2 Fruit and 5 Veg per day

[knickerless]

Hello,

Just completed my first day on Cohen's and it was fine BUT

I am surprised just how little our vegetable servings are! I had XXg grated zucchini with breakfast, spinach leaves at lunch and for dinner my veges amounted to half a small tomato, a couple of slices of zucchini and one and a half mushrooms. I LOVE my vegetables and I wonder how healthy it can be to have so few?

[hope_ful]

hey knickerless
you have to trust the doc and your prescribed amounts!!! i also love my veg, and i used to pick "light" vegetables so that id get more.. try slicing button mushrooms, you get heaps, and i would thinly slice cucumber and also baby asparagus and spinach leaves weigh very little so you can bulk up your meals.. cabbage is another good one.

in a week or so when you feel slimmer and amazing u will not question how much you're eating, you will be thankful you can lose weight by pretty much being brainless and following a plan heheh its really awesome how this will change your perspective on food and also show you (and me and everyone else) that u dont need a heaped plate of food to live, your body can survive on less food than we used to eat.

enjoy the weekend and good luck with your journey!

xx

[knickerless]

I am more worried about the nutrients rather than the physical size....I suppose that is why we take our vitamins!!

I am sitting here eating my breakfast of yoghurt and mango which frankly seems to me a huge portion - I was quite shocked to measure it out and see how much was there.

[hope_ful]

if you're eating fruit and veg in your daily food intake, you're getting nutrients, minerals and vitamins.
when someone eats bread and processed food all day, thats when you should be worried.

[kagiesen]

1 serve of veggies is a cup. So if you have, say spinach or rocket for lunch, it will be at least 2 serves and full of nutrients. Just try to chose those that weigh less. I found the best was always rocket, and if you don't like that taste, mix the leaves with baby spinach.

[Alibaba]

I am a big eater and I have made peace with the smaller protein portions, so they are fine, but I would also like bigger vegetable portions. That said, you will survive and loose the weight. The joghurt and fruit (the ones you have to weigh) portions are quite big.

[ConnieK..]

I guess my point of view here is

and I wonder how healthy it can be to have so few

I imagine quite a bit healthier than carrying around 30 or 40 extra kilo's

If we all ate healthy portions and foods before, we would not need to be here would we?

Connie

[knickerless]

Thanks all for your input - I am putting all of my trust in the programme but these questions pop into my head and I like hearing others opinions!

I am not having any problems with the portion sizes at all, it is purely the benefits of having the 5 servings of veg per day that I am getting hung up on. I will keep taking my vitamins and eating lots of spinach!!

[Charmaine]

Hi Knickerless

Guess I'm odd one out, coz my veggies seems like quite alot! Maybe it's because I've never really liked my veggies! I really do weigh it all and end up with a full plate of food. Try making dishes like stirfry veggies, with your beef strips. U'll be surprised how much food it seems to be, and also really tasty.

Also, using mixed veggies, makes it look more colourful and more of a variety - guess it's all in the mind, but it works for me!
Good luck!

Charmaine

[sundaymorningstaple]

I'm wondering if you have read your programme incorrectly. Normally most programmes will only have three serves of vegetables per day. That doesn't mean you can ONLY have three vegetables but it means you can only have three serves. You could always combined several vegetables as long as you do not exceed your meal allowance.

I've never heard of a programme that had vegetable allowances except during meal 1, 2 &3. I've heard of having 3 fruit serves a day though (I had three). You might want to go back and see if you've misread your programme.

sms

[knickerless]

Hi SMS

You're in Singapore - (I love Singapore!) so yuo probably haven't come across what I am referring to.

The 2 Fruit and 5 veg per day is part of a government health advertising campaign that encourages people to make sure they eat 2 serves of fruit and 5 serves of veges every day. I have definitely read my programme correctly and do eat a variety every day, my question was purely based on the notion that unless we eat the lighter weight vegetables, we are getting less than 5 serves (a serve is a cup) of veges a day.

[Shanara]

HI knickerless,

That is the same government I presume that tells me that carbs should make a significant proportion of my diet according to the food pyramid. Those guidelines are general ones aimed at increasing people's awareness of their health and their intake of fresh, unprocessed food.

On Cohen's we eat almost only unprocessed food and the quantities are not meant to last a lifetime. They are for a specific, time limited period to achieve a specific goal - namely 'normal' weight range. The health benefits of this is enormous and one only needs to read some threads in the health section to see that many on here benefit enormously.

When we have completed the programme part of Cohens we would do very well if we kept our intake or processed foods so low and increased our vegetable and protein intake as per refeed guidelines, which would probably be in excess of 5 cups a day for many.

I would now like to address something which, as a moderator, i have noticed in the last few months. This is not addressed at you personally knickerless but for the forum in general.

There just seems to be a huge increase in the questioning of the programme and the rules of it. So many seem to want to bend the rules or question why the programme says this or that. Also others want to compare it to some other system or programme.

Now i am not usually one to advocate blind adherence to rules and have been known to question lots of things - particularly the system when i thought it was stupid. However when I decided to do Cohens I made the decision to just follow the programme and see if it worked. I thought if it did - wonderful. If it didn't then I would keep on my search for what was right for my body.

I was excstatic when it worked for me - and spectacularly - beyond my wildest dreams! I would like to encourage people to just do the programme and stop trying to question everything. If it works for you also - wonderful. If not then that is the time to question.

I also decided to put on hold everything I thought I knew about nutrition and just allow that maybe there was another way - different from what many others advocate.

This forum was started as a support programme for those on Cohens - not as a general nutrition or weightloss forum. There are others for that. There are also other forums for lots of things. This is designed specifically for those who want support for their Cohens journey.

It can be very derailing emotionally to have people questioning the rules continually and trying to find short cuts and other ways to somehow modify their Cohens programme. As moderators we get feedback from those who find this very unsettling and have left the forum because they find it shaking their resolve to the programme.

I would really encourage everyone to just do the programme. If its not on your programme you can't have it so why expend energy wanting something that you can't have. Give blessings for the beautiful, healthy foods that we are allowed and see it as a gift to your body.

I was lucky. Early on I learnt from someone who had been doing the programme for eight months and could finally have a cappucino after pining for one almost every day she was on the programme. When she had it during refeed or early maintenance - guess what - she didn't like it and preferred her black coffee as she ahd been having on the programme. the valuable lesson she taught me was to stay present and just do the programme. To allow that my tastes may change. And they have. I am now one who also drinks my coffee black and feel a bit sick when i have milk.

Please everyone lets just keep on track and do the programme - as it is written in your programme booklets.

Thanks everyone
Shanara

[ConnieK..]

Shanara ....




beautifully said hon, you know my position on it ....

Connie

[firefox]

Actually the 5 serves is a concept they use in Singapore as well, and all the posters show the serves in the form of cups. I guess we have to assume that that measure is for people who don't have to worry about resetting their metabolic rate.

[knickerless]

Hi Shanara, you said that your reply wasn't directed personally at me however it was posted as a reply to me so I am going to respond. Perhaps you should post your comments as their own separate topic in case they are missed by others.

This is the first time that I have ever joined an online forum and I posted what I thought was a valid question. My question was not understood as it was intended. I wasn't looking for excuses to bend the rules. I have started a diary and have added there that I am going to follow this programme to the letter. I am already seeing amazing results, which three years of gym and calorie watching has been unable to replicate. However, it is probably going to take me at least 9-10 months to lose my weight and I was just wondering aloud if others had thought the same thing.

Of course I am going to be healthier with the weight off but I currently have normal blood pressure and very low cholesterol which I attribute to a diet full of lots of healthy vegetables.

Anyway I think this thread is best left alone now. Thanks for everyone's replies!

[Alibaba]

Shanara, thanks for your wonderfull message. I was a bit sceptical about Cohens as there are so many fad diets out there, but you are absolutely right. It works!!! We eat good healthy food without all the sauces, creams, etc which have loads of kilojoules. It reteaches us to think about what we eat and how to cook it. It shows we don't "need" all the sugary, fatty processed foods we thought we couldn't live without. Hopefully I won't return to all my ways of eating before I was on Cohens, but the occassional treat or glass of wine won't kill me.

[TransformationSoup]

Shanara,

I have soaked up your wisdom.

Being very new (just a few days) to this forum, and about 6 weeks in to Cohens I am questioning BUT NOT CHALLENGING Cohens regularly as I learn how it works, for my own personal knowledge, learning, interest and admiring fascination.

I was really pleased to find out why we could have yoghurt but not milk. Why green capsicum but not red, yellow or orange.

I am learning valuable tools here through Cohens, so please don't take me the wrong way when I ask questions, because I believe I will keep asking them.

I am sticking to my presecription because it is working, but I find it really good to know how and why it is working too.

With Respect and individuality,

TS

[Mette]

Hey TS,

Just in response to your capsicum remark: capsicums start out the same - green. But some of them are allowed to ripen to yellow or red, and during that process, the chemical composition changes to contain more sugar. Makes sense?

One of the things that I found a lot of people (outsiders) questioned about the program was 'why can't you have (insert item here), it's healthy'. The response is simply this: the items on the food list are the combination that has been found to yield optimum results in the shortest amount of time.

Other things - like the red and yellow capsicums - will come back on maintenance. Just remember once you get there to take baby steps and find out what works for you. And enjoy the journey now. You are giving yourself and your body an amazing gift - one that will add years to your life.

[TransformationSoup]

Mette, thanks so much for your gentle response to my curiosities. The logic of this food science is so new to me, unique compared to anything I have known before in it's inclusions, exclusions and success.

The more I understand only adds to the quality of my journey.

You said "the items on the food list are the combination that has been found to yield optimum results in the shortest amount of time" ~ I might have to quote you on this.