veggies and fruits...what do you think?!

xTenaciousJx
xTenaciousJx Posts: 555
edited December 20 in Food and Nutrition
i know some ppl that aren't counting their fruits and veggies in their diary's. some advice s that you can eat as many veggies and fruits as you want.

so questions is....what do you think about veggies and fruits? i know some have a lot of carbs but do those carbs matter??

give me the low down ppl!

:flowerforyou:
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Replies

  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
    It really depends on what you're monitoring. For me, I do monitor carbs, and sugars, so fruit and veg can have surprisingly high amounts of those.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    i track everything that I eat/drink. Except maybe some spices and other such things.
  • xTenaciousJx
    xTenaciousJx Posts: 555
    do you find that high carbs in veggies and fruits make you gain?
    It really depends on what you're monitoring. For me, I do monitor carbs, and sugars, so fruit and veg can have surprisingly high amounts of those.
  • xTenaciousJx
    xTenaciousJx Posts: 555
    since i've started in January everything that goes in my mouth i track...so this to me makes sense and then not counting those makes sense too.
    i track everything that I eat/drink. Except maybe some spices and other such things.
  • GreatVibe
    GreatVibe Posts: 87
    i count mine hehe
  • shaynak112
    shaynak112 Posts: 751 Member
    you DEFINITELY have to keep track of your fruits! Because they are high in calories.
    BUT still ... I don't "cut down" on fruit so much. I do take their calories into account.
    Vegetables, well I add them to my diary, but they have hardly any calories it hardly counts LOL but I still enter it.
  • MissMormie
    MissMormie Posts: 359 Member
    Even if you think you can't have too many fruits and vegetables, you can surely have too few. And only be keeping an accurate log can you find out if you eat too much or too little of certain items.

    Fruit is also quite high in sugar/carbs, if your trying to loose weight and eat 3 pineapples a day that you don't count... well you're probably not getting any slimmer. Some vegetables have very little impact, but in the end, even the small things count. For me it makes sense to add basically everything I eat.
  • I track all fruits and vegetables. I have an allergy to all animal products so I eat quite alot of fruit and veggies. Soy and quinoa. I drink loads of water. So far I have dropped 16 pounds in nine days. For me it does not matter really. But then my diet is basically 100% vegan and I am dropping weight and am very happy about it.
  • JaySpice
    JaySpice Posts: 326 Member
    Count them both. Fruits surprisingly have quite a bit of calories. A medium gala apple has about 90 calories and some carbs.
  • xTenaciousJx
    xTenaciousJx Posts: 555
    thanks, i agree. i'm def going to count and log all mine...just wasn't sure if it was wise to just go all out and not.
  • cfregon
    cfregon Posts: 147
    I track everything I eat, just because it's a good habit to have.

    If you decide to track only certain things it could become a slippery slope- if not veggies and fruits, why should we track the oil they were cooked in?

    When you track veggies and fruits, you'll notice that they do have calories (though its fairly low for veggies, higher for fruits), protein, carbs, fiber, etc. All of these are important to track.

    Consider this: If I eat one cup of carrot slices, one cup of grape tomatoes, and 15 snap peas the calories add up to ~101. Iron is 23, Protein 9, Carbs 29, etc. These are all significant numbers for the meal/snack. If I didn't record these, but ate them every day, by the end of the week I will have not recorded over ~707 calories, 161 iron, 63 protein, 203 carbs. That's a huge impact on my intake.
  • xTenaciousJx
    xTenaciousJx Posts: 555
    great answers! thanks :)
  • momtokgo
    momtokgo Posts: 446 Member
    I record all fruits and veggies. I don't care much about the sugars/carbs that are in them, but they are still calories and they add up in the end.

    I remember watching a show once (X Weighted) and the woman on the show couldn't figure out why she wasn't losing weight. She started her day by eating a bag of apples on her drive to work. 1 hour, 5 apples, but because they were fruit she felt they shouldn't be adding to weight gain.

    It all adds up.
  • GAsoulstar
    GAsoulstar Posts: 84 Member
    You can't keep track of everthing you eat, but as for Veggies and Fruits, they are good CARBS!!!! This process we are going through is what I consider to be "one day at a time". You are going to have good and bad days. We have to learn to be patience and everything will workout for the best :)
  • temp666777
    temp666777 Posts: 169
    Fruits are all sugar. Consider it carefully.

    Some veggies have a lott of sugar. Potatoes and carroys are deadly.

    Consider it carefully.

    Carbohydrate is carbohydrate. If you are eating fruit you are eating carbohydrate.

    The ida that there are "good and bad" carbs is very controversial. Atoms are all the same. Carboydrate molecules are all the same.

    If you want to read a huge pile of hard science on this very issue, buy Gary Taubes book, "Why we get fat." It is priceless. Don't go on rumours - get science.
  • gaiareeves
    gaiareeves Posts: 292 Member
    A lot of people say that you should track fruit, but leafy greens don't need to be tracked and you can eat as many as you please.

    I personally track everything, but that's just my own choice.
  • carld256
    carld256 Posts: 855 Member
    If you want to read a huge pile of hard science on this very issue, buy Gary Taubes book, "Why we get fat." It is priceless. Don't go on rumours - get science.

    If you want to read cherry-picked science that ignores any study that disagrees with it then read Gary Taubes. Otherwise track down the real science and ignore journalists selling books.
  • Nsalyers
    Nsalyers Posts: 1
    I was actualy just talking about this in my weight loss group. I have been going over my cals everyday because I've been logging my fruit. A bananna has 140 in itself!!!!!!!!!! That is crazy especially because I've been trying to incorporate fruits in a lot of my snacks.
  • PercivalHackworth
    PercivalHackworth Posts: 1,437 Member
    Well don't track them, and if you are still moving towards your goal, it's fine
    If you don't, you could track them.

    In 99% of the cases, solid food that goes through your mouth brings calories - fruits/ veggies included.
  • temp666777
    temp666777 Posts: 169
    "If you want to read cherry-picked science that ignores any study that disagrees with it then read Gary Taubes"

    I'm really keen to find books or papers AGAINST Taubes, Dr Wolfgang Lutz, Dr. Malcolm Kendrick, etc.

    For sure, if you know of any, please let us know!

    Once again, if you have a great paper, book, etc, which is "anti" Taubes, please let us know!

    You are correct that Taubes is a journalist, not a Doctor. Nebertheless his analysis in "Good Calories, Bad Calories" is pretty conclusive - I've never seen it described as "cherry picked".

    Can you state the or a particular study you had in mind that Taubes "ignores" or .. ??

    Once again, one of my main fields of interest is finding arguments AGAINST Taubes, Kendrick, etc.

    Anything specific?
  • I track everything but spices.
    I just like to know what I ate during the day, otherwise I tend to forget and go over my daily calorie goal. It make's things easier when you have a list right there with everything on it!!
  • Lleldiranne
    Lleldiranne Posts: 5,516 Member
    I count the fruits for sure. A banana or an apple is around 75-100 calories (or a bit more) depending on size. A couple of those not counted could eat up your deficit for the day.

    I generally count vegetables too. For one thing, I track fiber, so I want credit for those veggies! :laugh: And I try to get as close as possible to my goal, so if I'm eating vegetables and not logging I might be over. I am of the mindset that I should log everything that goes in my mouth (though I often don't :noway: )
  • Contrarian
    Contrarian Posts: 8,138 Member
    I think you will find that most people track them. Weight Watchers doesn't, but that's a different program.

    If you are counting calories, it is in your best interest to count ALL the calories.
  • Hi..well if your counting calories, then yes you need to record them. Fruit can be high in calories and can add up quickly...Vegetables have small amounts of calories, except starchy ones they have alot more.Good luck.
  • tldust
    tldust Posts: 103 Member
    I count my fruits and veggies. They have calories too. And it's good to look back to see how well you're doing with your fruits & veggies.
  • umachanxo
    umachanxo Posts: 926 Member
    I track them... I try to track everything that I eat. Though, I'll admit, sometimes at the end of a Saturday I may not log that 1/2 cup frozen yogurt...

    But in the end, you do what's best for you. If you find tracking everything works better and keeps you in check, then you should do that. If you find you are losing comfortably not tracking fruits and veggies, then continue :).
  • carld256
    carld256 Posts: 855 Member
    Once again, one of my main fields of interest is finding arguments AGAINST Taubes, Kendrick, etc.

    Anything specific?

    I'll do that when I have some time. I'm not going to buy his book though, so I'll have to see what I can dig up online.

    I remember watching Tabues on one of those afternoon Dr shows with Jilllian Michaels where they were talking about exercise. Taubes, as I remember, doesn't think exercise is any benefit to losing weight. But when it came to the actual discussion all he had to fall back on was "Haven't you ever heard of working up an appetite?" as if that were some sort of solid scientific basis for his beliefs. He also said something about insulin and exercise, to which Michaels responded "There are all sorts of hormones released when you exercise, not just insulin." I don't think he even responded to her after that.

    That was the first time I remember ever hearing anything about him, and it just set off all kinds of alarm bells.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    Taubes, as I remember, doesn't think exercise is any benefit to losing weight. But when it came to the actual discussion all he had to fall back on was "Haven't you ever heard of working up an appetite?"
    They should have come here - "eat back your exercise calories" - QED
  • ThisisMiss
    ThisisMiss Posts: 187 Member
    A calorie is a calorie, no matter how big or small. I count my fruits and veggies because fruits can be high in calories and although veggies are low in calories, it can sometimes be the line that takes me over my calories on bad days. (Not that I will eat less veggies, but it will fill me up more and help keep me from reaching for the bad stuff.)
  • NicNZ25
    NicNZ25 Posts: 4
    I count fruit, because it does add up! Like some else already said, a banana is 140 calories. A cup of grapes is 60, and I love grapes, I'll often eat 2 cups a day.

    I count some veges (potato, sweet potato, tomato, corn, carrot I'll count if I eat alot of it that day, like sitting down with a stack of carrot sticks and some chilli lime yoghurt dip, but if its just a bit grated into a salad I don't worry about it) but if its green I don't usually count it, and if its just a small amount of something in a salad like 1/4 of a diced bell pepper, then I don't count it.

    At this stage, working for me. If it stops working, then I might revisit it, but I seriously doubt that eating too many green veges will be the reason I stop losing weight. It certainly wasn't the reason I put it on!
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