Hello all!! Tomorrow is my first day on IP!!!!! I'm really excited and nervous! I need to lose about 150 pounds so I have a long way to go. I just had a couple of questions to ask. I was so nervous about today's consultation with my coach I was not able to ask all the questions I wanted to. I was wondering if you guys could help me out really quick.

On my protocol sheet it listed all the allowable veggies....now I have I have three questions regarding the sheet. I LOVE me some brocclini/broccli rabe. Is that considered to be part of the two cups, occasional category or not permitted.?I have a freezer full of it cause I love it with sauteed kinda with lots of garlic.. Now my other question is I was looking through the recipies on this forum and found the ever so delicious looking zuchinni and kale chips! These are def. on my "got to try this" list. Now does eating the chips count as part of your 4 cups of veggies ? How do you measure them out? I guess you would do it before you bake/dehydrate them.
Now my next question is tomatoes!!!! Some recipes call for tomato paste or diced tomatoes etc. I'm only allowed it twice per week. How much of a tomato am I allowed?

I think that's it! I apologize for letting that drag on for way to long. And I thank you for reading!

Nikki

Oh any tips or advice is appreciated!

The only one of those I'm experienced enough to answer is yes, the kale chips would count for the 4 daily cups.

Thank you!

Regarding the Broccolini/Broccoli Raab - I looked up the nutritional info on both, they are well below regular broccoli in calories, carbs and such. They should be fine, and would need to be counted in your 4 cups of veggies per day.

The chips (kale, squash, zucchini) should be measured before dehydrating/baking and DO count towards your 4 cups per day. Anything that gets dehydrated should be measured before drying, and unless you're dehydrating lettuce (ew) would count towards your daily veggies.

RE: the tomato - I stick to a 1 cup serving of it when I have it. Things like tomato paste and pureed tomato are concentrated, so I'd use 1/4 cup serving size. Diced tomatoes aren't much different in size than a tomato I chopped at home, so I'd use the 1 cup serving. I haven't seen hard & fast rules about that, but those are the ways I keep track and avoid overdoing it. You DO want to avoid premade tomato/marinara sauces - they are generally doctored with hidden sugars!

Hope that helps!

Yay! Thank you very much!!!! This def. helps...answered all my questions! I appreciate it!

Good morning blue, I'm in the same position as you. Was going to start today, but a friend asked me to go to the city shopping, so ill start tomorrow. And, yes ill be here for awhile. I have about 100lbs to lose. Good luck on your first day!