Serving Size of Fruits and Vegetables

As they say, fruits and vegetables are the foods manufactured by the mother nature herself! Both vegetables and fruits are the healthiest food sources that are abundant with natural nutrients like minerals, vitamins, carbohydrates, proteins and the important antioxidants.

Hence, eating loads of fruits and vegetables has always been a well emphasized subject. The nutritionists and medical advisers across the globe, promote healthy consumption of fresh fruits and raw vegetables; to stay away from various potentially dangerous health conditions like cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and obesity.

In fact, according to the experts at American Cancer Society, every person should eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. It is the best thing to do, in order to prevent various types of cancer. Now, what is this serving size?

Well, while checking nutrition facts and ingredients of various foods, we often come across the term 'serving size'. Is serving size same as the portion size? To be frank, there is a lot of confusion between portion size and serving size.

As I mentioned in the introduction, one needs to understand the basic difference between the serving size and portion size of every food item; which makes it important while preparing a good fruit and vegetables diet plan. Understand the fact that a portion size is the entire food item which is served as a meal. While serving size is the standard unit of measuring a particular food item.

Most common unit of measuring foods is a cup or an ounce (oz). It must have occurred to you that we mostly eat according to the portion size and not the serving size. However, we do prepare foods by following the measurements of serving size.

In order to eat healthy, a person needs to consume food (especially fruits and vegetables) as per their portion size. So, as I was saying, a minimum of five servings of fruits and vegetables are cited to be very healthy. If you wish, you may increase this number to seven and even nine!

When it comes to the determination of the UK serving sizes, it can be done according to the weight and the quantity of the fruits and vegetables.

According to the weight, 80g of peeled, pipped or chopped fruit is one serving. According to the quantity, 1 medium-sized fruit, a medium glass full of fruit or vegetable juice, ½ cup of cooked and canned vegetables, 1 cereal cup of cooked pulses and raw leafy vegetables; is also considered as one serving size.

On the other hand, according to the United States Department of Agriculture, ½ cup of fruits and vegetables is 1 serving size. It includes 1 ½ cup of sliced fruits, or chopped vegetables. All in all, these serving sizes do sound a bit confusing for a layman.

For instance, going by the above serving size formula, what is the serving size for the fruits like banana, grapes, berries, or even fruit juice? To find out answer to this question, you may go through the following lists of serving sizes.

On an average, an adult should consume 2 cups of fruits, while children should consume at least 1 ½ cup of fruits. Typically, 1 medium or ½ large banana, 1 apple, 1 peach, ½ cup of fruit juice, 15 grapes, 2 plums and 6 strawberries is considered as one serving size of these particular fruits. Here is a list of some of the fruits that we regularly use in our diet.

♦ Apple, dried, 4 rings
♦ Apple, fresh, 1 large
♦ Apricots, 3
♦ Banana, 1 medium
♦ Blackberries, 6
♦ Clementines, 2
♦ Cherries, 12
♦ Dried fruits, ¼ cup
♦ Figs, 2
♦ Fruit juices 1 cup
♦ Fruit salad, ½ cup
♦ Kiwi, 2
♦ Grapefruit, ½
♦ Lychees, 6

♦ Mango, 2 slices
♦ Melon, 1 slice
♦ Passion fruit, 6
♦ Peach, 1 medium
♦ Pear, 1 medium
♦ Pineapple, 1 slice
♦ Plums, 2 medium
♦ Prunes, 6
♦ Nectarine, 1 medium
♦ Raisins, ¼ cup
♦ Raspberries, 12
♦ Rhubarb, ⅓ cup
♦ Satsumas, 2
♦ Strawberries, 6

Typically, ¾ cup of vegetable juice, 4 slices of a large onion, 1 roma tomato, 1 ear of corn, ½ of sweet potato, 5 broccoli florets, 10 baby carrots, etc., is considered as one serving size of vegetables. Here is a list of the vegetables, with their serving size.
♦ Asparagus, fresh 5 spears
♦ Avocado, ½
♦ Aubergine, ⅓

♦ Baby sweet corn, 6
♦ Baked beans, ½ cup
♦ Broad beans, ½ cup
♦ Broccoli, 2 florets
♦ Brussels sprouts, 8
♦ Button mushrooms, 14
♦ Cabbage, ½ cup
♦ Carrots, 1 large or 2 small
♦ Celery, 3 sticks
♦ Cherry tomatoes, 5-7
♦ Chickpeas, ½ cup
♦ Courgette ½
♦ Curly kale, ½ cup
♦ Eggplant, ⅓
♦ French beans, ½ cup

♦ Kidney beans, ½ cup
♦ Lentils, ½ cup
♦ Lettuce, 1 cup
♦ Mixed salad, 1 cup
♦ Onion, 1 medium
♦ Parsnip, 1 large
♦ Peas, ½ cup (fresh, frozen, canned)

♦ Pulses, ½ cup
♦ Salad greens, 1 cup
♦ Scallions, 8
♦ Snowpeas, ½ cup
♦ Spinach, cooked, ½ cup
♦ Spring onions, 8
♦ Sugarsnap peas, ½ cup
♦ Sweet corn, ½ cup (fresh, frozen, canned)
♦ Tomato, ½ large
♦ Vegetable soup 1 cup (fresh, canned)
♦ Zucchini, ½

Controlling your diet and portion size of the food, is in your own hands. All in all, try to consume fresh and raw organic fruits and vegetables and their juice. If you want to choose their canned version, then make sure that they are treated with the least amount of salt, sugar and other food additives. All the best!