Measurements--cups vs. ounces

[Magna]

For anyone else who may be reading this, as people pointed out, there is no need to measure your vegetables. Estimation is fine, as long as you aren't consistently under-estimating the amount of vegetables you're eating (you really do need to eat a lot). For example, green salads often look a lot bigger than they really are - if you try measuring them pressed down lightly into a measuring cup sometime, you'll see this.

Measuring can be useful for people who really have no idea what a cup of vegetables looks like. It can be especially helpful at the start, because many of us really had no sense of an appropriate serving size (which was part of why we gained weight).

[Kimboroni]

THAT'S THE PROBLEM!!!!!!!!! Green beans are a couple inches long ---Are you saying that you fill up the measuring cup with the green beans?
I took a one cup measuring cup and filled it with fresh brussel sprouts and got 4-------If I chopped them up I probably would have gotten a lot more. The same holds true with the green beans--If I cup them up in tiny pieces and placed them in the 1 cup measuring cup, I would get a lot more. There must be some easier way to convert ounces to cup measurements when purchasing fresh vegetables, because you order by weight when you go to the deli counter, not by cups.

If you're going for perfection, then the measure would be based on chopping it up into little pieces so there isn't really any air space at all. But we're not looking for perfection, and you want to eat those vegetables in larger pieces, not tiny ones. You want to eat a lot of veggies at each meal --about a couple of fists' worth. We just eyeball it and get it in the produce section. But it sounds like you're getting it at a counter where someone else portions it out for you, so you don't have the chance to eyeball it and adjust as necessary.

I don't know how authoritative this is, but give it a try: http://www.quickeatsplus.com/converter.html

And I'm pretty sure there were other sites like this linked on the European Friends post. Might be better, might be worse.

[garygr]

I just came from Wegmans Supermarket and noticed that all the veggies in their deli case have a sign in front of them saying 4 ounces-(1/2 cup)

I asked the counter folks if that means that 4 ounces of veggies equals 1/2 cup and they all said yes.
I know that we don't really need to be concerned about eating too many veggies, but the veggies that are sold at Wegmans in the Deli case all have basting oil and taste great. I can easily eat a couple pounds of green beans and brussel spouts, but that's over 1200 calories according to the label when you buy them in the Club pack.

[Magna]

Sounds like they probably use a lot more oil than you really need. You might be able to mix those marinated vegetables up with some regular cooked ones - there's probably more than enough oil for double the amount of veggies. Or, you can put them on/in a salad if you like salads.

[garygr]

Sounds like they probably use a lot more oil than you really need. You might be able to mix those marinated vegetables up with some regular cooked ones - there's probably more than enough oil for double the amount of veggies. Or, you can put them on/in a salad if you like salads.

Actually, the green beans are loaded with oil and the brussel sprouts also have a lot, but they taste great. They roast all their veggies and mixing fresh ones with the marinated ones would require some time and work---both of which I have no patience for---------which is why I take the easy way out and just buy the prepared ones.

[Kimboroni]

Are you progressing satisfactorily toward your goals eating that much oil?

[garygr]

Are you progressing satisfactorily toward your goals eating that much oil?

Good question-----I've been maintaining the same weight for a couple months now--and that's a good thing since I haven't gained any weight.
My weight fluctuates plus or minus 100 pounds depending year to year

[Kimboroni]

If it's working okay for you so that there's no motivation to change it, then that's okay. While the oils they add aren't the most beneficial options for heart health, they're not harmful either that we know of.