fruit and veg portion size

[firsttimemummy]

Just thought I would share what the dietician told me this week (and thinking about it, it makes sense) ....

... toddlers should still have their 5 portions of fruit/veg - and the serving size should be the amount they can hold in their hand (which is the same portion size an adult should have, proportionately) ... made me realise that eating a whole pear or banana is actually 2+ servings!! 

[Mashi]

This depends on your country - ie/ in the UK it's "5 a day" for everyone regardless of age, but the serving sizes are different so younger people need smaller servings. In Canada, the Canadian food guide uses the same serving size for everyone, but depend on on your age & gender you need a different number of servings, iykwim. 

[firsttimemummy]

I didn't know that! In Canada, out of interest, what is the recommendation for a 1.5 year old?

[Mashi]

It doesn't start until age 2 I think (or possibly 3....will have to check) but it starts at 4 servings of fruit and veg a day. For an adult woman it's 7, an adult man it's 8.  I'll have a check and post the link for you if you are interested.

[firsttimemummy]

yes, please

[Mashi]

They don't have a "food pyramid" like they did when I was little, that I can easily find online. Was much easier to picture that way!!

However, here is the link to how many fruit and vegetable servings you need in a day:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food-guide-aliment/choose-choix/fruit/need-besoin-eng.php

And here is the link to how big a serving is:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food-guide-aliment/choose-choix/fruit/serving-portion-eng.php

So you can see that for some fruits and vegetables it is easy to count "one" - one medium apple, one medium banana, one ear of corn, etc, but others are measured in cups. One cup is 250ml by volume, we rarely measure food by weight in North America!  So 250mls is about the size of an 8oz baby bottle. 

In the link posted, on the left in the green bars there are a few that are grey - those will take you to number of servings and serving sizes for the other food groups.

[Mashi]

Just went through the UK list of portion sizes and they are generally the same for portions with a exceptions. Here is the link to the UK fruit & veg portion size for adults

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/5ADAY/Pages/Portionsizes.aspx

[firsttimemummy]

"Children should also eat at least five portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables a day. The amount of food a child needs varies with age, body size and physical activity. As a rough guide, one portion is the amount they can fit in the palm of their hand. " That is taken from the above link and is a better way of paraphrasing what I was saying!! Really interesting how different countries are slightly different in their recommendations