food pyramid and calories

Jeffrey

I just read that a grape tomato is 1 calorie. And then the food pyramid has vegetables at the base and most prominent food you should eat. That makes me think it is 'servings' and not calories because I would have to eat 400 grape tomatoes just to match the burger I eat for dinner. I eat about 20-40 grape tomatoes per week as a snack.

karasti

Actually, that isn't really true. I don't follow the food pyramid or anything else suggested food-wise by the USDA because they are just plain biased and not based on sound nutritional advice (though it's better than it used to be). People in the US especially but in the western world tend to get hung up on the idea that we need the US RDA of 2000 calories a day, on average. This is vastly more than the average person really needs, and is set up that way before of our poor standard American diet. In order for us to even get close to the nutrients we need, based on what we generally eat, then we need to get closer to those higher calories. Even then, we still don't get nearly enough nutrition.

Meat, especially fatty ground beef, is very calorie dense, lots of fat and then protein. Not all meats are calorie-dense but the red meats are. If you were to eat, say, a wide variety of only vegetables for a day, and nothing else, eat until you are a satisfied at each meal, you would eat far, far less than 2000 calories a day and still have gotten a vastly superior amount of nutrients compared to the average person.

An average sized person needs about 1200 calories a day for the body to perform it's functions, cell growth and repair, digestion, breathing, and so on. Very few people any more expend 800+ calories a day worth of energy to justify eating 2000 calories a day. That's a lot of calories. Track your calories for a few days using one of the free sites. Fitday, MyFitnessPal, SparkPeople. They are all pretty good and easy, I find fitness pal to be the best, but that's just my opnion. Anyhow, track what you eat and see how many calories you eat. You might be surprised.

I do eat meat, but I don't eat it with every meal or even every day, and it consists mostly of lean farm-raised meat, mostly chicken, turkey fish and eggs. I eat about 8 servings a day of vegetables and probably 3 servings a day of fruit. A couple of dairy (almost entirely greek yogurt, I don't drink much milk) and that's about it. On an average day, eat around 1500-1600 calories, and I work out for an hour a day.

Anyhow, sorry to ramble on. Fitness and nutrition is one of my hobbies of study, lol. I'm not really sure what you were asking, exactly. But you can eat far, FAR more calories in vegetables than you can meat, and you'll fill up a lot faster. You can eat 1200 calories for lunch at Mcdonalds but most people would be very, very hard pressed to eat 1200 calories in a whole day much less a meal, of vegetables.

Jeffrey

I had an idea for an iphone app would be that you dictate to the phone I guess via siri and it keeps a record 'on the go'.

Thanks for the info. My question was if 8 servings of vegetables even amounts to much calories, because the tomatoes have hardly any calories. I love tomatoes.

karasti

It doesn't, no. But it amounts to a lot of nutrition and your body needs more of that than it does calories. I haven't been recording my calories much lately, but when I did, I could eat a huge salad, spinach, romaine, tomato, cucumber, peppers and it would end up maybe 150 calories or so before adding dressing. Far more nutrition than the 1200 calories McDonalds meal, lol, but obviously not enough to sustain a person for a day. That's why vegetarians tend to eat a lot of beans and grains, because it's pretty hard to get enough veggies and fruits (fruits are more calorie dense because of the natural sugar) to come close to your daily needs. I like salads, but I don't love them, so I mix my salads up with green smoothies and toss protein powder into it. They are pretty good and a smoothie will fill me up for a good 3 hours. You can pack a lot into those suckers, much easier than trying to eat 5 cups of spinach and kale, lol. For me anyhow.

Things like potatoes (which really isn't a veggie but we consider them veggies) and squash are quite a bit more calorie dense. But things that you'd typically put into a salad are pretty low on calories for sure. High on nutrients and antioxidants though. Kale is one of the better ones out there. Copy and pasting:
One cup of kale contains 36 calories, 5 grams of fiber, and 15% of the daily requirement of calcium and vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), 40% of magnesium, 180% of vitamin A, 200% of vitamin C, and 1,020% of vitamin K. It is also a good source of minerals copper, potassium, iron, manganese, and phosphorus.
That's a lot of punch for a couple leaves. The funny thing is, I started researching the benefits of some of the greens after we started keeping reptiles and that's what is recommended to feed many of them, kale, collars and mustard greens. I didn't even know what they were, LOL. I work every day on trying to get more nutritient dense foods into my diet. Something like only 10% of people get enough. That's horrible. I try to set a good example for my kids, especially the diabetic one. The thinks smoothies are a gift from the gods, so I throw all kinds of veggies in there for him and the other kids, and they don't even realize they are drinking leafy greens. They won't touch them otherwise.

Jeffrey

My brother has a high power blender that he makes smoothies. We talked a lot about nutrition and he sent me a book! It's called The Spectrumby Dean Ornish and I guess I have been thinking about nutrition as my sugar levels were high though I am not yet diabetic. I have also been running and exercising since January and that feels good both mentally and physically.

Kale is also good for eye problems. My family has some history of macular degeneration which is problems I guess with the retina somehow. I discovered I like kale popcorn, have you ever tried that?

lamaramadingdong

Speaking of this- anyone know a good recipe for beet greens? I buy fresh beets often and it kills me to thow away half of what I buy. I've seen some recipes on the web, but would like to hear from some of you here that have actually eaten them and what you recommend.
Dwight Schrute didn't answer my email...

karasti

Never had kale popcorn, never heard of it? Can you make it or did you have to buy it?

Jeffrey

I had it at a restaurant but you can make it. I think you just kind of dry it out in the oven. It is like dry kale bites salted a little, but because most people are conditioned to like snacks it sets you in that addictive mindset of taking one after another. But the trick on your brain is that it's healthy!

karasti

I will have to dry that, I assume it's probably like make kale chips but smaller pieces. Fun! Thanks!

how

lamaramadingdong said:

Speaking of this- anyone know a good recipe for beet greens? I buy fresh beets often and it kills me to thow away half of what I buy. I've seen some recipes on the web, but would like to hear from some of you here that have actually eaten them and what you recommend.
Dwight Schrute didn't answer my email...

My partner just steams them and adds butter, squeezed lemon, salt & pepper.
It's kind of like cooked spinach.

lobster

I have also been running and exercising since January.

Outstanding. Hence the diet changing . . .
:clap:

You are losing weight . . . oh yeah . . .

How to eat might be of interest (mindful eating)
http://www.mindfulnessdiet.com/program/articles/a-mindfulness-eating-exercise-simple-instructions

DaltheJigsaw

I think this works for an average individual, it does not work for every person. Everyone is definitely different. As some Monks eat meat and others do not.

blu3ree

To make kale chips the kale needs to be dehumidified. then it will be crunchy afterwards although, this may take away some of the nutritional value.

karasti

@LeonBasin what are you referring to as far as what works and does not work? I don't see where anyone claimed that everyone should take on certain lifestyles. Certainly every person is different and has different diet requirements. The vast majority of people in the western countries can benefit vastly from adding more nutrient dense foods to their diet, regardless of how many total calories they eat in a day.

person

On the subject of nutrient density. Many of the obese people today, particularly the poor, also suffer from malnutrition due to the lack of nutrients in low cost food.

http://www.sparkpeople.com/blog/blog.asp?post=can_you_be_both_overweight_and_malnourished