What a Day's Worth of Fruit and Vegetables Looks Like

It probably adds up to less food than you think

Daily intake recommendations for produce vary by age and gender.

Women ages 19 and older should get 1½ to 2 cups of fruit a day. For vegetables, they should aim for 2½ to 3 cups until age 30 and 2 to 3 cups from age 31 onward.

Men ages 19 to 59 should get 2 to 2½ cups of fruit and 3 to 4 cups of vegetables a day. At 60, the recommendations change to 2 cups a day for fruit and 2½ to 3½ cups for vegetables.

"That may sound like a lot, but when a day's worth is spread out in front of you, reaching the goal seems much more manageable," says Amy Keating, RD, a CR nutritionist.

The examples below aim to meet somewhere in the middle, illustrating how to get a daily "dose" of 2 cups of fruit and 2½ cups of vegetables over the course of three days.

Day 1: (pictured above): a salad with 2 cups dark leafy greens (counts as a 1-cup serving); nine grape tomatoes (½ cup); one medium carrot (½ cup); one-fourth medium cucumber (½ cup); half of a large apple (1 cup); and eight large strawberries (1 cup).

Day 2: ¼-cup guacamole (counts as ½ cup); 12 baby carrots (1 cup); one large ear of corn on the cob (1 cup); a small 1-inch-thick wedge of watermelon (1 cup); one large peach (1 cup).

Day 3: one large sweet potato (counts as 1 cup); one large stalk of celery (½ cup); three medium broccoli spears (1 cup); nine dried apricot halves (½ cup); one large plum (½ cup); one large banana (1 cup).

Trisha Calvo

I've covered health and nutrition my entire career, so I know how to separate science from hype. Whether it's about food labels, sunscreen, or food safety, my goal is to deliver information that makes following a healthy lifestyle easier. Healthy cooking is a favorite hobby, and friends think I'm crazy, but I can happily spend hours grocery shopping. Follow me on Twitter. (@TrishaCalvo)