*Summer Sweeties to Fall Knockouts* Week #5 7.18.11 (CLOSED

Good Morning all! I see everyone did an awesome job last week with our "Burn Baby Burn" part 2 challenge. Awesome work everyone! This week is another nutrition-based challenge. It is called the Summer Sweets and Treats Challenge. Fruits and veggies are extremely important in the diet and a lot of us do not get the right amount of servings in per day. So I want to challenge you all to set a daily goal for this. To give you a little help, below you will find what a serving for each one is equivalent to:

Alice,

Is there a chart that lists how much of various foods constitute a "serving" under the new Food Pyramid guidelines?

— Trying to eat healthy

 

Dear Trying to Eat Healthy,

Knowing what and how much to eat can feel overwhelming. In recognition of the fact that more Americans are overweight and obese than ever before, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)/U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently rebuilt the pyramid — the food guide pyramid, that is. This new pyramid now goes by "MyPyramid" and makes suggestions based on age, gender, and activity level. It no longer recommends amounts of food in terms of serving size, but rather suggests portions according to actual weights and amounts of specific foods. You can learn more about how to apply the new food guide pyramid recommendations to your lifestyle at www.MyPyramid.gov.

Even though there is no single chart that details how much of a particular food a serving constitutes, you can click on each food group's heading (see below) for more information on common portion sizes. Also, here's a basic breakdown of the new guidelines:

Breads, Cereals, Rice, and Pasta
One serving equals 1 slice of bread; 1/2 cup of cooked rice, pasta, or cereal; or 1 ounce of cold cereal. All of these serving sizes are known as "ounce equivalents" in MyPyramid-speak.

As a general rule of thumb,
1 serving size/ounce equivalent of bread = plastic CD case
2 servings/ounce equivalents of cooked brown rice = a tennis ball

Vegetables
Unlike the Breads, Cereals, Rice, and Pasta group described above, cup size matters when it comes to vegetables. That is, vegetables servings are measured in cups rather than ounces. One serving equals 1/2 cup of raw or cooked vegetables or vegetable juice or 1 cup of leafy raw vegetables.

1 serving size = 1/2 cup of broccoli = a light bulb
1 serving size = 1/2 cup of potato = a computer mouse

Fruits
Like the vegetable group, cup size matters here, too. One serving equals 1 cup of fruit or 100 percent fruit juice, or 1/2 cup of dried fruit. Because fruits come in so many different shapes and sizes, it's hard to say how many pieces of fruit count as a serving.

Generally, 1 serving size of whole fruit = 1 tennis ball
1 serving size of cut fruit = 7 cotton balls


Also, please make sure to enter your stats on the sheet!

https://spreadsheets0.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?hl=en_US&hl=en_US&formkey=dGVvLVlubUI0b3BLXzJKdEdPTWVPdGc6MQ#gid=0

And I would also love for everyone to share their NSVs or scale victories thus far with the group!