Fruits and Veggies

Question: I have a question regarding juicing fruit and vegetables. I bought a nice juicer, because I thought it would help my family do better at eating our daily intake of fruit and veggies if we could just drink it when we are busy. So far it hasn't really helped, because I don't know how many cups of juice I need to make to meet our daily requirements. Also, do you know of any good juicing recipes that will help to mix the fruits and veggies together? And lastly...I have a 5 year old (almost) and 1 year old. How many servings of fruits and vegetables do they need?

Melody

Answer: Well, to answer your first question, the guidelines for fruits and vegetables for adults is 5 servings per day of EITHER fruits or vegetables. If you are concerned about weight, eat more vegetables than fruits because there are 25 calories in a serving of vegetables and 60 calories in a serving of fruit. Starch vegetables such as potatoes, corn and peas are 80 calories per serving. If eating in the juice form, one serving = 4 ounces. If weight is not a concern, then it really doesn't matter if your 5 servings come from fruits, vegetables or a combination because the vitamin and mineral content is so similar.

As for juicing recipes, one good website with some combo juicing recipes is http://www.healthrecipes.com/ You really have to be careful on the juicing recipe websites because so much of the information provided on those sites is not only inaccurate, but can even be harmful in terms of detox or cleansing recommendations or guidelines. But the juicing recipes on this particular site are pretty good and do include some combo recipes.

Nutrition for preschoolers..... One year olds have an amazing ability to "self-regulate." So, truthfully they should eat until they are full and don't want to eat anymore. 1/2 - 1 cup of fruits and 1/2 - 1 cup of veggies is a good rule of thumb. For your 5 year old, he/she should be having ~1 1/2 cups of veggies and 1 cup of fruit. This is in the whole food form, so it would be less if juicing. One of my favorite sites is www.mypyramid.gov This site is great for adults and children. You can type in your child's name, age and gender and it will calculate the appropriate serving sizes of each food group your child should have and create a personalized food guide pyramid with your child's name on it that you can print out.

For more questions, please email me at: mypersonaldietitian@gmail.com