Serving size - What's a serving

The other day I was at the doctors for my annual
check up. He asked how much fruits and veggies I
have most days. Then he said that a dinner salad
counts as 3 servings. I was shocked:

Doc, *three* servings for a dinner salad? On that
scale the diced veggies I put in my morning egg
would count as one but I don't even count them.
I try to keep at least 5 but probably average about
closer to 4, but I count that salad that starts my
dinner as *one*. One your scale it sounds like I'm
getting more than a dozen and that doesn't sound
like it makes sense. A chunk of raw cauliflower
the size of my fist counts as one and that's half of
the veggie with my typical lunch.

He just smiled and didn't bug me about my diet.

I didn't even ask him if he was going to count potatoes
or whatever if the patient thought of them as veggies.

I've never heard of a doctor counting veggie servings
like that. No idea if it's his own notion or what. Very
wierd. Maybe he was trying to see if I eat nothing but
meat or something.

Maybe there is a difference in definitions. A dinner salad means a salad
that is a main dish to me, usually has some kind of meat in it like chicken
or shrimp. The salad that is served with a meal is a side salad. The
dinner salad is at least twice the veggie content of a side salad and
perhaps three times. Leafy greens are really hard to measure, how much do
you pack them down. Cooking spinach always is kind of a shock, a great
huge pile of spinach becomes a dab when cooked.

Doug Freyburger wrote:
| The other day I was at the doctors for my annual
| check up. He asked how much fruits and veggies I
| have most days. Then he said that a dinner salad
| counts as 3 servings. I was shocked:
|
| Doc, *three* servings for a dinner salad? On that
| scale the diced veggies I put in my morning egg
| would count as one but I don't even count them.
| I try to keep at least 5 but probably average about
| closer to 4, but I count that salad that starts my
| dinner as *one*. One your scale it sounds like I'm
| getting more than a dozen and that doesn't sound
| like it makes sense. A chunk of raw cauliflower
| the size of my fist counts as one and that's half of
| the veggie with my typical lunch.
|
| He just smiled and didn't bug me about my diet.
|
| I didn't even ask him if he was going to count potatoes
| or whatever if the patient thought of them as veggies.
|
| I've never heard of a doctor counting veggie servings
| like that. No idea if it's his own notion or what. Very
| wierd. Maybe he was trying to see if I eat nothing but
| meat or something.

In article ,
Doug Freyburger says...
Maybe he was trying to see if I eat nothing but
meat or something.

That would be my thoughts. He was trying to find out if you were eating anything
besides meat. Not that eating just meat would be that bad for you--I remember
reading in Taubes book about the scientists that ate nothing but meat and fat
for a year or so with the Eskimos and did just fine. I would think that eating
just meat would get kind of boring--as would eating just one thing all the time.

Atkins seems to be a dirty word to most folks--including doctors. Kidney
failure, heart disease, etc are just some of the myths about the diet. My doctor
doesn't seem to care when I tell him I eat eggs and cheese for breakfast. He
doesn't flinch when I tell him that I had a salad with chicken in it for lunch.

What can he say about meat, vegetables and a salad for dinner?

Particularly when he looks at my improved blood panel numbers, my lower scale
weight, and my lower blood pressure readings. 8^)

Mark
280/220/200

On Apr 8, 6:26*pm, Mark Filice wrote:
In article ,
Doug Freyburger says...

Maybe he was trying to see if I eat nothing but
meat or something.

That would be my thoughts. He was trying to find out if you were eating anything
besides meat. Not that eating just meat would be that bad for you--I remember
reading in Taubes book about the scientists that ate nothing but meat and fat
for a year or so with the Eskimos and did just fine. I would think that eating
just meat would get kind of boring--as would eating just one thing all the time.

Atkins seems to be a dirty word to most folks--including doctors. Kidney
failure, heart disease, etc are just some of the myths about the diet. My doctor
doesn't seem to care when I tell him I eat eggs and cheese for breakfast. He
doesn't flinch when I tell him that I had a salad with chicken in it for lunch.

What can he say about meat, vegetables and a salad for dinner?

Particularly when he looks at my improved blood panel numbers, my lower scale
weight, and my lower blood pressure readings. 8^)

Mark
280/220/200


Here's the definition of servings sizes from the USDA, who I guess is
the official keeper of the recommended food pyramid. In the case of
leafy vegs, it's a cup and 1/2 cup for other vegs. So, a decent size
salad could easily be 3 servings.

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/Fpyr/pmap.htm

Yes, this is the same as the serving sizes typically used by dieticians.
Definitely hard to be precise, especially with leafy greens. As FOB noted,
how much do you pack them down? Weight is a more precise measure, but who
wants to weigh all their food (other than you-know-who)? But in accord with
Doug's recent answer re carb counts, you don't really need that much
precision.

Despite the reported good health of the guys who ate nothing but meat and
fat for a year, I still think it's a good idea to get in some veggies and
maybe some berries on a regular basis. And research findings keep coming in
that suggest getting micronutrients from food sources, rather than
concentrated in capsules or tablets, is far more useful as a rule.

But I eat far more veggies since I started low-carbing than when I was doing
an Ornish-type diet. They just taste so much better when sauteed in a bit of
olive oil, or with the bit of butter, don't they?

HG

wrote

Here's the definition of servings sizes from the USDA, who I guess is
the official keeper of the recommended food pyramid. In the case of
leafy vegs, it's a cup and 1/2 cup for other vegs. So, a decent size
salad could easily be 3 servings.

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/Fpyr/pmap.htm

"Hannah Gruen" wrote:

Despite the reported good health of the guys who ate nothing but meat and
fat for a year, I still think it's a good idea to get in some veggies and
maybe some berries on a regular basis ...

Note that the all-meat folks end up eating it raw or nearly
raw to get more nutrients. And they eat entire animals
organs and all. While I don't mind liver and whatever I do
not look forward to eating eyeballs. I'll pass on the all-meat
idea thanks. ;^)

But I eat far more veggies since I started low-carbing than when I was doing
an Ornish-type diet.

Yeah, what's the deal on that? For 20 years I tried to do
low fat and for my efforts I gained 50 pounds. Now that I
low carb I eat a lot more veggies. That sure wasn't obvious
until I'd read the entire first book on low carb.

They just taste so much better when sauteed in a bit of
olive oil, or with the bit of butter, don't they?

Deep fried brocolli in the fondue pot. Yum.

In article
,
Doug Freyburger wrote:

"Hannah Gruen" wrote:

But I eat far more veggies since I started low-carbing than when I was doing
an Ornish-type diet.

Yeah, what's the deal on that? For 20 years I tried to do
low fat and for my efforts I gained 50 pounds. Now that I
low carb I eat a lot more veggies. That sure wasn't obvious
until I'd read the entire first book on low carb.

Veggies are a lot more palatable with butter or olive oil than steamed
with a squeeze of lemon juice.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

--
"[xxx] has very definite opinions, and does not suffer fools lightly.
This, apparently, upsets the fools."
---BB cuts to the pith of a flame-fest