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

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abbynormalartist
abbynormalartist Posts: 318 Member
in Food and Nutrition
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?

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  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    Aim for 800g overall for the day, from a mixture of sources - different colours are good.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    Aha, those cups again. It's fluid ounces, again.
  • Ruatine
    Ruatine Posts: 3,424 Member
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    This is a good resource: https://www.choosemyplate.gov/vegetables
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    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 :lol:
  • abbynormalartist
    abbynormalartist Posts: 318 Member
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    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 :lol:

    Thank you! I was thinking 16oz was meant as weight - but then that would just bonkers.
  • abbynormalartist
    abbynormalartist Posts: 318 Member
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    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
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    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
    Millicent3015 Posts: 374 Member
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    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 Posts: 35,719 Member
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    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
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,085 Member
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    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
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,897 Member
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    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 :lol:

    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
    hesn92 Posts: 5,967 Member
    edited September 2018
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    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
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    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
    Machka9 Posts: 24,844 Member
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    On the Australia Dietary Guidelines ... about serving sizes:

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

    vegetable_serves_table_web.jpg


    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
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
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    Machka9 wrote: »
    On the Australia Dietary Guidelines ... about serving sizes:

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

    vegetable_serves_table_web.jpg


    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
    fitoverfortymom Posts: 3,452 Member
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    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.

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