Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Eat More Fruits, Vegetables, and Fiber

At my most recent visit to the rheumatologist, I was instructed to eat as much as 11 servings of fruits and vegetables per day.  I said, “wow, that sounds like a lot!”  My doctor’s response was that it was not as much as you might think when 1/2 cup counts as a serving.

Counting full and half cups of fruits and vegetables is part of a new campaign “Fruits and Veggies-More Matters” launched by the CDC.  Lots of information, including tips and recipes, can be found at FruitsandVeggiesMatter.gov.  When visualizing amounts of food, it may be easier to picture kitchen measuring cups, rather than guessing whether a large piece of fruit counts as one or two servings.

On the homepage of Fruits and Veggies Matter is an interactive tool which tells you how many cups of fruits and vegetables are recommended based on age and gender.  For a 42 year old female who engages in a low level of physical activity, the recommendation is 1.5 cups of fruit and 2.5 cups of vegetables every day, based on an average 1800 calories/day diet. 

Read this post in its entirety:

Nutrition Matters: Eat More Fruits, Vegetables, and Fiber for Better Health

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