Answer:
You’ve heard correctly that you should strive to eat four servings of fruits and five servings of vegetables daily, for a total of nine servings. This is because they provide a wide range of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fiber; all essential for good health. What’s remarkable is that all of this healthy goodness is delivered in low-calorie, low or non-fat packages. So by eating lots of fruits and vegetables, we get the vital nutrients we need without eating a lot of calories.

Eating nine servings of fruits and vegetables is not as daunting as it sounds. A serving size, in general, is ½ of a cup of chopped vegetables or fruit; 1 cup of raw leafy greens; one small to medium-sized piece of fruit such as an apple or orange; or ¼ of a cup of dried fruit.

So how can you incorporate this information into your day? Lunch and dinner are the most obvious meals to include vegetables, but breakfast is also a good time to add sautéed or roasted vegetables to an egg white omelette. And would you believe that you can get five servings of vegetables just at lunch time? Make a salad with 2 cups of salad greens mixed with spinach leaves, add 1 medium chopped tomato, sprinkle with ½ of a cup of shredded carrot and 1 small chopped bell pepper. Add two tablespoons of low-fat salad dressing, and you have just eaten five servings of vegetables. Throughout the day, have ½ of a cup of 100% orange juice (even better, have the calcium-added version); snack on a small box of raisins, an apple and ½ of a cup of blueberries over yogurt, and you’re done!

It’s easier than you think to include the nine servings of fruits and vegetables we should have daily. And with the wide variety of produce available, it’s also a delicious way to get the nutrients we need.