Not counting green veggies?

skylily4ever
skylily4ever Posts: 28 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I read an article about a year ago, I believe written by a personal trainer (?) but he was explaining that he doesn't count green vegetables in his calorie count. Like if he had a salad with chicken, dressing, and croutons, he would count everything but the lettuce.
He said that they are so low in calories that they naturally get burned off, and not counting them can encourage one to eat them more, which obviosuly helps lose weight if you eat more greens than fat.

Now I count my green veggies, but I was wondering if anyone has read anything similar, or does not count green veggies in calories? Just a curious question =]

Replies

  • Francesca3162
    Francesca3162 Posts: 520 Member
    If I bite it, then I write it.
    But you are right, they don't really have too high of a caloric value.
  • magerum
    magerum Posts: 12,589 Member
    All food has caloric value.
  • jessababy22
    jessababy22 Posts: 68
    I feel better about myself when logging veggies and fruits or anything that is natural for that matter because I feel accomplished afterwards. So I'm about the same philosophy - if I eat it, I write it.
  • Adelasamy
    Adelasamy Posts: 8 Member
    I have just switched to an almost raw food lifestyle and I count everything. I don't measure the vegetables and fruits very well, but I pay more attention to nuts, seeds and the processed food.
  • sgv0918
    sgv0918 Posts: 851 Member
    anything that goes in my mouth gets charted
  • senyosmom
    senyosmom Posts: 613 Member
    I log it all.... But Ive heard that celery is so low in calories that digestinbg burns more than you consume so its really negative calories.


    But yet I still log celery...
  • deb3129
    deb3129 Posts: 1,294 Member
    I log everything that goes into my mouth. The romaine lettuce that I eat really has very, very few calories. But I think if you start not logging stuff, it is easy to eat more than you realize. The little stuff here and there adds up.
  • neverstray
    neverstray Posts: 3,845 Member
    Non-issue. 2 cups of green lettuce is about 30 cals. That's a rounding error. If you think calories in and calories burned are that precise, then have at it. Sometimes I don't log it. I've been having a lot of calories left over everyday. i could easily not log it without any worry.

    If I'm losing and hitting my goals and not logging green lettuce, then I don't care. If I'm not losing or hitting my goals, than I might turn to things like that to see where I might be going over. Sometimes, you do that, then don't log the creamer in your coffee, then this and then that, and pretty soon you're not counting 200 to 300 calories a day. It happens. So, lately, I've been logging my lettuce, but I don't worry about it all that much because it's close to nothing.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
    I try to be as accurate as possible, but on stuff like raw spinach leaves or celery, I just estimate on the slightly higher side. I could stuff myself on spinach all day long and not come near my calorie total.
  • wewon
    wewon Posts: 838 Member
    Non-issue. 2 cups of green lettuce is about 30 cals. That's a rounding error. If you think calories in and calories burned are that precise, then have at it. Sometimes I don't log it. I've been having a lot of calories left over everyday. i could easily not log it without any worry.

    If I'm losing and hitting my goals and not logging green lettuce, then I don't care. If I'm not losing or hitting my goals, than I might turn to things like that to see where I might be going over. Sometimes, you do that, then don't log the creamer in your coffee, then this and then that, and pretty soon you're not counting 200 to 300 calories a day. It happens. So, lately, I've been logging my lettuce, but I don't worry about it all that much because it's close to nothing.

    Ditto
  • ultraplop
    ultraplop Posts: 30
    I would say don't log the low cal veggies. If you really like being exact go ahead, but the strategy to eat more greens can be very effective. The more of them you eat the more insanely full you will get, and they are usually chalked full of nutrition.
  • jilli814
    jilli814 Posts: 33 Member
    some good information here that I never thought about.
    Thanks
  • jynxxxed
    jynxxxed Posts: 1,010 Member
    I log it, but I don't weigh most green veggies like I do everything else. I just estimate how much of it I consumed since it really doesn't concern me.
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
    sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. As Neverstray so eloquently expressed above, calories recorded are an estimate. I know that most green veggies aren't going to add much to my estimated daily consumption - I may log that spinach just as a record of what I ate, but its not big deal if I don't.

    I'm watching my carbs, though, and veggies can often have a lot of those.

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