What Counts - What is a Serving?
The World Health Organisation (WHO) set a world goal for everyone to increase their daily intake of vegetables and fruit to at least 400g a day. This is equivalent to 5-a-Day servings of 80g of vegetables and fruit. For young kids, the serving sizes can be smaller but remember that they too need to eat 5-a-Day to ensure that their diet is varied, colourful and meets all their nutritional needs.
Below is a basic guide to serving sizes. Remember you don’t need to haul out the scale and measuring cups every time you eat vegetables and fruit – the more you eat the better, so don’t get caught up in the numbers! An easy way to know you are doing well is that at least half of your plate should be vegetables and fruit every time you eat. Go for it and strive for 5-a-Day for optimal health.
Vegetables
- ½ cup cooked or raw vegetables
- ½ cup cooked legumes (beans, lentils etc.)
- 1 cup salad vegetables
- 1 medium potato
- 200ml fresh vegetable juice or 100% pure unsweetened vegetable juice
Fruit
- 1 medium sized fruit (e.g. apples, bananas, oranges, pears)
- 2 small fruits (e.g. apricots) OR ½ cup berries and other small fruit
- ½ large fruit (e.g. grape fruit) OR 1 wedge of melon, watermelon or pawpaw
- ½ cup canned or chopped fruit
- 200ml fresh fruit juice or 100% pure unsweetened fruit juice
- 2 Tbs (30g) dried fruit
- ¼ medium avocado
- 3 – 5 olives
