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How Many Fruits and Vegetables Should I Eat: A Visual Guide
The whole confusing and vague idea of eating enough “servings” has pretty much been scrapped, and now the powers that be (the USDA, CDC, Department of Health & Human Services) are talking cups. Yes, normal measuring cups—the kind you actually use in the kitchen. Someone who eats, on average, 2,000 calories a day needs about two cups of fruit and two and a half cups of vegetables per day, says Dr. Lilian Cheung, a lecturer in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. But individual needs will vary based on age, physical activity, and gender, so the easiest way to find out what’s right for you is to use the CDC’s online calculator.
So what counts as a cup of produce? We’ve created a visual chart based on data from the USDA and some chopping and measuring in our test kitchen.