Is 5 a Day Still the Best Recommendation?5 a day – Do you have trouble eating five servings a day of fruits and vegetables? Follow a raw foods diet for a while and you won’t have any problem reaching that goal. The government recommendations regarding 5 a day have changed, though. They’ve been increased—nearly doubled—and are based on your age, sex, and activity level. I’ll discuss whether I met my goal today at the end of this page. First of all, here is an update on my day, day 18 of the raw food challenge: My weight this morning was still 118.8. For people who are worried about losing a lot of weight on raw foods, this might be encouraging. I’ve lost some—and would welcome losing more (I’m short and could stand to lose a few more pounds)—but it hasn’t been drastic. Of course, I’ve been eating a fair amount of fat in the form of avocados, nuts, and olive oil. If I focused on more low-fat foods, the weight would fall off more quickly. I think when you’re starting a raw foods diet, though (unless you’re doing it because of a serious health problem), it’s important to eat foods that taste good and satisfy just to keep yourself staying on the program. This challenge for me is not about weight loss, it’s about staying on raw foods for 30 days. That might be an interesting subject of another 30-day experiment, though. Click here to learn about this raw food challenge and why I'm doing it. I started the day with a glass of water and 1 teaspoon of BarleyMax, as usual. For breakfast, I had a smoothie. It was delicious, satisfying and a pretty purple color. The recipe: 2 cups of water, 1 banana, 1 cup frozen blueberries, 2 tablespoons walnut butter (could substitute whole walnuts, of course). Click here to learn about my favorite blender--Blendtec--for creating smoothies. I went for a walk and felt just exhausted. That’s strange, because I usually feel very energetic on my morning walks. I wonder if there’s something in my smoothie that I’m sensitive to. Also, it’s foggy and humid outside; I suppose that could contribute to a feeling of exhaustion while walking. 
Lunch: Crudités (carrot, cauliflower, broccoli, red pepper) with sunflower seed cheese (ingredients can be found at day 15 raw-food-challenge), and 5 olives.During the afternoon I ate 3 dates. For dinner I had a green smoothie consisting of 2-3 large handfuls of baby spinach, a mango, and a banana. It was tasty and satisfying. A couple of hours later I ate 9 cashews.
Did I Beat the Old 5 a Day Recommendation and Meet the New CDC Guidelines?According to a nifty calculator at the CDC website, based on my age and activity level I should be eating 1.5 cups of fruit and 2.5 cups of vegetables every day. Let’s break it down for today:
For reference…
As you can see, it was easy for me to reach that goal. Visit the CDC website by clicking here (a new window will open) to access the calculator to see how you measure up. You’ll find a lot of other valuable information there, too. Click here for a delicious recipe that will make it easy for you to get plenty of fruits and vegetables. You'll quickly prepare it in your blender. Click here for a delicious and colorful mango salsa recipe that will help you get the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables. It's easy to consume more than the old 5 a day recommendation. Including abundant fruits and vegetables in your daily diet will ensure that you're getting lots of healthy fiber, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, all of which will help you stay healthy and keep your weight at a healthy level. Return from 5 a Day to Healthy Foods. |
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