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Do you get the recommended 5-13 servings of fruits and veg?

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Replies

  • peleroja
    peleroja Posts: 3,979 Member
    Easily, since I eat a salad in a large mixing bowl for dinner most nights with a head or more of lettuce, a whole bell pepper, multiple mini cucumbers, couple of tomatoes, large carrot, etc etc. I think at least half of what I eat is vegetables on any given day. I just like them.

    I hardly ever eat fruit though, unless you count the whole lemon worth of juice I usually squeeze on said salad.
  • lucys1225
    lucys1225 Posts: 597 Member
    Other than tomatoes, I don't eat fruit but I get well over 13 servings of vegetables a day.
  • kokonani
    kokonani Posts: 507 Member
    I personally think fruits we can do less of since it has a lot of sugar content (except berries). I try to fill up on vegetables as much as I can, but there is no way I can have 5-13 servings per day. I don't want to live like a rabbit.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    peleroja wrote: »
    Easily, since I eat a salad in a large mixing bowl for dinner most nights with a head or more of lettuce, a whole bell pepper, multiple mini cucumbers, couple of tomatoes, large carrot, etc etc. I think at least half of what I eat is vegetables on any given day. I just like them.

    I hardly ever eat fruit though, unless you count the whole lemon worth of juice I usually squeeze on said salad.

    tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers are all fruit.
  • peleroja
    peleroja Posts: 3,979 Member
    peleroja wrote: »
    Easily, since I eat a salad in a large mixing bowl for dinner most nights with a head or more of lettuce, a whole bell pepper, multiple mini cucumbers, couple of tomatoes, large carrot, etc etc. I think at least half of what I eat is vegetables on any given day. I just like them.

    I hardly ever eat fruit though, unless you count the whole lemon worth of juice I usually squeeze on said salad.

    tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers are all fruit.

    In a botantical sense, yes, but not in a culinary one.

    In fact, botany doesn't have a category for "vegetable" at all!
    Its definition has no scientific value and is somewhat arbitrary and subjective.

    All parts of herbaceous plants eaten as food by humans, whole or in part, are generally considered vegetables.

    Mushrooms, though belonging to the biological kingdom, fungi, are also commonly considered vegetables.

    Since "vegetable" is not a botanical term, there is no contradiction in referring to a plant part as a fruit while also being considered a vegetable.

    Given this general rule of thumb, vegetables can include leaves (lettuce), stems (asparagus), roots (carrots), flowers (broccoli), bulbs (garlic), seeds (peas and beans) and of course the botanical fruits like cucumbers, squash, pumpkins, and capsicums.

    Vegetables contain water soluble vitamins like vitamin B and vitamin C, fat-soluble vitamins including vitamin A and vitamin D, and also contain carbohydrates and minerals.

    https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/vegetable.htm

  • OliveGirl128
    OliveGirl128 Posts: 801 Member
    peleroja wrote: »
    Easily, since I eat a salad in a large mixing bowl for dinner most nights with a head or more of lettuce, a whole bell pepper, multiple mini cucumbers, couple of tomatoes, large carrot, etc etc. I think at least half of what I eat is vegetables on any given day. I just like them.

    I hardly ever eat fruit though, unless you count the whole lemon worth of juice I usually squeeze on said salad.

    I thought I was the only one who did this, my husband thinks my salad sizes are nuts lol.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    peleroja wrote: »
    peleroja wrote: »
    Easily, since I eat a salad in a large mixing bowl for dinner most nights with a head or more of lettuce, a whole bell pepper, multiple mini cucumbers, couple of tomatoes, large carrot, etc etc. I think at least half of what I eat is vegetables on any given day. I just like them.

    I hardly ever eat fruit though, unless you count the whole lemon worth of juice I usually squeeze on said salad.

    tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers are all fruit.

    In a botantical sense, yes, but not in a culinary one.

    In fact, botany doesn't have a category for "vegetable" at all!
    Its definition has no scientific value and is somewhat arbitrary and subjective.

    All parts of herbaceous plants eaten as food by humans, whole or in part, are generally considered vegetables.

    Mushrooms, though belonging to the biological kingdom, fungi, are also commonly considered vegetables.

    Since "vegetable" is not a botanical term, there is no contradiction in referring to a plant part as a fruit while also being considered a vegetable.

    Given this general rule of thumb, vegetables can include leaves (lettuce), stems (asparagus), roots (carrots), flowers (broccoli), bulbs (garlic), seeds (peas and beans) and of course the botanical fruits like cucumbers, squash, pumpkins, and capsicums.

    Vegetables contain water soluble vitamins like vitamin B and vitamin C, fat-soluble vitamins including vitamin A and vitamin D, and also contain carbohydrates and minerals.

    https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/vegetable.htm

    Ha! I was looking at it more from a dictionary / garden (botany) stance.
  • peleroja
    peleroja Posts: 3,979 Member
    peleroja wrote: »
    peleroja wrote: »
    Easily, since I eat a salad in a large mixing bowl for dinner most nights with a head or more of lettuce, a whole bell pepper, multiple mini cucumbers, couple of tomatoes, large carrot, etc etc. I think at least half of what I eat is vegetables on any given day. I just like them.

    I hardly ever eat fruit though, unless you count the whole lemon worth of juice I usually squeeze on said salad.

    tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers are all fruit.

    In a botantical sense, yes, but not in a culinary one.

    In fact, botany doesn't have a category for "vegetable" at all!
    Its definition has no scientific value and is somewhat arbitrary and subjective.

    All parts of herbaceous plants eaten as food by humans, whole or in part, are generally considered vegetables.

    Mushrooms, though belonging to the biological kingdom, fungi, are also commonly considered vegetables.

    Since "vegetable" is not a botanical term, there is no contradiction in referring to a plant part as a fruit while also being considered a vegetable.

    Given this general rule of thumb, vegetables can include leaves (lettuce), stems (asparagus), roots (carrots), flowers (broccoli), bulbs (garlic), seeds (peas and beans) and of course the botanical fruits like cucumbers, squash, pumpkins, and capsicums.

    Vegetables contain water soluble vitamins like vitamin B and vitamin C, fat-soluble vitamins including vitamin A and vitamin D, and also contain carbohydrates and minerals.

    https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/vegetable.htm

    Ha! I was looking at it more from a dictionary / garden (botany) stance.

    That's the thing though, botany doesn't even use the term vegetable so it's not really meaningful to distinguish that some vegetables are botanically fruits. Everything we call "vegetable" in a food sense is, botanically, either a leaf, stem, root, flower, bulb, seed, fruit, etc.

    I will totally die on the "no, tomatoes are not a fruit in culinary terms" hill, lol.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    edited July 2017
    peleroja wrote: »
    peleroja wrote: »
    peleroja wrote: »
    Easily, since I eat a salad in a large mixing bowl for dinner most nights with a head or more of lettuce, a whole bell pepper, multiple mini cucumbers, couple of tomatoes, large carrot, etc etc. I think at least half of what I eat is vegetables on any given day. I just like them.

    I hardly ever eat fruit though, unless you count the whole lemon worth of juice I usually squeeze on said salad.

    tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers are all fruit.

    In a botantical sense, yes, but not in a culinary one.

    In fact, botany doesn't have a category for "vegetable" at all!
    Its definition has no scientific value and is somewhat arbitrary and subjective.

    All parts of herbaceous plants eaten as food by humans, whole or in part, are generally considered vegetables.

    Mushrooms, though belonging to the biological kingdom, fungi, are also commonly considered vegetables.

    Since "vegetable" is not a botanical term, there is no contradiction in referring to a plant part as a fruit while also being considered a vegetable.

    Given this general rule of thumb, vegetables can include leaves (lettuce), stems (asparagus), roots (carrots), flowers (broccoli), bulbs (garlic), seeds (peas and beans) and of course the botanical fruits like cucumbers, squash, pumpkins, and capsicums.

    Vegetables contain water soluble vitamins like vitamin B and vitamin C, fat-soluble vitamins including vitamin A and vitamin D, and also contain carbohydrates and minerals.

    https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/vegetable.htm

    Ha! I was looking at it more from a dictionary / garden (botany) stance.

    That's the thing though, botany doesn't even use the term vegetable so it's not really meaningful to distinguish that some vegetables are botanically fruits. Everything we call "vegetable" in a food sense is, botanically, either a leaf, stem, root, flower, bulb, seed, fruit, etc.

    I will totally die on the "no, tomatoes are not a fruit in culinary terms" hill, lol.

    The dictionary has the word vegetable in it.

    http://www.dictionary.com/browse/vegetable?s=t

    And I'm a gardener. When a tomato plant fruits, you get a tomato. Hence, I will totally die on the 'tomatoes are a fruit' hill.

    EDIT: But, at least in the US, 'servings per day' recommendation for fruit does seem to only include sweet fruits (even strawberries, which is debatable as to whether it's a fruit).
    https://www.choosemyplate.gov/fruit
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 35,279 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Yes. I've been in various veggie/fruit challenges here, and just counted what I usually eat without making any major changes, using the "80 grams is a serving" approximation.
    J
    It's unusual for me to get fewer than 10 servings, and not that unusual to get 18+.

    Love my veggies & fruits, and tend to feel satiated by a solid combination of volume (i.e. fiber, veggies & fruit) plus adequate protein.

    Eighteen 80g servings in a day? Wouldn't that be over 5000 calories just in veg/fruit?

    Nope, not even close. 5000 cals / 18 servings = 278 cals per serving. What the heck veg/fruit has that many calories per 80 grams? Maybe there are some, but even a banana is 71 cals for 80g, pinto beans 114 cal, avocado still only 128.

    And I frequently eat cucumber (10 calories per 80g), romaine (14 calories), celery (13), jicama (30), tomatoes (14), radishes (13), broccoli (27), mixed berries (35), and others similar.

    I'm not going to go back and find an actual high day to count, but I'd guess that 18 servings is going to run 350-500 calories for fruit/veg, depending on what I choose. Could be a bit more if I have more calories to burn and eat more avocados, beans, etc.

    Veggies are calorie efficient volume! ;)

    Hmm, they are mostly carbs and protein which are 4 calories per gram. 80g * 4 = 320 calories. Where do all the calorie free grams come from?

    Oh, duh!! Water. :#

    Yup. A lot of veggies are pretty much water and micronutrients tied together by fiber (and much of that fiber passes through rather than yielding energy/calories, though perhaps helping one's microbiome thrive along the way).

    Good stuff, veggies! ;)
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    Most days, but not every.
  • Queenofthezoo
    Queenofthezoo Posts: 69 Member
    Most days. I try to have fruit with breakfast and lunch. Then I have at least 6oz vegetables with lunch, and for dinner an 8 oz salad and another 6 oz veggies.
    I have successfully lost weight without that approach but I am trying to have more of a lifestyle change than just restricting calories. I have learned that I need to commit to minimum produce, protein, and fat. If I want something less healthy, I need to work it around those basics and under my tdee. But by committing to my base calories, it becomes less about me feeling deprived and more about having a foundation of good fuel.
This discussion has been closed.