Where would I post to discuss exchange diets?

How many of you use exchange diets? How effective are they?

Exchange plans are as effective as calorie counting, because they ARE a form of calorie counting (because each of the food servings within an exchange category have similar calorie and carb counts).

Likewise exchange plans are as effective as carb gram counting, and fat gram counting, for the same reason.

We don't have a thread or forum dedicated to exchange plans. Many of us have tried to get one started, but they tend to fizzle, I think because once you get the basics down, there's not a lot to discuss...

So you'll find us just about everywhere.

I usually follow a low-carb exchange plan myself (though I have a higher carb exchange plan that I use for days when it's going to be more convenient to eat more carbs, or I just want to).

I use a lot of different plans though, because I have dieter's ADD. I get bored easily and like trying different plans - though I usually translate them into exchange plans.

This week, I'm trying a meal replacement plan (sort of a cross between The Simple Diet and Medifast, Ideal Protein, or Wonderslim), and initially I wasn't planning on counting calories or converting it to an exchange plan, but it's become second nature.

I'm using the same food journal pages I always do (and I was just going to omit checking off the exchange boxes). Instead, I found myself mentally calculating the food exchanges and checking off the boxes, so I'm just going with it.

Even when I don't set limits for an exchange category, I still count them, just because it's become second nature.

Kaplods, are you using the same exchange plan that weight watchers had several years ago??

No, though the WW plan did influence mine. I liked that the old WW plan allowed for a certain number of "floating" or "flexible" exchanges that were optional and could be spent on dairy, protein, fruit or starch exchanges.

I don't remember which term WW used (JoAnna Lund's books used one term and WW the other).

So what I did was take a 1500 calorie high-protein exchange plan (such as found on the frugalabundance.com website) and added 5 floaters. Which meant that my minimum calorie count averages 1500 calories, my maximum calorie count is around 1900/2000 and my average is about 1800.

Because of the floaters, my carb-intake varies. If I choose to spend all my floaters on protein, I'm eating fairly low-to-moderate carb. If I spend them all on fruit and starch, then I'm eating higher carb.

I lose better and am less hungry, if I keep my carb intake fairly low, but during TOM carb cravings can be so bad, it's sometimes worth the extra physical hunger to placate the cravings/mental hunger.

Those five floaters are my safety net.

I have used other exchange plans, those I've found, and some I invented (or have translated other plans into).

I even created and followed an Atkins-style exchange plan. 1800 calories of only protein, fat, and vegetable exchanges to simulate "induction," and gradually adding in more veggie exchanges and fruit, dairy, and starches as one would following OWL along the Atkins carb ladder (the order in which Atkins has followers add back in higher carb foods).

I like exchange plans, too. Like kaplods, I tend to roll my own but experiment with others and they influence what I do. Unlike kaplods, I don't do that well on low-carb plans. Besides the old-style Weight Watchers, you might look into:

• the DASH diet
• The Complete Beck Diet for Life by Judith Beck
• Richard Simmon's Food Mover
• USDA's My Plate
• plans for diabetics

If you go with Beck, there is a support group on 3FC for that. Although, as kaplods says, we don't really discuss the diet much and not all of us even follow it. Beck is mostly about applying Cognitive Behavioral Techniques to weight loss and that's what we talk about.

I'm back just in time to discuss my favorite way of eating. Exchange way of life.
Yes I fell off everything for a while, and I mean everything. But now my feet are under me once again, and I ready.

I just wish I could find an exchange app for my phone, it would be so much easier to just use my phone.

I have change my eating habits so much over the years that some foods I eat now I cant find the exchanges for.
Almond milk? veggie or garden burgers? fresh carrot juice?

anyway its nice to be back where I belong with all my chick friends.

I learned to calculate exchanges from a food label from the book, "Exchanges for All Occasions" (the 4th edition, I don't know if the other editions have the same information)

In the 4th edition, the info is in Appendix 4 (Calculating Exchanges From Food Labels), at the back of the book pages 283-285

I've also found the information online by googling Calculating Exchanges From Food Labels


I just happen to know almond milk, because I use it all the time and calculated it from the label. The first step is a bit obvious (but not a given as I'll explain for carrot juice). The only ingredient in (unsweetened) almond milk is almonds. Almonds are a fat. Fat exchanges have 35 to 45 calories. Some almond milk contains 40 calories per cup (which would be one fat exchange). Some unsweetened almond milk contains 60 calories per cup (So 2/3 cup would be one fat exchange).

Now say for example you didn't know that almonds were a fat, you could still determine it from the label. If you look at an almond milk label (assuming it's unsweetened almond milk) you'll see that the carb and protein counts are very low (only one or two grams). Most of the almond milk's calories come from fat.... therefore you'd count it as a fat (and every 40 to 45 calories of it that you consume would be one fat exchange).
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Gardenburgers and other meat substitutes are a bit more complicated because there are many different flavors/recipes with different ingredients and nutritional profiles, so here's what I do, I guess or do the math. This is where the Exchanges for All Occasions "Calculating Exchanges from Food Labels" instructions come in handy.

There's also a "cheat" if you don't mind a wilder guesstimate (I don't, which is why I developed the cheat).

First I check to see if the carbs outnumber the protein. If they're roughly the same I will count half bread exchanges and half protein exchanges. If the calories are under 90, I will count it either as 1 bread exchange or as 1 protein exchange.

If the fat content is less than 5g and the burger has significantly more protein than carbs and the carb count is under 12, I'll count all the calories as protein calories (divide the calories by 60).

Otherwise I do the long-hand version of the calculations (which really isn't that difficult, it just requires more math than is easy to explain in a post).

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Now for the carrot juice, my Exchanges for All Exchanges book lists carrot juice as 1/4 cup = 1 vegetable. However some resources consider carrot juice a fruit rather than a vegetable (in which case 3/4 of a cup equals one fruit exchange).

On many exchange plans, you're allowed to count count 3 veggies as 1 fruit and/or count 1 fruit as 3 veggies (if you're diabetic, especially insulin-dependent I'd suggest talking to your doctor or diabetes educator/dietitian before assuming you can do this).

As a rule, veggies have less impact on blood sugar (and therefore hunger) than fruits, so (at least for diabetics and others with blood sugar issues), it's usually better to eat 3 veggies in place of a fruit than it is to eat 1 fruit in place of 3 veggies. It's also better in an ideal situation to eat whole fruits and veggies (the skins when possible) rather than juice. But really it's not anything to be overly concerned about unless you're eating no whole fruits and veggies.

thank you Kaplogs for all your information. you sure know your stuff. LOL
my Almond milk (Silk) has 60 cal fat 2.5, carbs 8, protein 1,
I may have to find another brand with more protein.

I use my juicer and juice a big bag of carrots and 1/2 apple it makes over a quart of juice and I drink 8 oz every morning.
I love to juice just about anything I can get my hands on.

I had Amy's tomato soup and figured it was 1 veg for half the can.
I think once I understand the formula and can remember, it will be much easier to figure out what to eat.

Hay does tops still do exchanges? This is what sparked my interest in going to tops in the first place.
Sorry to say WW was not for me.
thanks again

I don't think you'll have much luck finding a higher protein almond milk. They're all mostly fat. The highest protein almond milk I've ever found has 2g of protein.

The almond milk I use is 60 calories as well. I just either use 2/3 cup (1 fat) or 1 1/3 cup (2 fat).

TOPS doesn't and I don't believe ever has required a specific diet, but (at least for many years) have offered a book about weight loss that included exchange information. That is still true. The TOPS book (optional purchase) "The Choice is Mine," does include exchange plan information (and I believe at least one alternative program). There's also a lot of information on nutrition, behavior modification, exercise... It's just overall a great weight loss resource.

Most chapters have a copy you can borrow, and I believe the cost of the newest revision is $15.00 though there are often sales (recently TOPS offered a sale at $5 per book if a chapter ordered a minimum of (I think) 6 copies. We had enough members who wanted a copy to get the sale price (the last time TOPS had a sale like this was right before they came out with a new edition, though it were only about a dozen pages that were different from the earlier edition).

Even for people who aren't interested in joining TOPS, I would recommend "The Choice is Mine" (it's available on amazon.com, but it would be cheaper to get from a TOPS chapter. Some chapters might not be willing to sell a copy unless you joined, but I think most would.

I liked WW, but I prefer using exchange plans (and WW is so expensive). I've been a member of at least a half dozen TOPS groups, and some I loved and some I didn't. I would highly recommend that anyone interested in joining, visit ALL the chapters within their area. If you're not comfortable with the group(s) nearest your home, you might try one a little further out. It's worth a little bit of a drive to find a chapter you enjoy (or to consider creating your own group with people you feel comfortable with).

You can even create a private chapter (where members can only join by invite). I just read a couple months ago, an article about them in one of my TOPS groups about private/family chapters. Many are just a small group of friends or family members (has to be at least 4 members total to start a group). Many of these groups don't charge monthly dues at all (in fact all the members in their chapter may even live in the same house).

If I can get my health issues under a little bit better control, I would like to go into the middleschools and high school to speak to the teachers (or even the kids) about starting a TOPS group as an extra-curricular activity.

It is true that TOPS members do tend to be older, on average than WW members, but I think it's largely because retired folks are a little better at "word of mouth" advertising than younger folks (and TOPS doesn't advertise nationally, which is too bad).

I tried to get some flyers out at my doctors offices, but none would accept the flyers. Fewer and fewer doctors are working in truly private practices. Instead they work for HMOs, hospital networks, and clinics, so they refuse to advertise services because the parent organization offers it's own weight management services.

I have that book, somewhere is storage, in another state.
Had a good day yesterday ate OP and drank plenty of water.
getting ready to make a menu for the day.

Standard Breakfast
1 poached egg
1 slice of toast
8 oz of fresh carrot juice
1 small banana