Do You Get 8 per Day?

definitely! half of every 2 of my meals i eat is raw fruits and veggies. My lunch is 1/3 veggie or fruit because i eat lunch after i work out and focus on protein.

Im a vegetarian though so getting my fruits and veggies is usually easy. I always keep on hand

Avocados
Baby tomatos
romaine lettuce
sugar snap peas
baby carrots
jicama
cucumber
bell pepper
jalapenos

bananas
some type of berry
oranges
apples
kiwi
pineapple, honeydew,cantaloupe or water melon
mangos
grapes
cherries

i usually have my veggies in salad form, i mix hot sauce with a little jelly and olive oil for dressing....another good one is boiled orange juice, olive oil, agave nectar, tomato paste and garlic and salt.

although apple cider vinegar, oil and black pepper is pretty good just gets old fast.

Not even close.

I figured your responses could use some balance. :-)

check out http://www.YummyLiquidVitamins.com (also now comes in chewables).

I keep 2 of those 2 basket fruit basket tower things on the counter top with bananas, apples, grapes and oranges in them. We eat them whenever we are hungry. My kids are not big veggie eaters, but LOVE salads. So I keep premade salad in a big tupperware container in the fridge and eat salad with dinner ever night. Not sure its exactly as many servings as we're supposed to have but it's a decent amount! :o)

Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

Throwing frozen fruit in my morning breakfast shake knocks off 2-3 servings right off the bat. Even if I eat pizza the rest of the day, at least I got SOMETHING in the morning.

P.S. The kids' favorite veggie is frozen peas. They eat a bowl of them just about every day. I do too, now. They're not bad! I bag a giant bag of frozen peas every week or so and they're pretty cheap.

I have 1 serving of frozen fruit in my morning protein shake.
I have various fruit for a morning snack,
For lunch I have at least 2 raw veggies .,
For dinner I have 2 cooked veggies.

The best woman's multivitamin for me is Shaklee's VitaLea. It is very reasonably priced, when you compare what you get in a daily serving to others. Let me know if you would like me to email a comparison chart. :)

Kudos for making your health a priority!

I hate most fruit... icky. There are a few exceptions (muscat grapes during the 2 weeks they're in season, cantelope whenever I'm in Georgia/SC, tomatoes all the time, tostones), but I very very rarely eat fruits -unless you count tomatoes).

I do, however, eat a lot of veggies and fungus.

- Biryani rice w/ veggies in roasted red pepper & tomato soup
- Curries
- Pico de gallos
- Salads
- Fire roasted veggies w/ balsamic butter
- Seared asparagus with sea salt
- Artichokes
- Fresh peas
- Fava Beans w/ zucchini/ summer squash/ carrots/ spinach
- Stuffed Peppers
- Stuffed Squash Blossoms
- Stuffed Zucchini
- Saag Paneer
- Sauteed greens w/ garlic, olive oil, salt & pepper (kale, chard, etc.)
- Boiled forever collard greens w/ bacon
- Tomato Sauce (sometimes home made, sometimes in a jar)
- Sauteed Mushrooms
- Sauteed Mushrooms with Asparagus and lemon
- Broiled Portobello Muchrooms (drizzled with EVOO and salt / pepper)
- Spinach/ Red Onion/ Roasted Red Pepper on most sammies
- Potatoes, Potatoes, Potatoes (Bubba Gump style... mashed, roasted, baked, stuffed, shredded, etc.)
- Zucchini Bread
- Zucchini Soup / Squash Soup / Pepper Soup/ Beef Barely Soup/ Gumbo/ Jambalaya/ Miso Soup/ Udon/
- Gaspacho
- Paella
- Chinese Fried Rice
- Spinach Souffle
- Eggplant 12 different ways
- Fennel/ Leek/ Bok Choy stuffed various things (like fennel stuffed pork loin)
- Gyoza
- Cabbage boiled, sauteed, stuffed
- Omelets with brocolli, mushrooms, tomatoes, onion, zucchini, bacon
- Ratatouille
- Risotto (different veggies added in depending on the season)

These are all things (plus so much more) that I'll usually cook with or for dinner and then I eat / serve the leftovers throughout the next days.

So I'll dare say it, too. 5-8 a day?? Nope. I do what I can, but that's too much for me. I don't handle sugar well and fruit, however healthy, is sugar. I love vegetables, but don't get that many servings a day, almost ever.

I'd like to hear ideas from moms that cooks mostly for herself, alone, and for herself and one child otherwise to add more vegetables without having to throw out bunches of food because it spoils before we can finish it. I do use frozen veggies, and try to buy in the smallest portions possible, but stuff still goes bad, like salad. If I buy fewer kinds of fruits/veggies, then we get tired of it. Quandry...

Can't wait for Farmer's Market season, though. That always get our veggie consumption up!

I definitely get more than 8 per day. I love fruits and vegetables. Right now I am on a berry kick so I have been eating a lot of raspberries and blackberries (frozen, since they're out of season).

The best multivitamin is a whole food vitamin. I like Greens First or the multivitamin from Standard Process.

I sure try. I feel much better when I do. I stay away from fruit other than berries and sometimes apples b/c of the high sugar content. Some of my favorite ways to eat vegetables are to dip in hummus(esp red pepper)-I get the mini containers so it doesn't go bad and portion is controlled. I will also roast or saute a veg mix for dinner most days and have a salad for lunch. Spinach fritatas or omelettes are a great way to get spinach-along with simple evoo/garlic saute and you can toss with whole wheat pasta.

If you are a member of Costco I find this is the best way to get your vegetables out of season. You can buy a bag of 6 red peppers for cheaper than 2 individual ones at our grocer. Same with lettuce and spinach. You can also get the mini hummus things there too.

Yes I do or I come really close.

I have 1-2 fruits for breakfast, 1 fruit for snack, 1 vegetable for snack, 1 fruit and 3 vegetables for lunch, and 1-2 vegetables for dinner.

I try to 'eat the rainbow' when it comes to fruit and vegetable consumption.

Remember that one serving = 1/2 c fresh/frozen, which is really not that much. When I make green beans for dinner, my kids (3 and 7) each get 1/2 c, and my husband and I eat at least a full cup, maybe more. When you think in smaller portions, it's much easier to make it all add up. It doesn't have to be complicated. Add half an apple or half a banana to your breakfast, or a handful of dried fruit (a dried fruit serving is usually 1/4 c.) Make sure you always have some kind of vegetable with your lunch - carrot sticks, a salad, a side of broccoli, whatever. If you need a snack in the late afternoon, have an orange. That easily gets you up into the 5-8 range. Another thing that helps is to remember that when you look at your plate, 3/4 of what you see should be complex carbs (potatoes do count, eat them skin-on) and veggies/fruits (more veggies than fruits.)

Also, fresh is best, but high-quality frozen is almost as good. Eat in season - all of it tastes better when it's fresh-picked and grown locally, regardless of how its prepared! A tomato in January is not even worth it. But in July and August: boy, howdy! And tomatoes from your garden, picked in August, frozen, and made into a sauce in January: boy, howdy again! Enjoy your food!

YES, I am doing the WW program and it is encourage you do that. 8 glasses of water and 5- 8 fruit/veg a day.... it is very helpful on the health side of things.
Egg whites and orange right when I get up
Apple mid morning, carrots before lunch, apple or grapes / berries after lunch, veg at dinner and two more fruits before bed rather then chips or snacks . I like sliced cucumbers, kiwi, watermelon and cantalop too. Love pine apple with cott cheese for a snack.
It is expensive to keep up a meal day with fruit and veggies. I am shopping to fill up the kitchen with this stuff every three days.

Need help with a good Vitamin, interstead in what to get from your answers.