10 a Day (800g) Veggie&Fruit Challenge Participants Check in!
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I'm in a similar position, though I'm not a vegetarian and I rarely eat salads. But I have been eating healthy for a while and I can say it's much easier now than it was at first. A big challenge is finding recipes and dishes you like - they taste good to you, you don't mind making them (or someone else will make them for you), and they fit your budget and lifestyle. As you find more and more, it should get easier. Until then there may be a lot of experimenting.Hate to say it, but despite routinely living "the way of the vegetable", I'm not sure I have tips, other than that "ramp up slowly" one. For the record, I do eat like this pretty much all the time, though I was a little more careful than usual not to have one of my occasional lower days during the challenge (it's most likely to be lower if my day includes a restaurant dinner - sigh).
I do incorporate lots of veggies into my meals as ingredients - I eat very few of what I consider "filler carbs" like pasta, rice, potatoes, bread, etc. (This is not a dietary religion - they just aren't my favorite kind of calories.) So, I might have something more like a veggie stew or omelet, vs. veggies on pasta or a sandwich.
But I do eat quite a few big salads, and almost daily plates of raw veggies (small plate, but heaping) . . . and most often, the majority of my daily veggies are part of a single meal.
For a lot of people, prepping helps - like someone suggested, cutting up veggies in big batches, to eat raw, so they're ready for a few days (some, like carrots, celery or radishes, keep really well in a covered container of cold water in the fridge). I have a bunch of winter squash and cooked dry beans in 2C glass bowls in my freezer - easy to microwave. I also use canned legumes and jar tomatoes; frozen peas and sweet corn; occasionally frozen mushrooms; dried tomatoes and some dried fruit; and preserved things like kim chi, sauerkraut and pickles (though I don't think I've had any/many of those last during the challenge). I haven't done it, but some of my friends swear by those make-ahead quart-jar salads.
Another idea is to oven-roast a big pan or two of various veggies on the weekend, and put those in the fridge. They're good re-warmed as a side, on sandwiches, in casseroles, and cold on or as salads.
I think that after one's system gets used to the fruits & veggies, gassiness and bloating isn't so much an issue (at least for me, AFAIK). As far as being sick of them, not gonna happen - I loooove my fruits'n'veggies, so it's a clear eating preference, for me. I'm not sure whether feeling stuffed is a personal satiation issue, or an adaptation issue. They make me feel full and satisfied, but not unpleasant.
Hope you'll find a way to continue eating a good bit of them, even if not quite so many as this week!
You mentioned another helpful skill, which is incorporating vegetables as ingredients - or increasing the amounts of vegetables in foods that already have vegetables in them. An example for me is omelets or frittatas. I used to use 3 or 4 eggs at least. Now it's just two eggs and the rest is vegetables - onions, mushrooms, and anything else I want to add. It ends up being half the size of the plate and very filling, but still low in calories and high in vegetables and all the good stuff that goes with those.
For anyone trying this kind of challenge in the future, I'd suggest preparing for it by trying some new vegetables and either finding someplace you can buy healthy vegetable dishes or learning to make some yourself. In case you're stuck for ideas, one way to prepare is to watch a lot of cooking videos or shows that feature vegetables.3 -
Checking in for today. Yesterday afternoon I started feeling ill (nothing related to my diet!) and didn't eat much. So just about 600g for the day.
Today has been a vegetable-palooza, though:
170g sauteed onions and mushrooms
420g crudites (radish, red bell pepper, celery, cucumber, sugar snap pea pods, grape tomatoes)
85g broccoli and pearl onions
350g tomato braised cauliflower
85g black beans
200g eggplant caponata
85g half a baked pear
For a total of 1395g!
(Question: Is it OK for me to post links to the recipes? I don't have any connection to the sites the recipes are posted on.)
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Checking in for today. Yesterday afternoon I started feeling ill (nothing related to my diet!) and didn't eat much. So just about 600g for the day.
Today has been a vegetable-palooza, though:
170g sauteed onions and mushrooms
420g crudites (radish, red bell pepper, celery, cucumber, sugar snap pea pods, grape tomatoes)
85g broccoli and pearl onions
350g tomato braised cauliflower
85g black beans
200g eggplant caponata
85g half a baked pear
For a total of 1395g!
(Question: Is it OK for me to post links to the recipes? I don't have any connection to the sites the recipes are posted on.)
I've seen other people post recipe links here.
Nice veggie total, BTW!
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I'm just off to work but I hit 790 grams yesterday.
I'll write up every thing I thought about the challenge later but in short it's been fun but the UK government can kiss my *kitten*!
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OK thanks. Here are the recipes I use for tomato braised cauliflower and eggplant caponata. They both make regular appearances on my menu. Except for olive oil, spices, and pine nuts, they're basically all vegetables and very delicious. They don't taste anything like "diet food". They're also easy to make ahead of time for the week.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/classic-caponata-232539
http://www.adayinthebite.com/tomato-braised-cauliflower/
(I have no connection to either of these websites, btw!)
You don't need to use nearly as much olive oil as the recipes call for - I find that if I spray the pot with cooking spray to prevent sticking, 2 tablespoons is probably enough for each recipe. For the cauliflower recipe, I don't break it up into florets. I just core the cauliflower head and put it in whole. It's easy to break apart with a spoon after it has cooked.2 -
My goal is 8-10 servings of fruits and veg a day. In my last diet I ate 8 servings a day. For this diet, I'm trying a higher protein diet, but my fruit and veg intake has plummeted as I've tried to figure out more protein. Now that I've gotten used to that, I am starting to turn my attention back to fruits and veg.
Today I had a big salad, an orange, and I loaded up on vegetables at a Thai restaurant. I'd estimate 5 servings today.1 -
Tiny_Dancer_in_Pink wrote: »I managed 578 grams today but I am really sucking at this. Did the powers that be really think that people can eat this much fruit and vegetables? How did they come up with 10 fruits/vegetables? My protein intake is lacking. And if I cut back on other carbs like bread or pasta just so I can eat more fruit/vegetables, I will hate life. Don't get me wrong, I love fruit and vegetables but..........
How many more days? Lol
This challenge taught me I would make a bad vegetarian/vegan. I've learned about the food I eat as in what is an actual fruit/vegetable (chocolate and coffee don't count BOO!). I'm also unhappy that only certain amounts of things count, but maybe I'm being too anal about it.
When I was a vegetarian, I didn't actually eat all that many fruits and veggies. Mostly grains and dairy. a lot of vegetarians I know are the same. And for vegans, grains and soy. You wouldn't be a bad vegetarian, just an average one. My top fruit and veg intake happened after I stopped being a vegetarian and just focused on eating fruits and veg. 0 -
ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken wrote: »Tiny_Dancer_in_Pink wrote: »I managed 578 grams today but I am really sucking at this. Did the powers that be really think that people can eat this much fruit and vegetables? How did they come up with 10 fruits/vegetables? My protein intake is lacking. And if I cut back on other carbs like bread or pasta just so I can eat more fruit/vegetables, I will hate life. Don't get me wrong, I love fruit and vegetables but..........
How many more days? Lol
I was wondering where they got that number also! While I do eat a lot of vegetables on a regular basis the amounts do vary and I don't eat a whole lot of fruit. I have made sure to get at least what this requirement states and I have put in a bit of fruit where I previously was not. I wonder if the powers that be have tried meeting the requirement themselves? I have never kept track of how many servings I eat in total so some days I likely ate 800 g or more other days less. I have also had a day or two in the week of having very little if any vegetables.
That being said I have discovered that:
1) While I do eat a good many vegetables on a regular basis I do feel the physical difference with meeting this lofty requirement daily.
a. A more full feeling for a longer time.
b. A bit of bloating.
c. Not drinking as much water because my stomach feels full. This may be where some people find sluggish
bowels I think. Not enough hydration to move it along.
2) I am able to stuff my self with less vegetables than junk food. Likely the fiber I am guessing. A pack of cookies or quart of ice cream is not a challenge. LOL!
3) I think people who haven't made vegetables and fruit a part of their regular diet would struggle here. Maybe lack of knowing how to prep the stuff. Maybe they are trying to eat a lot of things like a carrot, or salad and not incorporating the vegetables into meals. (Say, vegetable soup, or a veggie lasagna or other casserole type of thing, maybe a quesadilla with veggies, veggie pizza etc... ) I assume this can feel daunting and tedious for people who are not proficient in the way of the vegetable. This also goes for fruit. I am thinking of the man in the article that was posted further up. He had a grapefruit, apple and banana for breakfast. Most of us could only maintain such intensity for so long.
4) The sense that all these servings must be eaten ASAP may loom over some folks. Instead of trying to spread it out through out meals and snack some folks may find that they are trying to get in 400+ g of vegetables or fruits in a single sitting. This may be part of what brings on some of the problems such as constantly feeling stuffed, bloated, gassy, and just sick of the vegetables and fruits. It takes about 2 hours for food to leave the stomach, and another couple for it to head through the small intestine. Trying to cram all this through there is going to leave one feeling a little like Santa Clause.
Just some things that came across my mind. I hope people who have not typically been vegetable eaters do not get turned off of vegetables because it feels impossible or difficult or inconvenient. I think they could offer some creative and more user friendly ways to help people get on with an increase without it feeling like a chore.
When I first greatly increased my fruit and veg intake, I relied on prepping (cleaning and chopping) large amounts ahead of time so I could just grab and eat it when I needed to. I made large fruit salads and stored them in the fridge, and I prepped a bunch of lettuce and stored that in the fridge too (tip: line a tupperware with paper towels to store moist lettuce).
I'm not much of a cook, so I ate a lot of raw fruits and veg because they required minimal prep. I ate lots of fruit because I found it more appetizing and it's usually eaten raw. For cooked veg, I mostly relied on frozen peas and corn. Pop it in the microwave and done.
And yeah, I threw veg into lots of dishes. I was aiming for half of my food intake to be fruits and veg so a lot of my meals had significant veg amounts. Instead of just pasta and sauce, I'd mix a half cup of peas into my portion. I didn't learn new recipes, I just added veg to old favorites. My 3 main meals were never just fruits and veg alone, but my snacks frequently were.
Ramping up slowly is a good idea. When I first started this diet, I was already accustomed to a relatively high fiber intake from beans, compared to a lot of people I know. So a bunch of fruit and veg wasn't a great shock to my system. But for someone who is accustomed to a low fiber intake, it could certainly cause problems.
Oh and a high raw fruit and veg intake really improved my dental health over time. I started with gingivitis and once I was used to the diet my gums stopped bleeding and I had faster cleanings because I had less plaque (fibrous fruit and veg cleaned my teeth as I ate them!).0 -
Only 1082 for me today - watermelon, blackcurrants, cauliflower, baby spinach, mushrooms, beetroot, avocado and tempeh.3
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Checking in for today. Yesterday afternoon I started feeling ill (nothing related to my diet!) and didn't eat much. So just about 600g for the day.
Today has been a vegetable-palooza, though:
170g sauteed onions and mushrooms
420g crudites (radish, red bell pepper, celery, cucumber, sugar snap pea pods, grape tomatoes)
85g broccoli and pearl onions
350g tomato braised cauliflower
85g black beans
200g eggplant caponata
85g half a baked pear
For a total of 1395g!
(Question: Is it OK for me to post links to the recipes? I don't have any connection to the sites the recipes are posted on.)
I know I want the recipe for that tomato braised cauliflower!2 -
GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »Checking in for today. Yesterday afternoon I started feeling ill (nothing related to my diet!) and didn't eat much. So just about 600g for the day.
Today has been a vegetable-palooza, though:
170g sauteed onions and mushrooms
420g crudites (radish, red bell pepper, celery, cucumber, sugar snap pea pods, grape tomatoes)
85g broccoli and pearl onions
350g tomato braised cauliflower
85g black beans
200g eggplant caponata
85g half a baked pear
For a total of 1395g!
(Question: Is it OK for me to post links to the recipes? I don't have any connection to the sites the recipes are posted on.)
I know I want the recipe for that tomato braised cauliflower!
Look up, 5 posts above yours.3 -
I thought of this thread while I ordered my roasted veggies tacos.
Then I weighed them when I got home and realized they only had about 75 g of veggies in them.1 -
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The previous Monday-Friday before the challenge
Avg net calories 1012
Avg protein g 70
Avg Fat g 53
Avg Carb g 145
Avg fibre g 23
5 challenge days
Avg net calories 923
Avg protein g 87
Avg fat g 50
Avg carb g 154
Avg fibre g 23
Before the challenge I averaged 400-550g a day. Didn't think I'd have any problem stepping up to 800g. I've always prepped my veggies everyday and make our food from scratch in the main.
My problem was the sheer volume of food. I normally have some high calorie foods likes of ramen noodles or garlic bread etc. I felt like I couldn't eat beyond veggies.
I felt like I could pop food wise. I've never really been a volume eater and I struggled with what felt like a medicine ball in my belly.
Toilet wise I had no difference really with solid deposits but liquid assets were a totally different ball game.
I was peeing for England with the increased potassium. At some points it also looked like I had visited homer simpson in the nuclear factory it was that bright yellow. All the B2.
My macros didn't really change much. I focused on protein so it was actually better, fat suffered a bit. I think in the main it was hitting my macros with bulk veg instead of just eating a carb/fibre bar type thing.
Net calories also dropped by almost 100 a day. That could be in part due to a training progression as I'm working on a progressive running HADD programme. The rest down to being full.
I think I'll go back to eating around 400-500g again.
It allows me ice cream, noodles, wine and vodka. That's a balanced diet to me so stuff the latest advice and the 10 a day
FYI I've eaten only 133g today. Going to drink my calories and give my digestive system a day off!
Edit to add for any newbies reading. Netting below 1200 is not a good idea, had I done my net over 7 days it would be much more as I eat/drink over 2000 at weekends.6 -
My poor little trundler was so full and heavy after today's trip to the veggie market that I had to come home before doing the next stage of my food shopping!!
That's approximately:
7.6kg of watermelon
2 kg of carrots
1.75 kg of avocados
just under 2 kg of grapes
1 kg of cucumber
1.5 kg of beetroot
725 g of lemons (I'll only be using the juice of those, so it hardly counts)
bunch of mint
I still need to get baby spinach and mushrooms (almost always terrible quality at the market).
Yes, that is for one person. Yes, I intend to eat it all.
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Beets. I do love them! I also love the fright you get in the bathroom later! LOL!4
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Right, add 600g of spinach and half a kg each of mushrooms, tempeh, and chickpeas to that lot (the chickpeas actually won't get used this week, they're a pre-emptive buy for next weekend's batch of hummus).
Is gelato a vegetable? It was green (pistachio)... 3 -
800g today!
Orange, Apple, bunch of grapes
Salad of lettuce, asparagus, mushrooms, tomatoes
Eggplant and Sweet potatoes for dinner (SP is a gray area but it's high nutrition so for this I'm counting it, 750g without it)
I only ate 6 servings using my old method of counting (~50 calories per serving), so with my last diet (8 servings a day) i guess i was exceeding this challenge.
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I ate about 7 servings today. Incorporated a low sodium v8 which helped some of the fullness. I'm happy about this cause 7 servings is more than I averaged before.
And I'm not sure anyone mentioned this, but many fresh fruit and veg aren't that delicious or cheap this time of year because of the season in the US.5 -
After replenishing my fruit and veg stocks, I came in at 1201 for the day (possibly more, grapes kept falling into my mouth before I put them in the fridge out of sight!). Consisting of: watermelon, grapes, avocado, tempeh, baby spinach, mushrooms, beetroot. I did not count the gelato...
I had to move shelves around in my fridge to fit those two watermelons in, they're bigger than the ones I've been getting previously this summer. My eyes may have been bigger than my tummy (and calorie allowance) with those and the grapes... Thank goodness some of the veg is going to work with me tomorrow and will be stored in my fridge there!!
For those who have increased their fruit and veg this past week, have a look at your diary reports for various micronutrients to see the difference it's made. My Vit A went through the roof with all those carrots!5 -
WTF??? I just had my weekly weigh in and I'm down a whopping 4lbs!
This must be water weight due to the decrease in processed carbs I'm guessing?
I'm a slight female by the way with a bmi of 20 and losing the last couple of winter vanity pounds I purposefully put on to keep warmer over winter.6 -
RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »WTF??? I just had my weekly weigh in and I'm down a whopping 4lbs!
This must be water weight due to the decrease in processed carbs I'm guessing?
I'm a slight female by the way with a bmi of 20 and losing the last couple of winter vanity pounds I purposefully put on to keep warmer over winter.
Carbs are carbs - if you've kept your carbs the same, just from different sources, I can't imagine it would make that much difference. Less processed probably means less sodium, also more fibre - perhaps both have contributed?1 -
livingleanlivingclean wrote: »RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »WTF??? I just had my weekly weigh in and I'm down a whopping 4lbs!
This must be water weight due to the decrease in processed carbs I'm guessing?
I'm a slight female by the way with a bmi of 20 and losing the last couple of winter vanity pounds I purposefully put on to keep warmer over winter.
Carbs are carbs - if you've kept your carbs the same, just from different sources, I can't imagine it would make that much difference. Less processed probably means less sodium, also more fibre - perhaps both have contributed?
My fibre didn't change and my carbs increased? The carbs just changed from noodles, bread etc to veg.1 -
RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »livingleanlivingclean wrote: »RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »WTF??? I just had my weekly weigh in and I'm down a whopping 4lbs!
This must be water weight due to the decrease in processed carbs I'm guessing?
I'm a slight female by the way with a bmi of 20 and losing the last couple of winter vanity pounds I purposefully put on to keep warmer over winter.
Carbs are carbs - if you've kept your carbs the same, just from different sources, I can't imagine it would make that much difference. Less processed probably means less sodium, also more fibre - perhaps both have contributed?
My fibre didn't change and my carbs increased? The carbs just changed from noodles, bread etc to veg.
More potassium?2 -
Nony_Mouse wrote: »RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »livingleanlivingclean wrote: »RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »WTF??? I just had my weekly weigh in and I'm down a whopping 4lbs!
This must be water weight due to the decrease in processed carbs I'm guessing?
I'm a slight female by the way with a bmi of 20 and losing the last couple of winter vanity pounds I purposefully put on to keep warmer over winter.
Carbs are carbs - if you've kept your carbs the same, just from different sources, I can't imagine it would make that much difference. Less processed probably means less sodium, also more fibre - perhaps both have contributed?
My fibre didn't change and my carbs increased? The carbs just changed from noodles, bread etc to veg.
More potassium?
Could be, I was certainly peeing a lot
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One thing to keep in mind:
MFP only tracks a limited subset of known micronutrients (vitamins/minerals), and only semi-accurately tracks those that are reliably on food labels (for example, potassium often isn't on labels). There are other vitamins & minerals, beneficial anti-oxidants, and other biologically useful compounds in those veggies & fruit . . . not to mention, probably, some yet undiscovered ones. (There are multiple substances considered vitamins now, that were not so in my childhood - I'd bet the discoveries aren't over.)
By increasing your fruits & veggies, you're getting all those forms of goodness - time-tested in most cases by thousands of years of human evolution - into your system. Good stuff!7 -
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Managed approximately 7 servings yesterday and was quite easy but these were high sugar items: baked beans, orange juice, tangerines, pear, strawberries, carrot, peas/sweetcorn.
I really enjoyed this challenge and the comments have been fun. I will continue for March if I can and probably indefinitely as it is helping me to keep my calories down and fullness up.
Thank you crzycatlady1 for setting up the challenge.2 -
I too am going to keep pushing the veggies for March. I'm going grocery shopping today, you should see my list with all the produce on it!
I've started eating a very large salad for my first meal of the day with a load of dressing made from Greek yogurt (for the protein) and that meal has been VERY satisfying for me. If this challenge has brought nothing else into my life, it's brought that, and I'm grateful for it. Oh, also, fruit and yogurt for dessert after dinner. With just those two things, I'd have a reasonable daily intake.3 -
I am going to also keep my consumption up. Though I am going to trim it back first and get an idea of just how much I was eating prior to this. Maybe I will visit the past entries in my diary to get a better idea. Then build from there.
Just wondering, will there be thread for anyone who wants to continue or will we just be doing this without any further forum thread?1
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