I was reading a nutrition article in the New York Times the other day, and it made the same mistake as so much of such writing: it referred to veggie recommendation in terms of “servings” per day, a term that gives zero guidance for actual people.
How much is “one serving” of vegetables? And how are people supposed to implement health advice if we aren’t clear on what that advice even is?
This annoyed me. So I did the research and created this as a reference for you. And for me. Please pass it along.
Tl,dr: Just eat a lot of veggies. Several cups per day.
how to think about veggie portions
I like to geek out on nutrition content in food, which was the other thing that made me annoyed enough to do this research.
All of that is presented in nutrients per certain measured quantity of the food in question. Sometimes you’ll see this done by amounts that are easy to math: 100 grams, 3 ounces. Other times it’s done by volume: 1 cup, etc.
I like the volume measures better, since it’s easy to eyeball in the kitchen or grocery store, without springing for a special kitchen scale.
The point here is that a “serving size” is a nebulous concept, not really useful in day-to-day life. Much better to actually take a measurement and know what’s what.
different rules for different veggies
Another way that the “serving size” concept is frustratingly amorphous: It applies different measures to different veggies.
In some ways this makes intuitive sense. If you’ve ever cooked with leafy greens (and I hope you have), you know that a huge amount of raw spinach (or kale, or chard) quickly cooks down into a barely visible spoonful. So you’d expect veggies of different robustness to have different serving sizes.
Confusingly, this is not always the case. And even if it were, how are we supposed to remember which veggies follow which rules? Again, that’s why I’m writing this post.
one serving is… confusing
Now for the part you’ve been reading for: what a “serving size” actually is.
Here are the conflicting answers I’ve found:
- 1/2 cup cooked legumes
- 1/2 cup cooked veggies (per MD Anderson.)
- 1 cup raw veggies (per MD Anderson.)
- 1 cup raw or cooked fruits or veggies (per the Mayo Clinic and MyPlate.gov.)
- 2 cups raw leafy greens (per MyPlate.gov and the American Heart Association.)
- 3 cups raw leafy greens (per the Mayo Clinic.)
(Note that I disagree with MyPlate and the American Heart Association that veggie juices count as any amount of veggie servings. Here’s why.)
why this matters
Why do we even care about “serving sizes,” anyway? It’s really only because most common nutrition advice is couched in these terms.
MD Anderson, for instance, says adult humans should eat 2.5 “servings” of vegetables daily. The Mayo Clinic recommends 5 (or six. It’s confusing.) The American Heart Association recommends 4.5 servings, with nearly half ot hat being fruit.
MyPlate, successor to the super flawed USDA food pyramid, actually does a good job of breaking it down by age and gender — recommending with 2-4 cups of veggies for adults.
a better way to think about veggie portions
As you can tell, I think the whole “serving size” concept is useless at best.
What I tell my patients instead is to think about their plates — and to fill half of each plate with veggies. At each meal. Including breakfast.
If you’re excited about a specific diet plan based on “serving sizes,” I hope the above will help you translate into what actually makes it onto your plate.
Otherwise, just aim for several cups of veggies, in rainbow colors, as often and as bountifully as you’re able.
If you want to talk about eating right for your health, book your telemedicine appointment here (Alaska and Oregon only for now.)
Header photo by Sharon Pittaway on Unsplash
