Fresh Fruit Servings

How many fresh fruit servings do kids need each day?

The advice seems to be 2 to 4 servings every day. Fruit is a very healthy food for kids and needs to be worked into their daily diets.

What is One Serving?

• A medium sized piece of fruit, about the size of a tennis ball.
• Diced fresh, frozen or canned fruit equal to 1/2 cup (125 mL) - about the size of 1 hockey puck.
• 1/2 cup 100% Unsweetened Juice (125 mL).

How Many Servings?

• 1 to 2 year olds need 2 - 3 fresh fruit servings each day.
• 2 to 3 year olds need 4 servings of fresh fruit each day.
• 4 to 8 year olds need 5 servings of fresh fruit each day.
• 9 to 13 year olds need 6 servings of fresh fruit each day.
• 14 to 18 year old girls need 7 servings of fresh fruit each day.
• 14 to 18 year old boys need 8 servings of fresh fruit each day.
• Women ages 19-50 need 7-8 servings of fresh fruit each day.
• Men ages 19-50 need 8-10 servings of fresh fruit each day.
• Adults 51+ need 7 servings of fresh fruit each day.

*Information from 5to10aday.com, and the Alberta Food Guide.

Some days this may seem like a lot, but if you plan it out it's not so bad! Children have small stomachs and need to eat often.

Fruit makes great healthy snacks for children and it's portable, so try to work most of their daily fruit requirements into snack time.

Besides 3 meals a day, kids need 2 or 3 snacks, too.

Fresh fruit is best but frozen and canned are good choices, too. Be sure to choose fruit that's prepared with little or no added sugar, salt, or fat.

What kids like one day, they may not like the next. It constantly changes! If they refuse to eat something, don't make it into a big deal - offer it again another day.

Sometimes it can take a lot of attempts (at different meal or snack times) to get kids to try a new food.

As for juice, make sure it's no more than 1/2 cup a day. Eating a whole piece of fruit is better for kids, as juicing removes fiber and other nutrients their bodies need.

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