Vegetables = carbs???

Yes veggies are made of carbs. Leafy greens would have less than root vegetables. However, they also have a lot of fiber.
As long as you are eating your minimum protein and fat goals, then this shouldn't be an issue or over in calories.
You say veggies are pushing your totals over your goal, are you only eating veggies as a source of carbs? What about your intake of fruits, pasta, sweets, etc? All those contribute to your carb intake, too.

Because many fruits and veggies have fewer calories than other things and they pack in vitamins and minerals, they encourage us to eat them. They're healthy!

That doesn't mean they have no calories. They have calories. They have carbs.

If I exceed my carb (or sugar) goal eating only fruits and veggies, I don't give it a second thought. If I'm exceeding it by eating things that don't give me things I need, second and third thoughts are pondered.

If you're just starting, don't worry too much. The whole point of logging and reading the details is to see where you'd like to improve! If you were already perfect, there'd be no point to the logging. If this carb thing is excessive and you'd like to improve it, do that. If it gets to be a chore, take it easy on yourself. Work on one thing at a time.

Look at what you eat, pick something to improve, then move on to the next thing. If the carbs are too high, see where you can cut back without shorting yourself on nutrients. Keep going until you have that fairly well fixed up without too much effort, then move on to the next thing.

All the while, keep an eye on the sodium, because if sodium is an issue, it's a really hard one to fix and requires so much effort that working on it for a long time is helpful. It also has an impact on food choices, so if you fix everything else and then start on sodium, it might be like starting all over. Keep an eye as you go and it's easier in the long run.

That's my advice. Someone is bound to disagree. I know that even as I hit, "Post Reply." It's still my advice.

cwolfman13 wrote: »

Well lets see...there are 3 macro-nutrients; carbs, protein, and fat. Vegetables aren't a source of fat and aren't a source of protein (at least not much)...so that really only leaves one other option.

Yes...veggies are carbohydrates. And yes, veggies have calories. If you're going way over on your carbs though, I would suggest that it's probably not the veggies...

Avocado's have fat (and don't tell me its not a vegetable, I know its a drupe) and beans have protein ( I know legume) but for the vast majority these are vegetables.

The idea that vegetables are "free" is weird. They are good for you and you should eat plenty, but they have calories and, of course, carbs. I eat them freely (as much as I like) and feel good when I log them or look back at a day and see I got a nice variety, but I also log them, as I want an accurate look at my diet and would like to know my total calories and macros. I think the "free" idea has more to do with following a non-counting approach (where you may just try to portion out your other foods in various ways to keep a deficit or maintenance without counting) or, of course, the WW idea, where they are somewhat factored in already.

However, if your carb goals are so low that green vegetables are pushing you over, you may want to reconsider whether the goals are reasonable, in particular for you. How did you decide on your macro ratios, for example? You don't need to have protein highest--you probably don't need that much (although I'd need to know actual numbers), and why carbs next lowest and fat lowest of all? If carbs are so low that you can't eat a lot of green veggies, that makes me wonder if your fat is really, really low, and it suggests that you think there's something bad about carbs and fat, which there is not.

JoRocka wrote: »

there is no such thing as a free food. unless someone buys it and hands it to you and has no expectations.... then it's free.

Otherwise- it's not free- all foods have calories- small or large- there are still calories.

LOL^^

OP, can we see your diary?

PlaydohPants wrote: »

ETA: I ate almost 300 calories in fruits and vegetables yesterday. What if I didn't count that?

Fruits are not greens. Greens = green (leafy) vegetables. As in a green salad, which has 15-20 kcal / 100 grams. So yes, it's all the same if you count it or not. No one has ever became fat from eating too much lettuce and cucumber, and no one ever will. If you are not losing weight, the problem is not that you are eating too much greens.

Yes, fruits and vegetables are carbs. But have you thought about the fiber in them?? A lot of fruits and veggies are packed with insoluble carbohydrates (fiber) that are never even absorbed. So why get worked up about them? I have never paid any mind to carbohydrates in vegetables... As long as I get a base of the deep, leafy greens, I will feel free to add whatever other veggie there is--whether it will be carrots and hummus for lunch or squash for dinner. Seriously, eat the vegetables and your body will thank you. I don't see the point in limiting your veggies in the first place