Do vegetables matter as far as portion control ?
JasFrancis95
Posts: 5 Member
Do Green Beans Matter when it comes to portion control ?
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Technically, they matter. Realistically, it would be really hard to eat enough green beans for their calories to be much of an issue.0
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They have calories.
Not all that many, so it's not that big of a deal if you're not accurately logging them but still.0 -
I think it really depends on how you cook them. I would say measure the butter/oils and salts just to be safe0
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Yes. Of course. I'm also sceptical of people who eat huge volumes of low cal foods. I'm sure I read that continual over stretching of the stomach leads to less sensitivity to the hormonal signal for fullness - so in the end you always need huge volumes of food in order to feel full.0
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If green beans cause you to go over your calorie goals for the day, it will still impact your weight. All foods count, although some foods are much more dense in calories and can cause you to exceed your goals with smaller portions.0
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Everything has calories. Just log it all and don't worry so much about "good" versus "bad" foods.
Having said that, very few people are overweight because they ate too many green beans. But I do find it helpful to see my calorie totals for the day, which includes everything I ate. It's also useful for me to track micronutrients like fibre, calcium and vitamin C, all of which green beans contain en masse.0 -
Having said that, very few people are overweight because they ate too many green beans.
Though, as someone pointed out above, for someone like my mother-in-law who douses green beans with about a stick of butter (and yes, they are DELICIOUS!) it might be possible for them to have a significant impact on your calorie count.0 -
My green beans rarely make it in from the garden because my daughter and I have a habit of eating them straight from the plant. If you're eating them raw without anything added, I think that it is safe to estimate (per the USDA, 10 4" beans are 17 calories.) If you're adding anything (butter, etc.) I'd measure everything and be more diligent about being exact.0
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Like someone else said, technically they matter, but realistically, I'm not sure that you could have enough of them that it would hurt aything unless they're made with a pound of butter or something. My mother used to put a strip of bacon in the pot.
Weight Watchers wants people to have 8 servings of veggies a day. As long as it's not a starchy vegetable, and something like lettuce, green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini - the relatively healthy veggies, I don't usually count them on my food diary. I may make notes as to what veggies I had that day in the notes area, but that's about it.
One of the Weight Watcher leaders I knew (MANY years ago) teased about having "green-bean-itis" because at that time, she didn't like many other vegetables, so she got her 8 vegetable servings in of green beans every day. LOL0 -
Careful about mixing up the Weight Watchers and MFP methods.
Weight Watchers' points system is deliberately lower in calorie value than you need, because it leaves room for "free" fruits and veggies.
MFP's calorie goals have no such buffer. They assume you'll count everything. Fruits and veggies have calories.
If you combine methods, you could end up eating too much.0 -
Every thing has calories!
I weigh my fruit and vegetable - much to my mum's amusement (she thinks I have serious issues) but I like being on point with my calories and I'm down to the last 8 lbs to lose, so tightening up the tracking and counting is vital for me right now. Having said that, I lost 30 lbs without measuring ANY of my portions before now, so a lot of it IS common sense. I'd say - vegetables you'll generally be okay with, but other foods such as cereal, pasta, rice, meat - weigh!0 -
Yeah, butter or bacon or, I suppose, salt pork can be a big issue. Actual green beans, not so much.0
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JasFrancis95 wrote: »Do Green Beans Matter when it comes to portion control ?
@JasFrancis95 if you are asking if low calorie vegetables such as green beans help with portion control of higher calorie foods, the answer for me is yes. That's how I eat less pizza and pasta - adding low calorie vegetables to the meal.
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Careful about mixing up the Weight Watchers and MFP methods.
Weight Watchers' points system is deliberately lower in calorie value than you need, because it leaves room for "free" fruits and veggies.
MFP's calorie goals have no such buffer. They assume you'll count everything. Fruits and veggies have calories.
If you combine methods, you could end up eating too much.
Correct.
Like I said, per the USDA, ten 4" green beans is 17 calories. That's not a lot of beans but let's say you ate eight servings of an equally low calorie vegetable. That's 136 calories a day you wouldn't be logging.0 -
I'm not sure I understand the question.
All calories count when you're counting calories. However, if you're over your limit for the day, it is unlikely that it was the extra cup of green beans that did you in.
If you're cutting back on food, vegetables aren't really the first place to cut back. They're super low-cal, have vitamins and minerals and they bring lots of fiber along for the ride. They're very healthy. And, again, low-cal. Veggies are the last place I'd cut back.
If you're drowning them in butter, cheese or cream sauces, that's the place to do some cutting back.
But all the calories count. If you're counting calories, count them all.
Does that answer what you were asking? I don't mean, "Is my answer the right one?" Just wondering if addressed what you were trying to ask.
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The salad I had for lunch today was 304 calories:- 2/3rds of those calories were from 100g of avocado and 60g of prawns, the other 100 calories were from 50g green leaves, 40g cucumber, 60g beetroot, 60g cherry tomatoes, 3 x spring onions - if I didn't log the low cal items I would be 100 cals out in my logging for today.
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I log everything, it is a choice I make because I like data. If I don't keep accurate data, then conclusions I draw can be skewed. It is my back ground in research. Frequently records are created to track one thing but end up being used to research another. For example, US census records, they are collected to count the number of representatives to assign for each State in congress. They are used decades or centuries later to identify family members. Today I am collecting data to make sure I am eating at a deficit, next week I may be using them to see if I am hitting a micro nutrient goal over time. Green bean consumption might not change my deficit too much but it could make a big difference in achieving a fiber or vitamin C goal.
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If you have to portion control green beans, instead of some other more calorie dense food item, you're doing it wrong0
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Whitezombiegirl wrote: »Yes. Of course. I'm also sceptical of people who eat huge volumes of low cal foods. I'm sure I read that continual over stretching of the stomach leads to less sensitivity to the hormonal signal for fullness - so in the end you always need huge volumes of food in order to feel full.
I'm not sure that volume eaters are eating "huge" volumes of food - enough to stretch the stomach and mess up their satiety signal. I consider my mom to be a volume eater and in the past few decades she's hovered just above underweight.
@PeachyCarol - I seem to remember that you are a volume eater - care to weight in?
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Whitezombiegirl wrote: »Yes. Of course. I'm also sceptical of people who eat huge volumes of low cal foods. I'm sure I read that continual over stretching of the stomach leads to less sensitivity to the hormonal signal for fullness - so in the end you always need huge volumes of food in order to feel full.
Good question. I'm a volume eater but honestly for me it just depends on the time of the month. Some days I get surprised and get full on a pretty small amount of food - and obviously what I eat makes a difference too - but some days I can eat 300g of cauliflower and I'm still hungry.
OP, I eat a lot of veggies. It matters a bit, but obviously when a serving is 30 calories, even if you're off, you're still only off by 10-20 calories. I did eat 167 calories of veggies yesterday though, so it does add up... especially if you add butter, oil, cheese etc...
That being said, some veggies, like peas, have a pretty high amount of calories, so you got to watch out too...0 -
ceoverturf wrote: »
Having said that, very few people are overweight because they ate too many green beans.
Though, as someone pointed out above, for someone like my mother-in-law who douses green beans with about a stick of butter (and yes, they are DELICIOUS!) it might be possible for them to have a significant impact on your calorie count.
Green beans can never be delicious. They may be edible when deep fried, but never delicious.
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kshama2001 wrote: »Whitezombiegirl wrote: »Yes. Of course. I'm also sceptical of people who eat huge volumes of low cal foods. I'm sure I read that continual over stretching of the stomach leads to less sensitivity to the hormonal signal for fullness - so in the end you always need huge volumes of food in order to feel full.
I'm not sure that volume eaters are eating "huge" volumes of food - enough to stretch the stomach and mess up their satiety signal. I consider my mom to be a volume eater and in the past few decades she's hovered just above underweight.
@PeachyCarol - I seem to remember that you are a volume eater - care to weight in?
I used to be a volume eater, not so much any more. I haven't read the full topic, but I disagree that volume eaters, by definition, are messing with their satiety signals. There's far too much scope in the sorts of volume eaters to categorically state this is the case.
When I ate for volume, I ate lower fat and higher volumes of vegetables. The thing was, there was an intrinsic limit on the amount of food I ate because I was also counting calories. The supposition that I, as a volume eater, had to be eating HUGE volumes of food, would have been false, due to the limiting factor of overall caloric intake being factored in.
Those darn confounding factors will get you every time!
I still tend to bulk my meals with veggies, but came to find that I needed higher levels of fat to feel sated. I eat lower volume now, but can and do still eat relatively large portions of veggies... not so much as a volume thing, but as a macro choice. I'd rather have 120 calories of broccoli with my veggie patty than 20 calories of broccoli and 100 calories of potato.
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IMO, the risks involved with eating fruits and veggies seem less risky than those involved with skipping them. Obviously, this is something everyone would have to decide for themselves, but I'll stick with the fruits and veggies.0
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IMO, the risks involved with eating fruits and veggies seem less risky than those involved with skipping them. Obviously, this is something everyone would have to decide for themselves, but I'll stick with the fruits and veggies.
Wait, who is talking about skipping fruits and vegetables? I think the question is "should we log the calories in fruits and vegetables and consider them as part of our total energy consumption for the day?"0 -
I do. I dont weigh food. Just log in amounT. Every bite matters because of low calorie goal.0
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I log everything, including fruits and vegetables. Today I'm eating about 200 calories worth of vegetables and 100 of fruit - it adds up!0
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OP, I weigh and log my veggies just like everything else. Because I needed logging my food to become a HABIT. Once something is a habit, it doesn't take as much discipline and control to do it consistently. And if I always had some food I measure and log, and some food I don't, I don't think it would ever have become a habit.
Just my 2 cents Good luck! 0 -
They matter yes, as they have calories, but very little, so nice to fill up on!0
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I log my vegetables because I eat them for 2/3 of meals. With the vegetables I eat, it can be anywhere from 60-120 calories each day. Now if I don't log them, I think I have an extra 60-120 calories that I can fill with other foods. Being so close to my goal, that extra 60-120 calories over my goal would really slow down my weightloss and I would be wondering why (well, if I didn't know better).
My mother once questioned why I was weighing my vegetables, worried that logging even "healthy" food was the start of a bad relationship with food. I simply told her I wasn't worried about the calories in the vegetables but wanted to know how much icecream I could have afterwards. Was a great way to put her mind at ease that's for sure haha.0 -
i weigh and log my veggies they still have calories0
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