One question: have you ever wondered how much 5 servings of fruit and vegetables really are?

At one time, in fact, per portion meant one hundred grams of edible product, and it is still with this division that for example we read the nutritional tables of foods.

We know that one hundred grams of pasta or rice are a certain number of calories (out of 360), so we are used to thinking that per serving, unless otherwise specified, we mean an average of one hundred grams of food.

Well, that’s not exactly the case for the recommended daily portions.

Much depends on the food.

If someone told you to eat, for example, one hundred grams of aged cheese, they would most likely be suggesting a fattening diet: on average, in fact, the recommended portion is about 40 grams.  Likewise, if someone told you to eat a serving of peanuts, they wouldn’t mean 100 grams: it would mean they were telling you to eat 600 calories.

To calculate the portions of food, you need to consider both the calorie density and the quality of the food, that is, the type.
For example, when calculating protein, how much protein do I need per day? What is equal to how many servings?
Generally, reference is made to the Inran table .
But what about foods with a low calorie intensity, that is, those that have a volume that largely derives from water, such as fruits and vegetables?
If the recommended servings are 5, it is unlikely that they are referring to 500 grams total.

But how much are 5 portions of fruit and vegetables?

If you eat one 200-gram fruit and two 300-gram salads, you are not taking the famous five servings, because fruits and vegetables have low calorie density .

An average fruit must be 150 grams, so we should eat at least 450 grams to satisfy the 3 servings of fruit. With the foresight, if you are on a diet, to focus on low-sugar fruit: apples, plums or oranges are ok, for bananas we do not exceed 100 grams.
What about vegetables? At least 50 grams raw for leafy vegetables such as spinach, which however become 250 grams of cooked vegetables. While for vegetables such as courgettes or aubergines or cucumbers a portion exceeds 200 grams when raw. If you weigh an aubergine you will find that 200 grams from raw are few.

By adding up the portions and varying the quality, in short, we should go from 600 to eight hundred grams of fruit and vegetables (raw and cooked) per day to be able to feel good.