How Many Servings of Fruits and Vegetables Should You Eat Each Day?

You know that you need fruits and vegetables every day to stay healthy, but how many do you need? This handy calculator from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will determine how many servings of fruits and veggies you need in just a few simple steps.

Here's how it works:

  • First, enter your age and gender.
  • Next, select your level of physical activity. This option includes 30 minutes per day or less, 30 to 60 minutes per day, or more than 60 minutes per day. People who exercise more need more food to provide energy, and they can also afford to eat more because of how many calories they’re burning. People who exercise less should also eat less to avoid gaining weight.
  • Your daily fruits and vegetables limit is measured in cups. Things like one small apple, one large banana, one large sweet potato and 12 baby carrots all equal one cup. It’s actually much easier to meet your daily requirements than you might realize! To see other examples of one cup of fruits and vegetables, check out this chart!

To use the fruit and vegetable serving calculator, visit the CDC website.

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Three Unique Ways to Make a Great Cup of Coffee at Prospect Tower

Good coffee's almost everywhere these days, with cafes dotting every corner and even fast food restaurants offering espresso drinks. Of course, many coffee aficonados still prefer to make coffee at home, using gourmet beans to create their perfect cup.

Drip coffeemakers might remain the most popular way to make coffee at home. But for those willing to experiment, there are a few other simple ways to make a great cup of coffee. Here are three you can try at home at Prospect Tower:

Pour Over
Like drip coffeemakers, pour over brewers run hot water through ground beans. Made by Melitta and other companies, pour over brewers offer a bit more control over the taste: you'll wait to grind the beans immediately before brewing, you'll pour the water over the grounds evenly, and you'll only make as much coffee as you'd like to drink. Click here to read a guide from Stumptown Coffee Roasters on pour over coffee.

Aeropress
The aeropress follows the same principle, combining hot water with coffee grounds. However, the press speeds up the process: the grounds soak for just 20 seconds, and then you'll press out the coffee into a cup. The result is coffee that's smoother and much less acidic. Click here to learn more about the Aeropress.

Cold Brewed
An increasingly popular way to make coffee, cold brewing dispenses with the hot water entirely and instead involves soaking ground coffee beans for up to 12 hours in cold water, then filtering out the grounds. The result is a very strong coffee concentrate. Mix one part concentrate with three parts water (or milk) and you'll have a very smooth cup of coffee that's very flavorful without much bitterness. Toddy, a company that makes a handy brewing container, offers some more detailed instructions on its website.

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