Vegetable allowance is confusing

[fashionista]

Hello all. This is my 3rd day on induction. I read the book but I am still confused about the vegetable/carb allowance.


The book says no more than 3 cups of vegetables are allowed.

It also says no more than 20 carbs are allowed a day.

However, if I was to eat lettuce, a whole one will measure MORE THAN 3 CUPS, but only add up to 15 carbs.

So, can I eat as much vegetables as I want regardless of the cup/grams measurements and just count the carbs or measure all vegetables by the cup and not exceed 3 cups?

The only other thing I eat besides fish, chicken and steak is bacon and boiled eggs. I also eat 1-2 oz of cheese. I eat butter when I cook scrambled eggs and I eat no sour cream or salad dressings.
155..goal is 130

[not2late]

Re: Vegetable allowance is confusing

Hello all. This is my 3rd day on induction. I read the book but I am still confused about the vegetable/carb allowance.


The book says no more than 3 cups of vegetables are allowed.

It also says no more than 20 carbs are allowed a day.

However, if I was to eat lettuce, a whole one will measure MORE THAN 3 CUPS, but only add up to 15 carbs.

So, can I eat as much vegetables as I want regardless of the cup/grams measurements and just count the carbs or measure all vegetables by the cup and not exceed 3 cups?

The only other thing I eat besides fish, chicken and steak is bacon and boiled eggs. I also eat 1-2 oz of cheese. I eat butter when I cook scrambled eggs and I eat no sour cream or salad dressings.
155..goal is 130

No, you can't eat as much as you want of anything on this diet. You are only supposed to eat the amount of food you body needs. (Wanting and needing are two different things.)

The portion sizes Dr. Atkins gives us are very important. Many of us are over-eaters with little or no concept of 'normal' portion sizes. According to the USDA, 1 serving of vegetables is 1 cup raw or 1/2 cup cooked. Eating 15 cups of lettuce is much too much and isn't an eating habit you should perpetuate or begin.

In addition to lettuce, there are 20 other vegetables on that 'salad' list and 35 vegetables on the 'other' list. Lettuce has very little nutrition (vitamins, minerals, fiber) compared to those 55 vegetables: you're better off eating a variety of those veggies not only for nutrients but also to avoid food boredom. Whenever I eat salads, lettuce makes up 25-30% of the total vegetables, most of the time, my salads contain no lettuce.

Moreover there are 2 vegetable lists. The "salad" list is lower in carbs than the "other vegetable" list. So, you have a choice of eating 3 cups of the salad vegetables daily or 2 cups of the salad vegetables and 1 cup of the 'other' vegetables. If you are aiming to meet the daily 5 vegetable servings requirement of the USDA and most medical organizations, you are better off eating the 2 cups salad vegetables and 1 cup 'other' vegetable daily, because that will give you the 5 servings.

[fashionista]

Re: Vegetable allowance is confusing

Thank you for your response, but maybe I was not clear enough.

So far, I am sticking to the 3 cups and I eat lettuce, tomatoes, spring onions and cucumbers.

My Q was not what if I eat 15 cups of lettuce. I said a whole romaine lettuce adds up to approx. 15 gr of carbs.

So, if we need to stick to 3 cups of vegetables why does the book mention not to exceed 20 gr of carbs?

[Elizellen]

Re: Vegetable allowance is confusing

Because there are carbs in many of the other foods we eat in addition to vegetables, and we are supposed to have more than half of our carbs from our veggies.
Eggs for example are .6 carbs for a medium egg. Many commercial salad dressings have one or two carbs per serving.

Also we are supposed to count each ounce of cheese as one carb, and each serving of sweetener as one carb too.