Why and How to Get Five Servings of Fruits and Vegetables Per Day!

Strive for five Servings of fruits and/or veggies a day! People tell you all the damn time. Do you really know what a serving looks like? Do you know how to fit in all of the servings? Why? Well I am here to help you out and make it fun!

Why Should I Eat Five Servings of Fruits and Vegetables a Day? 

If someone told you doing just one simple thing a day could help you lose weight and significantly reduce your risk of a shit-ton of bad diseases, would you do it??

Well here is what five servings a day does for you according the to CDC…

“Compared to people who eat only small amounts of fruits and vegetables, those who eat more generous amounts — as part of a healthy diet — are likely to have reduced risk of chronic diseases. These diseases include stroke, Type 2 diabetes, some types of cancer and perhaps heart disease.”

Are those enough reasons for you??! Well, I’ve got more. The reason why fruits and veggies lower all of these risks are because of the micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) and the fiber they’ve got. Fruit even provides you with some water!

The Best Reason to Strive for Five

I’m often asked, “What can I do to lose weight or eat more healthy?” My answer 9/10 is to start by eating 5 servings of fruits and/ore vegetables a day. When you’re focusing on getting these 5 servings, you’re not focused on eating junk food. You have a mission and a simple goal. So right there you’ve not only made yourself some damn healthy choices, you’ve also nixed all those shitty carb heavy snacks. Hell yeah! Plus, you aren’t even counting calories, you’re just making sure to get your five servings. Weight loss like a boss…

How do I Fit in Five Servings a Day??

It does sound daunting if you’ve never eaten many fruits or vegetables before. Well, I came up with many little tricks in my healthy quest that I am gonna share with you!

Have a fruit and/ or vegetable serving with all three major meals!

Breakfast? Add some veggies to your eggs or fruit to your oatmeal or yogurt. Also consider a smoothie! You can get 2 servings in a smoothie!

Try To Trick Yourself

What would a parent do to get their kid to eat more fruits and/or vegetables? Hide vegetables in other foods that are much loved. You won’t even notice the veggies. Pumpkin puree in mac and cheese or sweet potato mash anyone? Mushrooms added to ground beef for tacos? I’ve done it all! Here are some of my favorite veggie hiding recipes.

Click on the name of the recipe to go to the full post!

• Magic Tacos
• Autumn Shepherd’s Pie
• The Best Pumpkin Mac and Cheese

Swap a Salad for Lunch

The easiest way to get in a whole lotta veggie servings is by eating a salad for lunch. A nice large salad can have 3 or more servings of vegetables in it. Woah, then after that you only got another 3 servings to go! 

Fruit or Veggies as a Snack

Everyone gets hungry between meals. When reaching for a snack, think about packing some fruit. Cut and prepped so you are most likely to eat it. I love baby carrots and hummus, apples and peanut butter, diced mango, cut strawberries and blueberries. But there is so much more. Find your faves!

What’s a serving or fruits or vegetables look like??

Image from http://www.thekitchn.com/10-photos-that-show-you-your-daily-recommended-servings-of-fruits-
vegetables-207261

For the most part 1 cup equals one serving and 1 large fruit is about equal to a cup. That’s pretty fucking easy! But there are a couple stipulations and a little fine print, not like pharmaceutical fine print, but some things you should know.

• Juice DOES count towards your serving of fruit BUT a big one, you’re not getting all the benefits of eating fruit, like the fiber and the fact it fills your stomach, juice does not.
• Dried fruit also counts and a mere 1⁄2 cup is a serving! (watch out, since dried fruit can have added sugar!)
• Leafy greens such as those you would use for your salad, well you need 2 cups to equal a serving. Which is good since that means you get to eat a bigger salad!!

NOTE: These are rough guidelines, you’re always welcome to eat more fruits and vegetables. Ain’t nobody got fat eating too many carrots!

Here is what a serving looks like…