Robin - since the target we're meeting is defined by the Federal Government, I'm using their definition for fruits and vegetables, which defines peppers, tomatoes, and other non-sweet seeded produce as vegetables.
The botanical definition isn't applied in USDA guidelines, most likely because they're more worried about nutritional profiles, and the profile of a green bean is more similar to cabbage than it is to an apple.
Quote:
For nutrition purposes, the USDA lists fruits and vegetables the way most people think of them. The USDA’s Center for Nutrition
Policy and Promotion (CNPP) lists watermelon and strawberries as fruits. Squash, cucumbers and tomatoes are listed as vegetables.
Robin - since the target we're meeting is defined by the Federal Government, I'm using their definition for fruits and vegetables, which defines peppers, tomatoes, and other non-sweet seeded produce as vegetables.
The botanical definition isn't applied in USDA guidelines, most likely because they're more worried about nutritional profiles, and the profile of a green bean is more similar to cabbage than it is to an apple.
It is interesting though how misguided I've been. Squash? Green beans? Fruits, not veggies. For me, it really doesn't make that much of a difference. But it is interesting and really quite a bit confusing and misleading, if you stop to think about. Therefore I won't (stop to think about it).
I recently counted; I exceed the targets for both fruits and vegetables - but checked off the met choice, LOL.
My daily lunch includes a 1.9 quart container of some combination of cukes, red bell peppers, sugar snaps, cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, and lettuce. That does tilt my total.
Breakfast gets in 4 fruits: banana, peach, strawberries, and blueberries (in season). Dried fruits in winter.
Those 3FC statistics from your poll are pretty impressive.
If you could add questions to this poll, I'd add questions about exceeding the requirements.
For veggies: At lunch, I had a huge mixed-green salad with red & yellow bell pepper strips, very thin carrot sticks, red onions, chickpeas, tuna & walnuts. On the side, a small cup of beef barley soup with carrots, onions & celery.
At dinner, I had a serving of sauteed broccoli rabe (rapini, very popular around here, where Italian-Americans are in the majority) and my chicken was cooked with homemade tomato sauce with green and red peppers, onions, garlic & celery, & more barley. I've got a thing for barley lately. (The cup of soup at lunch was probably too much & I will pay for this on the scale tomorrow, mostly because of the salt routinely added by our cafeteria workers.)
For fruit: Today, I had a mango at breakfast, a pear with a wedge of Laughing Cow for a snack, and then later in the day, after lunch, a peach & some raw almonds. Did not eat until 9:15 PM tonight. Between getting off work at 5:30 PM & dinner, I had a nectarine & some more almonds.
Hmm, I had lettuce and spinach in my breakfast and lunch, snacked on fresh garden cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and carrots, and will add those along with some mushrooms and fresh green beans to my supper.
I'm not a big fruit eater, I like it, but it upsets my stomach, but I love veggies. I've got zucchini, yellow squash, and peppers from my garden in the freezer all ready to toss into soups and stew for the winter. Plus fresh garden baby potatoes, blanched and frozen, the tomatoes are getting there, will blanch and freeze for chili and soup and stew. We eat a lot of fresh onions and garlic too.
As to whether I consider a specific freggie is a vegetable or a fruit - I use an exchange plan, so I call it whatever it is classified in my exchange lists.
Virtually all exchange plans are based on the plan created in the 1940's for diabetics by the American Diabetes Association and The American Dietetic Association. I use their guidelines, which are calorie based (fruits have approximately 70 calories per exchange and vegetables, 25 or fewer).
I recently looked up rhubarb and found it could count as either (1 cup = 1 veggie, while 3 cups = 1 fruit).
Of course then there are avocados which count as fats, and potatoes, peas, and corn (and extra large servings of cooked carrots and beets) which count as starches/grains.
It's not unusual for me to average 10 or more servings of freggies by the peak of summer. I had eight today (mostly fruit, though usually I have a more even split). Because bread and fruit exchanges have similar carb/calorie counts, I often swap my bread exchanges for fruit, especially in the summer.
I'm not consistent on number of fruit and veggies separately (I could eat more veg one day than fruit, and vice versa) but I always eat more than 7 servings total each day. Don't know if that helps...
Lately, I've been having a large salad for breakfast and I'd say I exceed the targets on a daily basis.
Yesterday included the following:
1 banana
2 cups of romaine lettuce
2 tomatoes + some diced tomatoes mixed in with my lentils
1 persian cucumber
2 stalks celery
1 orange
1 peach
1 zucchini
1 cup of baby carrots
Breakfast - low fat yogurt, half a big carton of sliced strawberries
L - huge salad - tons or romaine, roasted corn, shredded carrot, grape tomatoes, red cabbage, grilled chicken, a little BBQ, a little fat free ranch dressing, tortilla strips for crunch
S - non fat latte
S - huge mango
D - stir fry over brown rice - baby corn, broccoli, carrots, onion, pork loin (sauce made from honey, chicken broth, soy), topped with a few crushed cashews
