If anyone has any suggestions on measuring food, please read my post in The Zone forum. I have since noticed that it doesn't get alot of hits and that I should have posted my questions here in the general forum. I won't make that mistake again. (If I knew how to copy it to here I would, but I'm not very good at website stuff. If someone could tell me how, I would gladly copy it to here.)

Coppying....

Hold the left mouse button down and highlight all the words you want coppied....

Right click...

Click on copy...

Go to where you want to "copy" it....

Right click again and click on PASTE. Easy as that

Subject: Measuring food

Hello!
I like to be specific. How much does a cup of lettuce weigh? A cup of spinach? Green onion? Etc.
I ask because what one person considers a cup loosly packed could be another persons cup very compacted. It could be two lettuce leaves or six lettuce leaves. Another thing, when they say diced celery, depending on how you dice something (lg. or sm.) you can fit more or less in the cup. A tomato, a peach, or a bell pepper all vary in size so saying two tomatoes is one block is confusing. Two roma tomatoes is much different than two brandywine tomatoes. By weight, no mater how it is compacted, cut, or grown it is the same weight. Where can I find a list of fruits and veggies with their nutritional values by weight (grams or ounces). The one good book I have found is listed as "one medium tomato", "one cup of spinach", or "five radishes".
Help please!

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Reply from toodlepip:

Hmmm I think you may be going overboard. Lettuce has negligible carbs so why worry about it? I make huge salads and never think twice about how many cups or carbs it is.

When you are eating healthy carbs like celery and strawberries etc I don't think it makes a blind bit of difference if there is an extra strawberry or a few extra chunks of celery.

As for tomatoes, peaches etc....if you are so concerned consider a medium size to be the norm...so if a recipe says two tomatoes are one block they are not talking about an extra large size of your head tomato.

However I really don't get hung up on the small stuff. The whole point for me is not to be manic about it all. To get a feel for what balances in terms of blocks and not worry about the carbs unless I'm having a piece of chocolate or something. Then I want to know exactly what I'm eating.


A good listing if you want more specific measurements is http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/cgi-bin/nut_search.pl

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My reply back:
I completly understand what you are saying and kind of expected a responce like that, but I would still like to know. You haven't seen my salads! If I make a 3 block salad and eat an apple (again...size does matter) that could really set me off by at least a whole block or more. When you add all of the little carb items together it can be overdone. I am sure everyone here has been doing this way longer than me, but I am pretty anal when it comes to measureing or weighing or anything mathmatical. (On the other hand my spelling could use some help!)

Anyways, I would really like a reference that compares cup or size to ounces or grams.

Thank you for your advice.

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That is the whole thread so far from The Zone forum so people don't have to go to it anymore. Thank you slimshady for your help!

Hi twofoofers!

The USDA Database is probably the right resource for you. We have it at the top of the page under Low-Carb Tools, but the actual online database would be better suited to what you are looking for.

Here's an example under the listing of Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw, year round average:

1 cup cherry tomatoes = 149 grams
1 cup, chopped or sliced = 180 grams
1 Italian tomato = 62 grams
1 cherry = 17 grams
1 large whole (3" dia) = 182 grams
1 medium whole (2-3/5" dia) = 123 grams
1 slice, medium (1/4" thick) = 20 grams
1 plum tomato = 62 grams
1 small whole (2-2/5" dia) = 91 grams
1 slice, thick/large (1/2" thick) = 27 grams
1 wedge (1/4 of medium tomato) = 31 grams
1 slice, thin/small = 15.0 grams

You check off the boxes beside them and it gives you the nutritional information on the items you've selected.

Here's the link:
USDA Database

HTH,

Karen

...very much, Karen. That is the same link toodlepip gave me. The funniest thing...that is the exactly the measurements I looked up to test the site. Even worse, I have that site bookmarked. &

Just one more comment before I go. Ever wonder why these doctors writing these books don't just make up their recipes with information like this. Leaving it up to each persons interpretations as to size of portions on something based on that exact thing, you would think they would be a little more specific. And they are the ones with the letters behind their names.

Thanks again to everyone!

From the USDA database:

Lettuce, cos or romaine, raw

100 grams of edible portion=100 grams
1 inner leaf=10.0 grams
.5 cup, shredded=28 grams


Spinach, raw

100 grams of edible portion=100 grams
1 cup=30 grams
1 bunch=340 grams
1 leaf=10.0 grams
1 package (10 oz.)=284 grams

You may want to start a journal and keep that kind of information in there so it won't get lost. The forum is pretty active and threads move quickly down the ranks.

If you start one, It's easy to access from the http://forum.lowcarber.org/ page. You just click your avatar and it will take you to your profile which contains link to your journal.

Karen

Hi twofoofers

Do you have a food scale? Like you, I switched from stuffing solid foods into measuring cups to weighing them, simply because it depends too much on how tightly you pack food in.

I found, of all things, a postal scale to be the cheapest. The food scales with any degree of accuracy were horrificaly priced. The digital postal scale was much cheaper. Mine does ounces and grams, and lets you do tare, so you can put a container on it, zero out the weight, then add the food. Try Staples or WalMart.

AngelaR for your advice. I do have a little kitchen scale, but it is not the most accurate thing in the world. I have asked for a new one for Christmas, but I may go look at the prices at OfficeMax and if it isn't too high, I'll take it off my Christmas list and replace it with new clothes!

Karen, thank you again for your advice. I may start that journal. I thought I would just print the pages I look up and keep them in a 3 ring binder in my kitchen. When I'm cooking, my husband is usually playing counter strike on the computer, having access to it for dinner would be out.

Look for a digital kitchen scale. It's much more accurate and you can find them for about $30. I got mine at Lechters, which has since closed. I don't have a good kitchen store available to me any more and I'm lost without one.

;-Deb

On the USDA database, under carbohydrates they are listed as "Carbohydrate, by difference".

Does this mean they compute it by subtracting the fat calories and the protein calories and what is left is carbohydrate calories divided by 4 for the amount of carbs?

Or does it mean they have already subtracted the fiber count?

Or does it mean neither one of these and it is just the total carbohydrate count?

Twofoofers -

As far as a scale goes, you may want to try Walmart... they usually have pretty cheap prices. Just a thought!

Got the scale already. Picked up a postal scale at office max. Thanks.