I grew up hearing “Strive for Five” but I don’t really know what that meant.
Was I supposed to eat 5 fruits and 5 vegetables each day or could I eat 4 fruits and 1 vegetable?
Did one grape count as a fruit serving?
What about fruit or vegetable juice, did that count as well?
It can all be very confusing and overwhelming at times but fortunately we now have great websites like this one from the CDC. Just enter your age, sex, and activity level and it will give you a recommendation on how many servings of fruits and vegetables you should be eating each day.
Based on my information, I should have 2 cups of fruit and 2.5 cups of vegetables each day. It even gave me a recommendation of which fruits and vegetables I could eat to meet this recommendation.
It has some great tips on how to incorporate fruits and vegetables into your meals and also an excellent interactive recipe page. After you choose your recipes, it will allow you to create a printable recipe with all the nutrition information.
For example, I searched for a breakfast recipe using broccoli and red peppers. It came up with 3 choices for me and I decided I would like the Broccoli Frittata. I was then given this simple-to-follow recipe that I could print out and save.
Broccoli Frittata
Recipe Summary:
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Number of Servings: 4
Cups of Fruits and Vegetables Per Person: 0.5
Ingredients:
1/2 cup non-fat cottage cheese
1/2 tsp dried dill
2 cup fat-free egg substitute
2 cups frozen chopped broccoli
1 tsp olive oil
2 tsp margarine
1 large onion, diced
Directions:
Mix cottage cheese and egg substitute together; set aside. In large non-stick frying pan over medium heat, sauté onions in oil for 5 minutes, or until soft. Add broccoli and dill; sauté for 5 minutes, or until broccoli mixture softens.
Set vegetable aside. Wipe out frying pan. Add 1 tsp. margarine and swirl the pan to distribute it. Add half of the vegetable mixture, and then add half of the egg mixture; lift and rotate pan so that eggs are evenly distributed. As eggs set around the edges, lift them to allow uncooked portions to flow underneath. Turn heat to low, cover the pan, and cook until top is set. Invert onto a serving plate and cut into wedges. Repeat with remaining 1 tsp. margarine, vegetable mixture, and egg mixture.