What constitutes one serving of vegetables?

DalbozTheLantern

I've been having trouble figuring out what a serving size of vegetables is. When I try to look it up, the information I find conflicts, and some reputable nutrition sources don't even mention it. I've read that you can go by cups or by weird, unhelpful measurements like "the size of a tennis ball," but it seems inexact.

Can anybody tell me what a serving of vegetables is in either grams or ounces, and what your source is? I mainly eat leafy greens for vegetables, and I've read that 3 oz. is one serving size, but that can't be right because that is how much my entire bag of salad is!

Francl27

80ish grams I think. And yeah, volume wise you get more salad for that much than carrots or broccoli.

LolBroScience

Typically 80-85g.

I rotate around cut green beans, brussels, peas, broccoli, etc.

lemurcat12

What difference does it make? If the concern is getting the recommended servings, here is a page that discusses what the USDA considers a serving size (it depends on what it is):nutrition.about.com/od/fruitsandvegetables/f/servingfruit.htm

However, in practice I don't worry about it and just try to eat plenty.

nm212

Who cares? They're vegetables! Go for the low carb ones and eat as much as you want! It's healthy and minimal calories, unless you're eating starchy vegetables, which are still not bad in calories...usually do about 3 ounces myself or more if I am not eating other carbs.

sheepotato

Going by the recommended serving seems maddening. You can check your micros under the reports section if you are worried you may not be eating enough of a nutrient. I usually take the bunch or box of vegetables and divide it into halves or fourths and just log what that portion weighs. I don't want to end up with 3 leftover asparagus or something. When I use frozen fruit I may go by the suggested serving on the bag, but I still weigh it out in grams to log.

nilbogger

Usually it's a half cup, or one cup for raw greens. Obviously that's going to vary because not all vegetables fit neatly in a cup.

JoRocka

one bag of steamables.

or one bag of frozen veggies.

Usually it's a half cup, or one cup for raw greens. Obviously that's going to vary because not all vegetables fit neatly in a cup.

hence- a food scale. because weighing it a vastly superior method.

Swamisgirl

I don't think about servings, just what I want the composition of my diet to be. I think in terms of around 60% being vegetables, with deep greens included every day almost without exception. Initially that sounded like a shocking amount but once you fill up your day with this many unprocessed vegetables, it seems quite natural. A point is to realize that "salad" can be eaten in very large quantities - a quart or more - because large panfuls of raw greens cook down to small quantities of cooked ones. Lunch just now included a large carrot cooked with about six 6" stems of very healthy-looking New Zealand spinach, plus 1/3 avocado.