I just read something funny in which the writer exposes that most people when asked about their vegetable  intake LIE about it.  Much in the same way that they have determined that people under estimate their caloric intake on a daily basis by as much as 30%, people do the opposite with the vegetable and fruit intake.

According to the experts we are supposed to have five servings of vegetables per day.  How many of us actually do every day?

I wasn’t sure so I found this website where  it lists exactly what sizes each serving is:

• 1/2 cup of fruit
• 1 medium piece of fruit
• 1/4 cup of dried fruit
• 3/4 cup (6 ounces) of 100% fruit or vegetable juice
• 1 cup of leafy vegetables
• 1/2 cup of cooked or raw vegetables

Trying to visualize the serving sizes? This may help:

• 1 medium apple or orange: the size of a tennis ball
• 1 cup vegetables or fruit: the size of a baseball
• 1 medium potato: the size of a computer mouse
• 1 cup of lettuce: 4 leaves

Huh, when I look at the serving sizes, I think I am doing fairly well.  Maybe not on a daily basis, some days I eat more veggies than others, but I think that it evens out by the end of the week.  The same goes for my children. 

I noticed last week that one of my children, who has been on an “I hate salad” kick for a few weeks, suddenly was eating handfuls of salad right out of the serving bowl after dinner. After he had already eaten his own salad with dinner.  He probably ate an entire weeks worth of vegetable servings in that one meal.  This is  one of the reasonsthat I don’t stress too much about my children’s eating habits or force them to eat food they don’t want.  In the end it always seems to work out.  That if I trust them to trust their  own bodies they will eat healthily.

The website also offers some snacking tips for ideas on how to get all of your servings in per day.  Not surprisingly, potato chips do not count as a vegetable.