Serving Sizes

[TrishT]

When planning how much to buy and to cook, I was wondering about the recommended servings for veggies. Do you count that 1-3 cup serving with the veggies raw and uncooked or after they are cooked?

[SugarcubeOD]

The 1-3 cups is a guideline to ensure you're getting enough veggies... not a levelled off measuring cup sort of requirement... that said, I'd gauge it based on how the item was going to be consumed. Broccoli shrinks down a bit when roasting so I'd probably do 3 cups of it cooked, but again, it's just a guideline to ensure you're eating enough, so if you measured it raw and then ate it cooked, it's not going to make that big of a difference. Err on the side of buying more veg, rather than less... lots of people are quite amazed at how many veggies they eat!

[Tom Denham]

The actual volume guideline we offer is, after putting a palm-size portion of protein on your plate, FILL the rest of it with veggies. We started to tell people 1-3 cups of veggies to try to get people to eat more veggies because we found people putting a sketchy amount of raw veggies on their plates. We actually recommend that you eat mostly cooked veggies. So, to really fulfill what we are looking for, you should be eating about 3 cups of cooked veggies with each meal. Raw veggies, especially salad-type veggies, take up very little room after they are cooked or chewed and can leave you under fed. 

[SpinSpin]

I typically do at least 3 cups of veg per meal, and usually more. I don't count salad greens in the measurements, because like Tom said, they get chewed and broken down and really leave very little there. I roast or steam or grill my veggies for the most part, although I like to scoop up tuna or egg salad with celery sticks or have on cucumber slices, and I do have raw baby carrots or pepper strips with homemade mayo dips along side my lunches. 

[TrishT]

Thanks, everyone! This really helps!