Diet challenges are, by their nature, strict and not sustainable.

(Thats what makes them challenges.)

They usually demand you restrict your food choices in some way, such as cutting out entire food groups.

But what if there was a diet challenge that just wanted you to eat more vegetables?

Thats the idea behind the 800-gram challenge.

What is the 800-gram challenge?

The basic idea is simple: You eat 800 grams of fruits and/or vegetables each day.

Thats it, thats the challenge.

Surely it cant be that simple!you might object.

Well, youre right.

This includes a big list of Yes they count!

foods and a smaller list of No, they dont count foods.

(you’ve got the option to also view those lists at the main website.)

Corn and potatoes count.

Raisins, juices, and nuts do not.

Why 800 grams?

The 800-gram challenge website cites a2017 meta-analysis on fruit and vegetable consumption.

That is, I will note, a bigif.

Will youpersonallyavert death by eating 800 grams of fruits and veggies?

Nobody can guarantee that.

But it isnt likely to hurt.

Need a food scale?

This two-platform KitchenAid scale($40) is what my cheap scale wishes it could be.

How much fruit and vegetables does it take to hit 800 grams?

I had to try the challenge, of course.

You would split that up over your full day of eating, of courseso about two cups per meal.

Total: 2,580 calories, which is neither unusually high nor low for me.

I did have to work to get those veggies in.

It took extra effort, but not enough to be onerous.

you might see I stopped worrying so much about meeting the magic number of 800.

Theres an asterisk on those banana numbers, though, which well get to.

How realistic is the 800-gram challenge?

It was getting old by the end of the week, though.

If Im following the challenge, I do.

My 200-gram bananas were likely only supposed to count as 120 grams or so.

But who is going to weigh their banana peel when theyre done?

Or their apple core?

Im not saving the core to weigh when I get back home.

Hummus only counts if you make it yourself, not if you buy it.

(Sorry, I counted my store-bought hummus.)

Applesauce and pickles dont count if theres any sugar in themwhat?

Like the sugar somehow cancels out the fact that applesauce is made of apples?

But does that really justifynot countingthose items?

It sounds more like an opportunity to restrict foods or to make foods less accessible.

How many of us make our own hummus?

The rule about juice had the same feel to it, too.

Juice counted as fruit in at least some of the studies that the meta-analysis was based on.

Imnot a huge fan of juice, nutritionally speaking, but it seems unfair to add an anti-juice rule.

Your intestines might prefer the latter.

And technically they are a measure ofmass, not weight, but thats a physics lesson for another time.

Final thoughts on the 800-gram challenge

I feel conflicted about this whole thing.

I also like that the focus isnt on body size, but on healthy eating.

Ultimate I think my biggest problem with the challenge is the challenge format.

That sounds like dieting nonsense to me.

Maybe the human brain needs silly challenges to thrive.