[BlackBoxed]

I had planned to make chili paneer today as part of my weekly vegetarian meal. Then I calculate the points and thought it was a waste of points when the paneer wasn't 'that' important taste wise, but I eat a lot of rice usually. So I fiddled around with a few things and came up with some alternatives.

No oil was added, 3tbs low sodium soy sauce, 2tbs tomato paste, 1tbs grated ginger, 2 bell peppers, 2 100g portabella mushrooms, 1/2 head cauliflower grated, 1 tomato, 1 shallot, and spices (chili powder, paprika, tumeric, and garlic powder).

If I'm correct all of these items are 0 points for their serving size, but if I eat the whole bowl throughout the day, is it still considered 0 points? I figure it's at least 2-3 servings, so how does that work?

Forgive me if this seems like the answer should be obvious, but I don't do meetings or the online thing yet. I'm just going based off of the 0 point foods list and point calculators.

[jcourtney]

I would say that it's 0 points no matter how much you eat BUT if that's all you eat all day then how are you going to get your points in. I generally try to stay around 3-5 servings of veggies and 2-3 servings of fruit/day. If I eat more than that then I have a hard time getting the rest of my points in a healthy way.

[elaineindc]

BlackBoxed, can you post the recipe? It sounds delicious!

[CanoeGirl]

Why not put the amount you plan to eat in the day into the calculator and see what it says? For example I use balsamic on salad. The salad is 1 point for 1 serving but 3 pts for 2 servings so I count the secind serving in the day as 2 pts? I think it also depends on if your losing or not. If keeping it 0 works for you, then do what works

[KittenIsOverIt]

The spirit of the zero point veggies was not intended to create the possibility of zero point meals. The WW site makes it pretty clear that if you are doing anything to the vegetables that changes the experience of eating them, then you need to track them. I think you need to put the items into the recipe builder and track the points, because you are obviously eating them as a meal. It even sounds like you are eating it with rice, which absolutely makes it a meal or recipe, not a separate serving of vegetables.

People will argue this to no end and tell you a recipe made with zero point foods is zero points, but to me that's deliberately manipulating the system. Do what you think is right, but it's your results on the line.

[Koshka]

And, in the end, your body doesn't care if something is zero point or not. Your body pays attention to the calories. If you eat more calories, then your body knows that even if it is zero point. It may be that many zero point foods are healthier foods, so it makes sense to eat them. But if you ate 2000 calories a day of zero point foods, your body would see that as 2000 calories not as zero calories.