Unlimited veggies?

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Jenny_Gentry
Jenny_Gentry Posts: 3
in Food and Nutrition
You'd think this would be a no-brainer (and maybe it is), but I thought I'd better check first.

Can we basically eat as many veggies as we want without adding them to our caloric intake for the day? I know that many fruits have natural sugars in them, so you have to limit them (for example, the delicious fresh pineapple I ate for supper tonight was almost 200 calories just for 2 cups of sliced, fresh pineapple). But what about veggies? I LOVE red, orange, and yellow bell peppers and could eat them like candy. Plus, they are filling, so I really don't have to eat that many.

Any thoughts? Thanks!

Replies

  • JulieBoBoo
    JulieBoBoo Posts: 642
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    Unlimited veggies is a Weight Watchers thing. For MFP I enter EVERYTHING. The reason is because I want to break my binge behaviour and if I allow myself to eat anything without limit then I will never lose that habit. Also veggies have naturally occurring sodium and I watch my sodium carefully.
  • sarah44254
    sarah44254 Posts: 3,078 Member
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    They have calories, all fruits and veggies do. I add them in. It is true that an entire bowl of fresh baby spinach is only like 25 calories, but still. 25 calories is not 0. Fruits have more calories than veggies do. I just had a banana - they range between 100-130 calories.

    I just suggest to log everything you put in your mouth. It helps you understand what you eat, when, and how to change habits to improve. Even though I log in pieces of lettuce at 1cal each, I still tell myself I gotta put it in there :)
  • jolteon00
    jolteon00 Posts: 89
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    There are definitely vegetables you'll want to count, like corn. I wish corn had no calories, but it so does. Carrots tend to have a lot of sugar/calories/temptation to overeat too. Those peppers, things like onions, lettuce, celery - that can all be free if you so wish :)
  • katheern
    katheern Posts: 213 Member
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    It's important to still add veggies even if they aren't a ton of calories. It'll help you know how many carbs and nutrients you are getting.
  • Angela4Health
    Angela4Health Posts: 1,319 Member
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    Those calories can add up throughout the day and before you know it's not just a few extra calories, it's hundreds of extra calories! So yes, I do track all my veggies even though most of them are significantly low in calories. It's also good just to be in the habit of logging everything so that you're never tempted not to log something.
  • monoxidechick
    monoxidechick Posts: 339
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    Enjoy your veggies, they are a healthy snack and great addition to any meal, but be sure to log them as well. Cals and carbs in even small things add up if your not watching. Plus it helps you to see that you are getting to your required numbers of many other nutrients!!
  • KristiSnell
    KristiSnell Posts: 2
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    Well... kinda... Veggies like bell peppers have very low calories (a medium red bell pepper has about 30 calories), so you can eat a ton more veggies than fruit. But... this is still not unlimited. Even foods with low calories add up. But these are certainly a great snack as long as you are not dipping them in ranch (that is my problem, I always want the ranch!)
  • jperrysunlover
    jperrysunlover Posts: 96 Member
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    I log everything. I think everyone should.

    You are correct about sugars being a part of most vegetables. They also have carbs.

    I think logging the different items we eat gives us great insight about the amount of fiber, protein, sugar, carbs, etc. our bodies are taking in.

    Just my opinion, but it will help you discover your roadmap to success!
  • romiga
    romiga Posts: 44 Member
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    Don't forget condiments.... I didnt realize that a little bit of LS soy sauce or tbsp of olive oil counts too. I'm killing about 100-120cals in condiments alone! Boo to that :s
  • paulhood
    paulhood Posts: 30
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    I agree folks that say count 'em. I think if you are counting calories you got to count them all, good and bad.

    WW let you eat all you wanted and the new system went further to let you eat fruits freely as well. Wouldn't you know that I tried that new one and ate 40 pounds of fruit a day and never lost a pound. Same story for my wife. She's going back to the old system. You can't eat "whatever you want" even if the diet says you can. Or at least that's what I believe. Someone else said in a post that it just makes you continue with overeating and does not change your habits and I agree with that too. I tend to agree with my PT who said that I need to eat more times per day to keep my blood sugar consistent instead of ramping it up, letting it die down, and then ramping it up again. I have heard this "eat more times per day" thing a lot and just have a hard time keeping up with it. I get busy at work and forget to eat or I forget to bring my snacks and so on and so on.
  • joamarelo
    joamarelo Posts: 161
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    I agree with JulieBo
  • karenkwalker
    karenkwalker Posts: 155 Member
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    Those red, orange and yellow peppers are pretty high in sugar. I love them two - I'm sure better than cake or something - but if you are watching your sugar intake - you might want to go with mushrooms or something else that is lower in sugar.
  • Mtsidad
    Mtsidad Posts: 242 Member
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    The reason [ to track them ] is because I want to break my binge behaviour ...

    Totally agree. We're trying to change HOW we eat as well as WHAT we eat. I don't think there's anything wrong with eating outside the bounds of a daily plan once in a while, but for a lot of us the problem is that we just eat too much at a sitting. So while I am *not your mother* I'm going to give you a big "caution" that you be careful thinking that "because it's lo-cal it's no-cal."

    Just so you know, shame and guilt didn't keep me from gaining weight and didn't work to help me lose weight, so I am totally not trying to give you a shame- or guilt-trip. Just trying to be honest with you, as someone who's gone down that route.

    It's totally great that you're thinking about what you're eating, and everyone's plan will be different. Enjoy what you like, and enjoy it in moderation.

    Hope this helps. If it doesn't, then toss it - it's only advice.
  • Mtsidad
    Mtsidad Posts: 242 Member
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    ... You can't eat "whatever you want" even if the diet says you can.

    I think this is just overlooked because we find a lo-cal food and think "this will be a substitute for my habit of eating too many french fries" or whatever.

    As far as I can tell, food that you eat goes out in just two or three places - the air you exhale from the carbon dioxide produced when you burn your sugars in your muscles, and then the stuff you excrete as water and solids. Ahem.

    If it doesn't go out, then it's stored as fat, and no matter what kind of calorie it is, excess calories are either excreted or stored. *I am not a doctor or nutritionist* so don't take this as gospel, but whether you eat 100+ calories a day over as fruit or as a cheeseburger, it's extra calories. I'll agree it's likely "better" to overdo it on fruit than meat and cheese, but you're still over the limit, and 100+ calories a day means 1 more pound in 10 days added to your weight.

    It's great to find ways to consume less nutrient-rich foods, but they still have limits. Sometimes the real issue is that food makes us feel good, and the only solution I've found is to find something else that makes me feel good instead of food. Because, sadly, food is a very bad friend when it's used for comfort: it feeds and feeds until it just piles on and you're left with nothing but candy wrappers and old french fry bags.
  • brityn
    brityn Posts: 443 Member
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    100+ calories a day means 1 more pound in 10 days added to your weight.

    I get what you're saying but a pound=3500 calories. So it'd be more like 100+ calories a day is a pound in a month
  • CynthiasChoice
    CynthiasChoice Posts: 1,047 Member
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    Everyone here has given great advise, but I'd like to add something. The reason most of us have extra weight on us is that we have eaten a lot of everything else besides fruit and vegetables. In my overeating days, I would sometimes realize at the end of the day that I had not even had one fruit or veggie all day! Does that sound familiar?
    When I changed my eating habits, I decided to really embrace veggies. It was like starting a new love affair. I began to enjoy the natural tastes of real foods for the first time in my life. I'd seek out the best organic produce at the farmer's market, and gleefully come home with an abundance of great stuff, thanking God all the way for all He created! Yes, (I've gone a little over the deep end, but I sort of like it there.)
    If you're in a hurry to loose weight, then OK, maybe you better count the calories of all your veggies. But if you want to form new habits and attitudes that will last a lifetime and bring you great health, then eat your fill of veggies first, and move on to other foods afterward. The nutrients of the veggie rainbow with make you feel great and make it easier to stick to your diet.
    Good luck to you!

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