The 5 to 9: Week 1

For week 1, I decided to eat normally so I could see how far off the mark I am on the average week. The verdict? Well, not as bad as I thought, but I definitely didn’t get the recommended 35 servings. I came in at around 23, so yeah, not so bad, but still lacking.

Since I’m a graphic designer, I made myself a weekly fruits and veggies intake chart broken down into the categories that MyPyramid suggested: 3 cups of dark green veggies, 2 cups of orange veggies, 3 cups dry beans and peas, 6 cups of starchy veggies, 7 cups of other veggies, and 14 cups of varied fruits. Every time I had a serving, I marked it on my chart (shown by the kitten face) and tallied it up at the end of the week. Here’s what last weeks chart looked like:



Observations: I managed to miss the most starchy vegetables which was really surprising. Aren’t Americans supposed to be the champions of eating corn and potatoes? I’m also pretty disappointed that I missed a serving of dark green veggies, sorry kale! But I’m happy I at least ate all 7 servings of “other” veggies. Does anyone have any good recipes with peas? I’ve been struggling with that category as well.

So how’s week 2 going? Pretty well, but I still have a ways to go if I want to meet my goal. I will say that having the chart really does help. It’s an easy way to keep track and I look forward to adding a kitten face after each meal. If anyone wants a copy of it just send me an email!