Serving Sizes for Fruits and Veggies

Eating vegetables and fruits can lower your blood pressure, improve your cardiovascular and gastrointestinal well-being, and reduce your risk of cancer and vision-related problems. The trick is figuring out how many servings a day you should eat.

The saying "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" may make it sound like one serving of fruits per day is enough to keep you in tip-top shape. In reality, the United States Department of Agriculture recommends that half of each meal be fruits and vegetables.

Your minimum daily recommendation depends on your age, gender, total daily calories and activity level. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has an online calculator that lets you input some basic information to find out the right amount.

For example, the CDC recommends a moderately active 45-year-old woman have two cups of fruit and two-and-a-half cups of vegetables daily. For a man of the same age and activity level, the recommendation is two cups of fruit and three-and-a-half cups of vegetables.

Understanding how much is in "a serving" can help you determine how many servings you are getting and if there is room for improvement. A cup of spinach, a half-cup of berries, one-fourth cup of dried fruit, one medium-sized apple and a half-cup of tomato juice are all considered one serving. Don't let the word "serving" confuse you. In general, one serving equals:

Vegetables

• 1 cup leafy greens (about the size of your fist)
• ½ cup chopped vegetables
• ½ cup vegetable juice

Fruits

• 1 medium sized fruit (about the size of a baseball)
• ½ cup chopped fruit or berries
• ¼ cup dried fruit
• ½ cup fruit juice

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