A stupid question..

[amy_rocks]

I've done atkins for a while yet not followed the whole 'cup' of system but am going to start now to hopefully speed up my weight loss and keep it linear.

My stupid question: How to deal with using lots of vegetables? For example, I like my salad with all sorts chucked in, lettuce, cucumber etc. So I might want one cup of lettuce, but only a few tomatoes. How do you weigh this out to fit into the '2 cups of salad veggies' a day system?

Thank you!!

[sadie@136]

Re: A stupid question..

It is NOT stupid!
it is complicated..hehe
i would say watch cucumbers and tomatos
2 slice of tomatoes is 5 carbs i guess and a medium cucumber is 9,better add someother veggies too which are less on carbs.
my 2 cents

[amy_rocks]

Re: A stupid question..

Okay so is it easier to work out the vegetables carb content other than thinking with cups?

[wannabethintoo]

Re: A stupid question..

You should start up an account at fitday.com

You can enter everything you eat and it will keep track of carbs, calories....

[wannabethintoo]

Re: A stupid question..

You have to pay attention to cups AND carbs. Some allowable veggies will put you over 20 gms of carbs if 3 cups are eaten.

[Elizellen]

Re: A stupid question..

When I started I got hold of some 'cup measures' (Asda, Lakeland and other shops sell them) and put the amount of veggies I was intending to eat in them to see how much of each one cup or 1/2 cup looked like. Small cherry tomatoes are about 6 to a 1/4 cup for example.

Another way is to use the cup and then weigh how much lettuce filled it and note that weight down for future use.

There is a good database you can look at online or download onto your computer too
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/
It lists how many carbs per cup etc as well as how many grams a cup of something weighs - useful if you dont want to buy a set of US measuring cups!.

[sadie@136]

Re: A stupid question..

yea do take care of cups and carbs,they both are important,
rest elizillen has given u a very useful tip.

[Analog6]

Re: A stupid question..

There is no such thing as a stup[id question - you are asking it to find out something you want to know. I falso ollow the method of measuring an ingredient once in an actual cup (1/4, 1/2 or wnatever) so I know how it looks on the plate. This lets you judge pretty closely in day to day use how much you can have.

[2big4mysize]

Re: A stupid question..

just figure out how much using either volume cups, cc, ml and ounces or weight ounces and grams. then be consistant with what you use to measure out your veggies and use a carbcounter toknow how many carbs are in your serving sizes and you will be fine.

[amy_rocks]

Re: A stupid question..

So if i wanted a variety of veggies... I would use say a 1/4 cup of lettuce and a 1/4 of something else etc while still taking into account carb content?
Phew.... my way was a lot easier.. but not as productive. lol.

[Elizellen]

Re: A stupid question..

Yes, Amy! It is quite a journey of discovery, isnt it?

[Heather150]

Re: A stupid question..

To be honest, I never did the whole 3 cup deal. I mean I ate my veggies, mostly in the form of salad veggies. I measured the veggies in my salad for carb counts, but didn't stop at 2-3 cups of salad. I just filled the bowl with what I wanted, and counted the carbs from there. I had to eat more than 3 cups to get close to my 20 net carbs a day. So I filled that bowl full of romaine lettuce (soooo low in carbs per 1/2 cup), a 1/2 cucumber (.5-1 net carb), 2 grape tomatoes (1.2 net carbs), 2 celery stalks (1.4 net carbs), and dressing. Added that together with my other daily counts..and that decided what I would have for dinner, whether it was another smaller salad, or just a veggie with my protein. I found that easier than counting cups of salad. You still need to count the carbs for each individual veggie to get your daily count.