Word on the streets is that they're changing (or have already changed?) the 5-a-day slogan for fruit and veggie servies to "Fruits & Veggies--More Matters." As in, don't worry so much about the numbers and measurements, just know that when it comes to fruits and vegetables, more is better. Which, frankly, I find to be a huge relief. I don't know that I've ever had 5 servings a day of fruits and veggies. Especially not fruits. Maybe during strawberry or blueberry seasons, maybe, there is like a day where I eat handfuls and handfuls of the fresh-picked stuff and feel like I can do a little victory dance: got my 5-a-day-wooo! It's not that I'm overly consumed with getting enough... I eat what I eat. We almost always have a veggie side with dinner. We have salads sometimes, and I eat yogurt, which I think has a few berries thrown in. I just feel better now knowing that huge number "5" isn't looming large and neon-y in the sky, floating on a cloud of silent condemnation and guilt. I can just, you know, try for more wherever and however, and that will be all right.
Except that, I was reading a little bit about it on WebMD, and apparently, the fine print of this new More Matters campaign is that generally, adults should be eating more than 5 servings of fruits and veggies a day. Wha-?! Like, between 7 to 13 cups. Shoveling this much roughage into our bodies on a daily basis is apparently what we need to effectively fight off diabetes, cancer, and all the other terrible things that can happen to us. Car crashes, freak bike accidents, kidnappings in foreign countries...
Well, I'm really screwed. Because in the back of my mind with the 5-a-day thing, I was thinking, I don't know that I eat 5 cups of anything every day. I mean, I'm sure there's at least 5 cups of food if you add it all up, sure, but when I think about those days where I did eat a bunch of blueberries or strawberries and felt a little proud? I also remember feeling a little ill. Like I way overdid it with the berries. My stomach churns to even consider 2 to 8 more cups on top of that. I mean, literally, we would have to start eating at like, sun-up, every day, and continue grazing for hours on our beans, peas, berries, and bananas, all the way to sun-down to get through that amount. Right? It would be like Fear Factor: Fruits and Veggies Edition. It's not that they're gross, but the sheer volume? Ew.
I haven't even touched on cost. And screw variety. You wouldn't have any room left for the other good stuff, like, I don't know... meats, bread, cheese, chocolate. Good grief. Perhaps the produce would do its job in fighting off scary diseases. We would just feel like we're going to vomit all the time.
Frankly, I think I'm going to stick with my old standby: moderaton, and a good multi-vitamin.
7 comments:
Is a serving always considered a cup though? 'Cause I mean, 5 cups of leafy salad is different than 5 cups of blueberries.
And isn't a banana at least a serving? But I don't think it's a whole cup of banana (which is not so bad if you think about it sliced, but sort of gross if you think about it mushed up and pureed).
And if I remember right the official serving size on the dried fruit I have at home is only 1/4 a cup. Although I'm not sure if the nutritional info serving size equates with the 5 a day serving size...
There aren't enough calories in the day to eat that many fruits and veggies.
yah, what- do they they we live in a land of plenty!? where fruit comes to your store no matter what season and we don't have to worry about starving in winter or the harvest. geesh.
yeah, most produce totally tastes terrible in the winter. the fake-red tomatoes with their dull mushy centers... and then the raspberries that cost approximately $7 each. it's yet another government plot for us to spend more, all driven by fear. pbbbbtt.
If you ate 5 cups of fruits and vegetables and washed it all down with the requisite 8 glasses of water, you might be healthier - but you'd spend your healthy life in the bathroom.
Dude, I can NOT shovel more vegetables into my mouth than I do right now. Unless we can officially start counting potatoes as a vegetable, which, sadly, I think is still verboten.
Ok, I just went to a Wellness Institute Spa for a day. They teach that it is all about proportions. When you eat your meal should be 1/2 fruits and veges and only 1/4 meat/fish/fowl and 1/4 good carbs (whole grain stuff). Only 25% of your calories from fat. So don't worry about cups of fruits and veges. Except for the salad greens and dried fruit, a serving is about the size of your fist. Be healthy, be happy.
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