving

If it's a larger piece of fruit like a banana, an apple, an orange, etc., they usually come out to be about a half of a cup. For anything else, measure to make sure. Once you've measured it out a few times, you'll learn what 1 serving looks like and be able to eye ball it.

Answer 5

I'm not really sure how they exactly measure it, but I class one portion as one piece. So, I have one banana in the morning, an apple mid morning, two portions of veg with supper and an orange in the evening.

Answer 6

Quick guide to fruit portions:

Fresh fruit:

Small-sized fruit: 2 or more, for example 2 plums, 2 satsumas, 3 apricots, 2 kiwi fruit, 7 strawberries, 14 cherries, 6 lychees

Medium-sized fruit:

1 medium fruit, such as 1 apple, banana, pear, orange, nectarine, or 1 sharon fruit
Large fruits: half a grapefruit, 1 slice of papaya, 1 slice of melon (2-inch slice), 1 large slice of pineapple, 2 slices of mango (2-inch slices)

Dried fruit:

1 tablespoon of raisins, currants, sultanas, 1 tablespoon of mixed fruit, 2 figs, 3 prunes, 1 handful of banana chips
Tinned fruit:

Roughly the same quantity of fruit that you would eat as a fresh portion: 2 pear or peach halves, 6 apricot halves, 8 segments of tinned grapefruit

Juices:

A glass (150ml) of 100% juice (fruit or vegetable juice or smoothie) counts as 1 portion, but you can only count juice as 1 portion per day, however much you drink. This is mainly because it contains very little fibre. Also, the juicing process 'squashes' all the natural sugars out of the cells that normally contain them, which can be harmful for teeth - especailly if you drink a lot of it in between meals


Quick guide to vegetable portions:

Green vegetables:

2 broccoli spears, 8 cauliflower florets, 4 heaped tablespoons of kale, spring greens or green beans

Cooked vegetables:

3 heaped tablespoons of cooked vegetables such as carrots, peas or sweetcorn

Salad vegetables:

3 sticks of celery, 2 inch piece of cucumber, 1 medium tomato, 7 cherry tomatoes

Tinned and frozen vegetables:

Roughly the same quantity as you would eat as a fresh portion. For example, 3 heaped tablespoons of tinned or frozen carrots, peas or sweetcorn

Pulses and beans:

3 heaped tablespoons of baked beans, haricot beans, kidney beans, cannelloni beans, butter beans or chick peas. Remember that beans and pulses do count, but only as 1 of the 5 portions, no matter how much you eat

Potatoes and other related root vegetables:

Because they are considered a 'starchy' food, potatoes don't count towards your 5 A DAY. (Starchy foods are foods like potatoes, rice, pasta and bread.)

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Answer 7

I thought that it was 5-10 servings a day. Check the food pyramid for ideas on serving sizes.

Answer 8

With things like apples and bananas one=1 portion, with loose things like raisins or grapes I believe its the size of your clenched fist.

Answer 9

For small fruit like grapes, it's as many as will fit on the palm of one hand.

Answer 10

the link below list serving sizes of different foods