How much spinach to get my 5 servings of veg a day?

abbynormalartist

I was researching how many servings of veg we're supposed to get in a day and I'm a tad confused. I add spinach to a lot of my meals and was trying to figure out how much raw spinach equals one serving. I read on livestrong.com that a serving of leafy greens is 16oz but dang, that's over 450 grams, a massive amount of spinach for one serving! I looked around on other websites but the info is all over the place. Anyone with a more definitive answer?

TavistockToad

Aim for 800g overall for the day, from a mixture of sources - different colours are good.

kommodevaran

Aha, those cups again. It's fluid ounces, again.

Ruatine

This is a good resource: https://www.choosemyplate.gov/vegetables

kimny72

abbynormalartist wrote: »

I was researching how many servings of veg we're supposed to get in a day and I'm a tad confused. I add spinach to a lot of my meals and was trying to figure out how much raw spinach equals one serving. I read on livestrong.com that a serving of leafy greens is 16oz but dang, that's over 450 grams, a massive amount of spinach for one serving! I looked around on other websites but the info is all over the place. Anyone with a more definitive answer?

The 16 oz is meant as a volume measurement - 2 cups, not weight. As leafy greens are so low cal, I consider 1 serving to be an eyeballed giant mound bigger than could be stuffed into a measuring cup. Though that's probably not definitive

abbynormalartist

kimny72 wrote: »

abbynormalartist wrote: »

I was researching how many servings of veg we're supposed to get in a day and I'm a tad confused. I add spinach to a lot of my meals and was trying to figure out how much raw spinach equals one serving. I read on livestrong.com that a serving of leafy greens is 16oz but dang, that's over 450 grams, a massive amount of spinach for one serving! I looked around on other websites but the info is all over the place. Anyone with a more definitive answer?

The 16 oz is meant as a volume measurement - 2 cups, not weight. As leafy greens are so low cal, I consider 1 serving to be an eyeballed giant mound bigger than could be stuffed into a measuring cup. Though that's probably not definitive

Thank you! I was thinking 16oz was meant as weight - but then that would just bonkers.

abbynormalartist

TavistockToad wrote: »

Aim for 800g overall for the day, from a mixture of sources - different colours are good.

Man, I like my veg but 800g a day still seems like a ton of veggies.

TavistockToad

abbynormalartist wrote: »

TavistockToad wrote: »

Aim for 800g overall for the day, from a mixture of sources - different colours are good.

Man, I like my veg but 800g a day still seems like a ton of veggies.

Yep! I am usually closer to about half that!

Millicent3015

A UK serving of veg is 80g, but for things like fresh spinach and leaf salads that are physically light in weight, a couple or three handfuls can count as a serving. Spinach cooks down quite drastically, so if you cook a 100g bag that can also count as a serving.

TavistockToad

TavistockToad wrote: »

abbynormalartist wrote: »

TavistockToad wrote: »

Aim for 800g overall for the day, from a mixture of sources - different colours are good.

Man, I like my veg but 800g a day still seems like a ton of veggies.

Yep! I am usually closer to about half that!

Having said that I got to 700g with a salad for lunch and home made chilli for tea on Monday!

AnnPT77

I use 80g raw = 1 serving as a rough rule of thumb for all veggies/fruits (it's related to that 800g/day idea). Since I'm weighing food in grams in general anyway, it's very easy. Vary the types and colors for best results

kshama2001

kimny72 wrote: »

abbynormalartist wrote: »

I was researching how many servings of veg we're supposed to get in a day and I'm a tad confused. I add spinach to a lot of my meals and was trying to figure out how much raw spinach equals one serving. I read on livestrong.com that a serving of leafy greens is 16oz but dang, that's over 450 grams, a massive amount of spinach for one serving! I looked around on other websites but the info is all over the place. Anyone with a more definitive answer?

The 16 oz is meant as a volume measurement - 2 cups, not weight. As leafy greens are so low cal, I consider 1 serving to be an eyeballed giant mound bigger than could be stuffed into a measuring cup. Though that's probably not definitive

Before I got a food scale I was always wondering how tightly I was supposed to pack the measuring cup. Love weighing instead!

I usually call 113 grams of spinach that I am going to cook one serving, and less if I'm going to eat it raw.

hesn92

According to that USDA site referenced above, one "cup" of spinach is for cooked spinach.

2 cups of raw spinach is = to ONE cup of our 2.5 cups needed for the day... How confusing.

cwolfman13

I generally consider 80-100 grams of any fruit or vegetable to be a serving. I'm usually around 500-600 grams or so of veg and fruit per day.

Machka9

On the Australia Dietary Guidelines ... about serving sizes:

http://www.nutritionaustralia.org/national/resource/australian-dietary-guidelines-standard-serves




I eat 150 grams of veggies at lunch, and about twice that at dinner. So probably a total of about 6 servings of veggies. Most days.

Lillymoo01

Machka9 wrote: »

On the Australia Dietary Guidelines ... about serving sizes:

http://www.nutritionaustralia.org/national/resource/australian-dietary-guidelines-standard-serves




I eat 150 grams of veggies at lunch, and about twice that at dinner. So probably a total of about 6 servings of veggies. Most days.

I have always gone by the 1 serving = 75 gms. Just added up today's total for fruit and vegetable and came just under 900 gms. It would be over if you included popcorn as a vegetable!

fitoverfortymom

I try to make it easy on myself and I consider a "serving" of vegetables to be 100g, I count potatoes and corn as a starch/grain rather than a veg, and aim to get 4-5 100g servings of veg a day.