For years, you have heard about how you should be eating ten servings a day of fruits and vegetables in order to get the most out of your everyday diet.

But ten sounds like such a large number, especially when most of us only eat three meals a day. Where can we fit in those extra seven servings?

It is too much to snack that many times in a day, so many people simply dismiss the ten servings suggestion as a great idea – for someone else. Maybe professional athletes or fitness gurus can get to ten servings of raw foods a day, but not a normal person, right?

But what most people forget is that a serving is not a meal all by itself. A serving is simply one portion, which can be part of a meal along with many other portions. So eating ten servings of fruits and vegetables a day can be as simple as having three servings within each meal, with one small snack later on in the day.

For example, breakfast offers you plenty of opportunities to have more than one serving of fruit. You can have a banana for breakfast, along with a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, and a handful of blueberries. Or, if you are really in a rush, you can combine all three servings into a fresh morning smoothie. Combining some fresh greens like spinach in a food processor along with pears, apples or kiwis will give you a great meal you can drink on the go, and provide you with a great selection of your daily requirements of fresh raw foods.

At lunch, you can easily create a delicious salad that will give you at least three servings of fruit and vegetables. Rather than settling for a simple green salad, mix it up depending on the seasons. In winter, some sliced carrots will help to keep you full and satisfied; in spring, enjoy the first batch of peapods; in summer, cool things down with a mix of citrus fruit segments; and in the fall, you can use squash or avocado to give your salads some seasonal weight.

Dinnertime will allow you to be just as creative, and still get in a ton of fruits and vegetables. If you want, you can use a veggie as the main course – a squash can be eaten right out of the peel, or you can slice it out into a raw pasta. If you prefer to have a different type of main course, you can still use fruits and vegetables both on and beside the main item.

For example, if you have cold-smoked salmon, you can use citrus to further “cook” the fish, or you can wrap the fillet in thin slices of butternut squash. Beside it on the plate, you can have a fresh vegetable medley that will give you an extra serving. And of course, for dessert, a bowl of mixed berries, or a raw seasonal fruit tart should be enough to give you all ten servings of fruits and vegetables in a single day, without feeling like you have forced it.