"Vegetable" Question
 

Does anyone know if it is allowed to weigh your vegetables before cooking to get the 8 oz and then cook them vice weighing out 4 oz after cooking? Most of the time I just kind of "stir fry" them so they don't lose much water and I can get a lot more to eat by going by the raw serving size vice cooked. The counselor at my center couldn't give me a good reason why this wouldn't be allowed, she just said it wasn't but it seems to me that total calories would be the same either way unless cooking somehow converts fiber to something that can be metabolized. Thanks

I wondered the same thing. I think the reason is because a lot of veggies' sugars come out when they are cooked. They change their nutritional value when they are cooked. I agree that the 4oz cooked serving is piddly! This is just my opinion. Many people on this blog have better education with nutrition.

I agree with Shannon. When you cook vegetables, it release more sugars in them, thus raising the amount of carbs you get. That's why you have to measure out 4 oz of cooked. I will cook up a bunch of veggies then weigh them out into 4oz portion and put them in small containers or zip lock baggies. This way I can reheat and eat.

Have you tried weighing the cooked veggies (that were 8 oz raw) after you cook them? You might want to try it & see how much of a difference it actually makes.
The sugars are more concentrated in cooked veggies because of the loss of some of the water. Most of the veggies I eat, tho, seem to be plenty when I weigh out 4 oz of cooked - and I like veggies.

Cooked veggies have more calories per ounce cooked, but I don't believe they "gain" calories in cooking -they just cook down (lose water). That's what I've always been taught in exchange plan diets I've followed (Weight Watcher's before 1994, TOPS club, diabetic plans....).

Fiber doesn't turn to sugar, it is always indigestible, and while starches can convert to sugars - starch carbs and sugar carbs have the same number of calories.