Enough vegetables

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posted by Bella51
on 11 Mar 2016 at 00:14

Hi
Probably another silly question from me but I am concerned that on the 800 cal diet I might not get enough vegetables. I am trying to follow the 4 week meal plan from Dr Mosley’s book and wondered if I am supposed to add green salads or non starchy vegetables to the basic recipes. Some of the daily menus seem very low on veggies. Can anyone clarify this for me please?
posted by Shrinkydinkyman
on 11 Mar 2016 at 07:25

Hi Bella I think the book says you can have unlimited streamed green veg.
I drizzle mine in olive oil and cracked Black pepper. Tastes delicious.
posted by hashimoto
on 11 Mar 2016 at 07:31

Hi Bella, eat as many green, leafy veg as you want! Veg like cucumber and celery is also very low calorie so add some of that to your meals where appropriate 🙂
posted by Bill1954
on 11 Mar 2016 at 08:41

Agreed, lots of above the ground veg, use below the ground veg (swede, turnip, parsnip, carrots ets) sparingly as they do tend to have more carbs and sugar.
Cauliflower is very versatile and can be made into mash for pie toppings or cauli rice. Celeriac, I find, is a very acceptable substitute for swede. Add herbs and spice to vary your menu’s.
posted by ChannelK
on 11 Mar 2016 at 15:59

Bella51, i agree with Bill1954 that cauliflower mash is great – it’s tricked my head into thinking I’m eating normal mash. Mixed with butter and some grated cheese and pepper for flavour. Also peeled courgettes in strips (I don’t have a spiraliser) and then fried quickly. Enjoy your veggie experimentation!
posted by Bella51
on 14 Mar 2016 at 06:02

Thank you everyone for your help and I apologise for the delay in my response. I think adding steamed veggies will definitely help me stay on track . Even though I have been following the 800 really closely I am not getting the weight loss results that many /most people have been reporting and it is discouraging. I am hoping that once I ramp up my exercise, the weight will start shifting. The weather here has been very hot over the past few weeks and not very conducive to a lot of exercise.
Thanks again.
posted by Jani
on 27 Mar 2019 at 05:41

Can anyone tell me if leafy vegetables include unlimited broccoli?Is it only the root vegetables you have to watch?
posted by Mariet
on 27 Mar 2019 at 10:23

I’ve always counted caps and carbs from broccoli. Actually I’ve always counted everything I put Iin my mouth, I didn’t think anything was ‘free’ though leafy greens have very little of either.
posted by alliecat
on 27 Mar 2019 at 12:57

We count all vegetables for carbs and calories Jani. There are no free foods except water 🙂
posted by sunshine-girl
on 27 Mar 2019 at 14:01

I am sure some of the recipes give a calorie count and then say served with xx veg add another 50 cals or whatever. If the veg is included in the recipe then it has already been counted. I have always counted everything.
posted by Esnecca
on 27 Mar 2019 at 15:31

I second Allie and s-g. There is no unlimited anything. Anything you ingest has calories and all vegetables have carbs. When you have a strict 800 calorie limit, you can’t afford to write off anything on the grounds that it’s green or leafy. Broccoli, for example, has 4 grams of carbs in a 100 gram serving. That’s just a cup. The average bunch is six times that amount.

Your best bet when it comes to veggies that are rock bottom in calories and carbs is cooking greens: kale, collards, mustard greens, turnip greens, chard and my personal favorite, broccoli rabe. They are very high in fiber and therefore low in net carbs. For raw veg go with spinach, arugula, butter/Bibb lettuce, romaine hearts, plant sprouts of any kind (as opposed to bean sprouts). Fermented veg are also fantastic, as long as they’re real lacto bacillic ferments and not the vinegar brine pickling you find in mass-market sauerkrauts and pickles. Just check the ingredients. If vinegar and/or sugar are listed, that’s not your guy. The vegetables, salt and water should be the only things listed. Sauerkraut, kimchi, cauliflower, asparagus, dilly beans are delicious sources of vegetables with even fewer carbs than the original vegetables had before they were fermented. Also somebody else already did the work for you, so all you have to do is plop them on a plate. I’ve had many a dinner composed of chicken sausage, three different krauts and two kinds of pickles. That’s like 7 or 8 veggies for less than 50 calories and maybe 3 grams carbs.
posted by sixturkeys
on 27 Mar 2019 at 16:08

I had to look up the UK equivalents of some of those. Seems Butter/Bibb lettuce is “floppy” lettuce (ie like Little Gem or standard soft lettuce)and Broccoli Rabe is called Rapini or Turnip Tops – I don’t think I’ve ever seen that even in the “upmarket” supermarket. I must go a bit further afield and try out local farmers’ market. Will also look out for fermented veg (oh and dilly beans are green beans?). I have seen recipes but bit worried abt the process (exploding jars!)
posted by Esnecca
on 27 Mar 2019 at 16:49

Rapini are broccoli rape, but turnip tops are probably turnip greens. They’re literally the leafy top part of the turnip that grows out of the ground while the turnip itself stays underneath getting starchy. Any root veg you see in the store that still has its greens attached — turnips, parsnips, beets — is worth picking up. Give the root away or feed it to someone else in the household and use the greens for the low-carb, high-nutrition gold they are.

Dilly beans are indeed green beans with garlic cloves and seasonings and fermented. They’re very common in the southern US particularly, but they’re not hard to find elsewhere in the country. It’s the kind of thing everyone’s grandma used to make.

I got a special fermentation lid when I started out to avoid the explosion problem and it worked so well I now have a dozen of them. This is the kit I have: https://www.amazon.com/Easy-Fermenter-Wide-Mouth-Lid/dp/B01DJVVORE/ref=asc_df_B01DJVVORE/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198106240524&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9227979939691108235&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9003283&hvtargid=pla-350234896271&psc=1 . It looks like Amazon.uk carries the brand but it’s much more expensive as an import. They have very similar ones that are reasonably priced, like this set: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fermentology-Simply-Sauer-Vegetable-Fermentation/dp/B0789NL1JQ/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=easy+fermenter&qid=1553705188&s=gateway&sr=8-2 , or just a nice big jar which might be a simple way to get started if you don’t have a billion wide-mouth mason jars lying around like I do: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fermentation-Release-Valve-Mouth-Silicone/dp/B079L9SG9L/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=easy+fermenter&qid=1553705308&s=gateway&sr=8-3