Serving size for leafy greens (spinach)

SeaBreeze4
SeaBreeze4 Posts: 8 Member
in Food and Nutrition
When entering the servings of leafy greens such as lettuce, spinach or kale, do you compress the leaves into the measuring cup or loosely stuff them in?

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,931 Member
    edited October 2020
    With that said, even three or four cups of leafed vegetables (loose or compacted) is so few calories that it isn't worth even worrying. Just guess.

    A good dinner-sized salad for me is about 125g-150g of leaves...somewhere around 25 calories.
  • age_is_just_a_number
    age_is_just_a_number Posts: 630 Member
    I just eye ball it and don’t worry too much about greens. They are low calorie and high nutrient foods.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 8,967 Member
    I agree with other posters that it isnt worth accuracy about lettuce or spinach leaves since they are so low calorie, so I would just call it 50 or 100 grams (ie 10 - 20 calories) and that would be accurate to within a couple of calories.

    But if you want to be accurate - or you want to do it once just to check what your usual amount is - then weigh it on a scale.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,881 Member
    SeaBreeze4 wrote: »
    When entering the servings of leafy greens such as lettuce, spinach or kale, do you compress the leaves into the measuring cup or loosely stuff them in?

    The dilemma on measuring produce was partially why I bought a food scale :)

    For raw greens I call 2 oz a serving and when I'm cooking spinach start with 4 oz raw.
  • dragon_girl26
    dragon_girl26 Posts: 2,187 Member
    edited October 2020
    Yeah, stuff like this was why I ultimately decided to weigh my foods. Only my example usually wasn't spinach I was trying to stuff into measuring cups, it tended to be something like ice cream ( I mean, it says 1/2 cup...that means whatever I can stuff in it is one serving, right? Lol) Then you're like...can be it heaping over or do I have to level it off...? Too much over thinking!
    If you're trying to be accurate on your logging as possible, definitely just go get yourself a food scale, OP. The best part...less dishes to wash!
  • SeaBreeze4
    SeaBreeze4 Posts: 8 Member
    Thanks! These are all great suggestions! I am going to try keto, so I want to keep a closer eye on my macros.

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