What Actually Is One Serve Of Fruit Or Veg? By Hayley Parker (Dietitian)

As most of us already know, it is recommended that we should consume 2 serves of fruit and 5 serves of vegetables every day. And, no, that does not mean that you have to eat 2 whole pineapples and 5 buckets of broccoli in one day to meet these recommendations. So, what does an actual serve look like?

Fruit

Alright, let’s get the easy one out of the way first. One standard serve of fruit is 150g. This is equivalent to:

  • 1 medium apple, or

  • 2 small kiwi fruit, or

  • 1 cup of diced watermelon.

Knowing how much that is can still be quite confusing, right? What is 150g? It’s not like we need to carry around a set of kitchen scales everywhere we go to ensure that we are getting our 2 serves per day. Imagine going to a café to order a 300g fruit salad, and then, getting them to weigh it. You definitely do not have to be that exact. I thought I would take some pictures to put it in perspective for you. These three pictures of fruit are all equal to 150g or one standard serve of fruit.

Although, these are pictures of fresh fruit only, frozen and canned fruit (no added sugar) do also count towards your daily total.

Vegetables

Lettuce move along to the serve size of vegetables. For many people, consuming 5 serves of veggies is daunting but in reality, one standard serve of vegetables is 75g. This is equivalent to:

  • ½ cup of cooked green vegetables, or

  • ½ medium potato, or

  • 1 cup of leafy greens.

This means that one serve of fruit the same as two serves of vegetables, weight wise. Do those 5 serves of veggies still feel daunting? No. Well, maybe a little if you were forced to finish all the vegetables on your plate – down to the very last pea, as a child. Please don’t let this getting in the way of trying certain vegetables again, try a new way of cooking them.

Vegetables do not have to be boring – you can add herbs and spices to make them flavoursome and delicious. Like sautéed garlic mushrooms, or baked pumpkin with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of cinnamon, or steamed peas with mint – there are so many options. I do not carrot all how you cook them, just that you attempt to achieve your recommended 5 serves. But, what does one serve look like?

These three pictures of vegetables are all equal to 75g or one standard serve of vegetables

Your 5 serves of vegetables can also include frozen, dried and canned items, not just fresh ones. Do you now think you might be having more serves than you originally thought?

If you’d like to, have a go at weighing your 150g serve of fruit or your 75g serve of veg. Take a picture and end it through to us. We’d love to see how everyone has been meeting their 2 & 5 for the month of January!


By Hayley Parker, APD

CQ Nutrition Mackay

Ps. Because pictures can be deceiving, here is picture of a 50mL bottle of food colouring in the same bowl as the fruit and veg for size comparison.

Stephanie Vanden-Bergh