Hello all, thanks for all the support and wonderful info,on these boards. you have all been a tremendous help to me!!!

I've been OP for 3 weeks. I am losing well and feel great. Big C has only been an issue once, at the end of the first week but now all is well in that dept.

I do have a question about the lettuce. Except for the occasional meal out where a side salad comes with my meal, I'm not eating any lettuce. I am faithfully eating 4 cups of varied IP approved veggies daily, and I'm finding that's enough. I just can't bring myself to add lettuce on top of all that.

I should add I'm doing IP with alternatives but other than that I'm following the protocol.

What are your thoughts on the lettuce, can I skip it or is it a requirement to be OP?

Hi there! I do t think its mandatory but highly recommended. For me, it helps keep things moving so I try and eat some at least every other day. I like the darker lettuces like romaine. Iceberg is yuck!

I don't have it every day, but I try to have a salad at least three times a week, so basically every other day. I find the more lettuce I eat, the less frequently I suffer from the big C. But some days I find it is too much to eat lettuce plus my two cups of veggies, so those days I eat a little bit of extra veggies at lunch and less at dinner so it balances out.

My coach says recommended but not mandatory. I don't have that much lettuce as I just can't find a dressing that I like. Everything is moving along well with me.....

I eat lettuce with lunch and dinner. For lunch my two cups of veggie are chopped into my salad. So my two cups consist of cukes, red and green peppers, celery, radishes and red onion. Then at dinner I either have the same salad or if I have hot veggies then I have a big bowl of lettuce with red onion. There have been nights where I just have 2 cups of broccoli but then I wake up starving.

Oh! One more thing, for dressing I use a good olive oil, IP salt, black pepper, garlic powder and if I need some "ZING" some rice wine vinegar (0/0/0).

My coach recommends it due to the fiber, you need all the fiber you can get on this diet!

Most coaches highly recommend but it isn't "mandatory"

I'm finding the longer I'm on IP, the more veggies I wish I could have. Therefore, I consume them all & end up with my dinner meat on top of a big salad for dinner...just to have more "veggies"

I bought a mild dijon mustard and mix it with stevia and vinegar for a dressing. It's kind of like honey mustard vinagrette.

I have lettuce almost every day, either as a salad with a soy patty and chopped veggies or I eat 2c at lunch and 2c of veggies for snack then eat my meat on lettuce at night. Some days I work 7-7 so I have to spread out my food over 4 or 5 meals.

Thank you all for your responses. Based on what I've learned here I will do my best to add lettuce every other day. Thanks again!

I haven't eaten lettuce ONCE the entire time I've been on IP, and I've lost a pile of weight.

I usually eat my lettuce once a day for lunch as a big salad with veggies and one IP packet. In the evening, I only eat protein + veggies ! I am from France where we eat a bigger breakfast, a bigger lunch and a light dinner so I follow this regimen as it works for me

Breakfast : IP packet + 1/2 cup of warm water - if I eat the Omelet, I add 1/2 cup veggies in the omelet (asparagus, mushrooms, peppers...)
Lunch : big salad with lettuce and 2 cups veggies
Snack at 4 pm : IP Packet
Dinner at about 730 pm : protein + my daily leftover of veggies

Lettuce - I love the romaine the best - is full of fiber and keeps things regulated. I only experienced the Big C once since I started on July 15th. The warm water was recommended by my doctor to also keep things flowing !

As of this morning - went on my scale just to check - and I am at 32 ibs loss

Good luck to you !

I eat Spinach twice a day instead of lettuce but once in awhile have lettuce

Spinach is a select veggie. It is part of your 4c/day.
Lettuce is unlimited
They aren't interchangeable on the IP plan.

thank you Lisa