Buzz
Diet 'challenges' are typically rigid and hard to maintain. (That’s what makes them challenges.) They often require cutting out certain food groups or limiting choices. But what if a diet challenge simply encouraged you to eat more vegetables? That’s the essence of the 800-gram challenge.
What does the 800-gram challenge entail?
The concept is straightforward: You consume 800 grams of fruits and/or vegetables each day. That’s the entire challenge.
It can't really be that easy! you may think. Well, you're right. There is an official website for the challenge, and if you subscribe to the newsletter, you'll receive a free guide outlining the challenge's rules. This guide includes a comprehensive list of 'Yes, they count!' foods and a shorter list of 'No, they don’t count' foods. (These lists are also available on the main website.) Corn and potatoes are included, but raisins, juices, and nuts are not.
It also mentions that the hashtag #800gChallenge is trademarked and 'cannot be used for organized programs, challenges, or coaching without a license from OptimizeMe nutrition.'
Why the 800 grams?
The 800-gram challenge website references a 2017 meta-analysis on fruit and vegetable intake. The study's authors found that the more fruits and vegetables you consume, the lower your risk for cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and 'all-cause mortality' (which sounds like you’ll live forever if you eat enough vegetables, but it simply means you'll live longer). The benefits plateau at 600 grams daily for cancer risk and 800 grams daily for everything else. Consuming more doesn’t harm you, but it’s not necessarily better than sticking to 800 grams.
The authors state: 'An estimated 5.6 and 7.8 million premature deaths worldwide in 2013 may be linked to a fruit and vegetable intake below 500 and 800 g/day, respectively, if the observed associations are causal.' That’s a big if, I should note.
Despite what a few skeptics on TikTok may claim, fruits and vegetables are consistently linked to good health—both in this study and others. Will eating 800 grams of fruits and vegetables personally prevent death for you? No one can promise that. But it's unlikely to cause harm.
Do you need a food scale?
This Ultrean scale costs only $10 and will work just fine (I own a similar model).
This KitchenAid scale with two platforms ($40) is what my budget scale aspires to be.
- This mechanical kitchen scale ($37.50) will make you feel like you're stepping into an old-fashioned grocery store.
How much fruit and vegetables do you need to reach 800 grams?
I had to try the challenge, of course. The recommended 800 grams seemed like a lot, since that equates to 28 ounces or about 1.75 pounds. Per day.
The OptimizeMe website helpfully suggests that this amount of fruits and veggies equals about six cups, generally amounts to 400 to 500 calories, and can comfortably fit on a dinner plate. Of course, you'll spread that across your entire day of meals—roughly two cups per meal. It's up to you how you divide that between fruit and vegetables.
Here’s what I ate on my first day of the challenge:
Banana, 199 g
Two small apples, 215 g
Carrot, 80 g
Black bean soup, ingredients 381 g (beans, onions, etc.—I measured these as I prepared the recipe and divided the total by the number of servings)
Total for the day: 875 g
Additionally, I had a slice of pizza, some Sour Patch candy, a package of pork bao from Trader Joe’s, a leftover breadstick from Olive Garden, a small portion of steak, and an Old Fashioned cocktail. Total: 2,580 calories, which is pretty typical for me—neither unusually high nor low.
I did have to put some effort into getting those veggies in. The soup was already planned for the day, and I might usually have an apple or a banana at some point, but on this particular day, I had two apples, one banana, and one carrot as snacks. It required a bit more effort, but it wasn’t too burdensome.
I stuck with the challenge for over a week, hitting totals of 875, 804, 830, 838, 877, 777, 745, 765, and 756 grams. As you can see, I stopped stressing over hitting the magic 800 mark. I also became a bit lazy about weighing: Bananas usually weighed around 200 grams, so instead of weighing each banana, I’d just log it as 200 grams. But there’s an asterisk on those banana numbers, which we’ll get to.
How achievable is the 800-gram challenge?
From my experience—as someone who regularly buys fruits and vegetables, preps meals on weekends, and has a fairly generous calorie budget—it wasn’t too difficult to stick with for a week. By the end of the week, though, it was starting to feel a bit repetitive. If you're considering taking on this challenge, here are a few things to keep in mind:
Weighing isn’t difficult, but the method they expect you to use is a bit of a hassle.
I’m no stranger to using a food scale, but seriously, do I really have to weigh the onion I’m about to chop for soup? If I’m sticking to the challenge, the answer is yes. And then I need to write it down somewhere, because this isn’t something apps automatically track (unlike calories, where I can simply scan the barcode of that pack of Trader Joe’s bao and instantly have the data on my phone).
One more thing that frustrated me: I don't think you're supposed to count the peel of the banana or the core of the apple. My 200-gram bananas were probably only meant to count as around 120 grams. But who’s going to weigh their banana peel once they’re done eating it? Or the apple core? The whole point of an apple as a snack is its convenience—you can eat it on the go. I’m not saving the core just to weigh it later.
The rules don’t always make sense.
And here's another thing! The rules of the challenge feel arbitrary and—yep, I’m going to call it—ridiculous. Hummus only counts if you make it yourself, not if you buy it. (Sorry, I counted my store-bought hummus.) Applesauce and pickles don’t count if they contain any sugar—what? As though the sugar somehow cancels out the fact that applesauce is made from apples?
You could justify these rules by arguing that the goal is to ensure the 800 grams only includes fruits and vegetables, excluding oil in hummus or sugar in applesauce. But does that really make sense? It feels more like a way to restrict foods or make them less accessible. How many of us actually make our own hummus?
The rule about juice had a similar vibe. Juice counted as fruit in at least some of the studies behind the meta-analysis. Banning it for this internet challenge feels like it’s trying to fit the challenge into other constraints beyond just hitting a total. I’m not a big fan of juice, nutritionally speaking, but it seems unfair to impose an anti-juice rule. Even myplate.gov includes juice in the daily fruit servings (though they recommend not making it your only source of fruit and limiting it to half of your daily fruit intake).
Jumping straight from zero to 800 grams might leave your stomach feeling upset.
This wasn’t an issue I personally faced, but it’s something I’ve seen mentioned frequently: Not everyone’s digestive system is prepared to handle that much fiber right away. This challenge is typically tackled headfirst, rather than gradually increasing your daily intake to 800 grams. Your digestive system might appreciate the slower approach instead.
You may find yourself wanting to turn it into a weight loss diet.
The challenge’s website asks if you’re ‘tired of the lack of results’ from restrictive diets, which seems to suggest that this challenge promises ‘results’ that you haven’t seen before. It definitely sounds like they’re implying weight loss. PopSugar, when covering the challenge, calls it a ‘simple solution’ for ‘trying to lose weight.’
There seems to be a temptation to view eating more vegetables as synonymous with ‘eating fewer calories.’ This idea pops up frequently in the ‘healthy eating’ conversation (see my rant about how healthy eating is not the same thing as dieting). Fruits and vegetables are fantastic, but they’re not enough on their own—you also need protein, healthy fats, and other essential nutrients they don’t supply. If you’re focusing on hitting that 800-gram target, and letting it push out other foods in favor of a low-calorie diet, you may not be eating as ‘healthily’ as you think.
Whenever I hear someone say '800 grams by weight,' it drives me crazy.
One small gripe, if you’ll allow me: the website and many people discussing the #800gChallenge often refer to the goal as getting 800 grams 'by weight' of fruits and veggies. Unlike ounces, which can be used both as a measure of weight ('ounces') and volume ('fluid ounces'), grams are only a weight measure. And technically, they measure mass, not weight, but that's a discussion for another day.
Final thoughts on the 800-gram challenge
I feel torn about the whole thing. On one hand, increasing your intake of fruits and veggies is undeniably beneficial, and I appreciate how the challenge focuses on what you're adding to your diet rather than taking things away. It also rewards what you're already eating—so if you already consume 600 grams of fruits and veggies most days, you only need to add another 200.
I also appreciate that the focus isn't on body size but rather on healthy eating. Even if you disregard the formal challenge and simply consider the fruit-and-vegetable research results, the idea is to eat more veggies to improve your health—not to lose weight. Not everyone needs to lose weight, but we can all benefit from incorporating more plant-based foods into our diets.
Ultimately, my main issue with the challenge lies in its format. The OptimizeMe website claims to offer an 'antidote to dieting nonsense,' yet it asks you to weigh your food and follow yes/no lists. That, to me, still feels like dieting nonsense.
But then again, if someone simply told you to aim for 800 grams of vegetables, you’d probably agree but then disregard the advice. However, if your entire Crossfit gym is participating in a 'challenge' for a set period, it gives you a framework to measure how much plant-based food you’re actually consuming, and it might make you take the advice more seriously. Perhaps the human brain thrives on silly challenges.
