Fruits and Veggies Calorie Intake

AngelZealot

Hi! I want to make sure I am including lots of fresh fruits and vegetables in my daily diet. Does anyone know what a healthy calorie intake of fruits and veggies is? If my calorie goal is 1200 a day, how many of those calories should be fruit and vegetables? Thanks!

AnnPT77

Calorie level? No. But the US Dietary Guidelines suggest 2 cups of fruit and 2.5 cups of vegetables in a 2000 calorie daily diet. With a lower calorie target, you can certainly focus more on the lower-calorie fruits and veg in order to eat a higher quantity, of course.

In practice, the guidelines actually talk about cup-equivalents but if you want that detail level, you could check out the report. (It's doing things like considering 1C of raw spinach to be 1/2C equivalent, or 1/4C raisins to be 1/2C equivalent). It's at health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015/guidelines/

In practice, most people get far less than the guidelines suggest, of course.

Personally, I try to hit my protein target & my fat target (the latter as much with healthy fats as possible), both of which can be partly vegetable sources (or entirely vegetable if you're vegan), then I fit in lots of other fruits and vegetables within my calorie target. But I love fruits & veggies - so tasty and satisfying!