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Factsheet - Fruit and Vegetable Serves

General healthy eating information

The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating provides information about the amounts and kinds of food that you need to eat each day to get enough of the nutrients essential for good health and wellbeing.

Image from the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating illustrating the food groups

Image from the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating illustrating the food groups

The main food groups described in the guide include:
- bread, cereals, rice, pasta, noodles
- vegetables, legumes (for example, dried peas, beans, lentils)
- fruit
- milk, yoghurt, cheese
- meat, fish, poultry, eggs, nuts, legumes.

Fruit and vegetables are an important part of healthy eating:
- Vegetables and legumes are a good source of vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre and carbohydrate.
- Fruit is a good source of vitamins, including vitamin C and folate. It also provides carbohydrates, in particular, natural sugars and fibre. Juices belong to this group, but they have a much lower fibre content than fresh fruit.

There are other foods that may be eaten sometimes or in small amounts.

Serve sizes

Image illustrating fruit and vegetable serves

A serve of fruit is:
- 1 medium piece, eg, apple, banana, orange, pear
- 2 small pieces, eg, apricots, kiwi fruit, plums
- 1 cup diced pieces or canned fruit
- 1/2 cup juice
- dried fruit, eg, 4 dried apricot halves, 1 1/2 tablespoons sultanas.

A serve of vegetables or legumes is:
- 75g or 1/2 cup cooked vegetables
- 75g or 1/2 cup cooked dried beans, peas or lentils
- 1 cup salad vegetables
- 1 potato.

Serve recommendations

There are many ways to have a healthy diet. The amount and type of food needed will vary according to factors such age and gender, and pregnancy and breastfeeding.

The Go for 2&5™ program encourages adults to eat two serves of fruit and five serves of vegetables each day.

For children, the minimum number of serves are based on age, as follows:

4-7 years - 1 serve of fruit & 2 serves of vegetables
8-11 years - 1 serve of fruit & 3 serves of vegetables
12-18 years - 3 serves of fruit & 4 serves of vegetables
In reality, the amount a child will eat at one time will depend on age, appetite and activity levels.

One serve can include a combination of fruit or vegetables, and may be eaten in several smaller portions during the day. For example, a four year old may eat half an apple and half a banana during the day, making one serve of fruit.

Practical suggestions

Eat a variety of vegetables every day. Include:
- dark green vegetables, such as spinach and broccoli
- orange vegetables, such as sweet potato, pumpkin and carrots
- cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussel sprouts
- starchy vegetables, such as potatoes, sweet potato, taro and corn
- salad vegetables, such as lettuce, tomato, cucumber and capsicum
- legumes, such as dried peas, beans, lentils and chick peas.

Eat a wide variety of fruit each week. Include:
- apples and pears
- citrus fruit, such as oranges and mandarins
- tropical fruit, such as bananas and pineapple
- melons, such as honeydew melon, or rockmelon
- berries
- grapes
- stone fruit, such as apricots and peaches.

Further information

For further information on healthy eating or a free copy of the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating, visit www.healthyactive.gov.au

All information in this fact sheet comes from the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating.

Printable version of this factsheet (PDF 333 KB)

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