Okay, I know, and I'm not questioning the fact you can only have the restricted veggies 2 times a week. What I'm wondering is what does it mean?

I have a tomato addiction and I miss them!

What I want to know is, if I decide to have them, do I have to have them all in one day? Have a 2 cup serving of them? (that's a lot of carbs heaped up at once) Or can I spread out my tomatoes to having 2 normal 1/4" thick slices maybe 3 times a week when I eat my turkey burger?

BTW, they are the ONLY veggies on the restricted list I even bother with. I don't eat any of the others.

Please don't scold, I'm just asking for your thoughts.

Thanks

I talked to my coach about this early on and she gave me this as an analogy. It is better to eat a pint of ice cream in one sitting than to spread out the ice a little scoop each day. The reason being is that the ice cream in one sitting would spike your blood sugar, your body responds and then has time to even out. If you continue to hit it every day with ice cream though, the blood sugar keeps spiking and eventually it stops regulating itself, hence metabolic syndrome that got many of us to overweight to begin with.

Tomatos may seem less extreme than the ice cream but it becomes the same principle when we are trying to stay so low day to day in our carb intake during the weight loss phase. The occasionally hit is okay but don't continue to do it day after day. And it also helps us learn some of the same perspective that we will need in maintenance.

So the short answer is: have your tomatos twice per week, 2 cups at a time if you need that much.

It's a good question, no one should scold...

You can have them all at once or spread thru out the week. The only danger of spreading them thru out the week is that you may have more then 2 cups unless your careful. You can also use them in your meat sauce instead of eating them as long as they are included in your 2 cup portion for the week. Although, if you're eating the full 2 cups then you can't have any of the other veggies. You'll be amazed at how your taste buds change and how many veggies you'll want to try...so just pay attention to which restricted when.

Ie, I'd miss pasta and just make the sauce with tomatoes etc so I could ease the 'craving'

I missed them too...especially when my garden was full of tomatoes...and I had to give most of them away. But they are actually a fruit so they have more sugar then most veggies, although not as much as say carrots.

Good luck!

I'm sorry to find this post funny. Who is addicted to tomatoes?? I have the same problem, but I want to eat 2 cups of CHOCOLATE every day! LOL....

It's hard to understand when "healthy" stuff is restricted. I know a diabetic serving of grapes is 6 grapes. Who eats only 6 grapes?? It's tough when there are restrictions, but the bottom line is how your body reacts to sugar. My son, gets as crazy eating strawberries as he does drinking a pop-worse even.

Thanks everyone! Okay, I'll keep up with avoiding them until my "day" of the week.

I already eat only low-carb options (no restricted foods) because I'm diabetic. You're right about the sugar spikes.

Thanks again!

hahahaha. That's awesome. So honest. I could totally measure out two cups of chocolate right now and have that for supper.....But I won't.

I used to ADORE tomatoes. I grow lots of the heirloom type and used to eat them all the time. Once I started IP, I had to give them away (my neighbors LOVED me), and it was hard at first not to have them. Fast forward some months and now I really don't have a taste for them. I also used to love onions, but now, I really don't have a taste for that type of food either. I was just munching on some raw yellow squash, and I was perfectly happy. So, if you let the diet, it can change your taste buds, which I think is one of the best things about IP.

IP43 I'll have the 2 cups of chocolate plz!!1 hahaha
I spread my restricted out throughout the week. I really don't understand a coach saying that it would be better to eat them all at once than spread them out. Anyway, my weight loss hasn't been affected by this so I guess it's your choice.

Hi Leanne -- hope you weren't offended by my earlier post. I wasn't trying to bug your addiction I actually love tomatoes too, but I've been weaned off them as my hubby was raised in the "tomato capital" of Canada. He had so many of the "scratch and dent sale" items that he is "tomatoed out" for life. It is a rare day in our house to have red sauce items, so I was actually just jealous!

Totally not offended!
I seriously have had no problem giving up things I ate all the time. I've been semi-low carb for years (because of diabetes) so giving up bread, pasta, etc was not even an issue, as I ate very little and have been doing alternatives to that for a long time.

But I always ate all the veggies I wanted. I never limited my tomato consumption on my salads, sauces, stews, soups, and if given the chance, I would eat 2 cups of tomatoes a day. It's the only real CRAVING I've suffered through in the 6 weeks I've been on this diet, but I've been good.

I have had a couple "tomato days" as I call them. I've made pasta sauce once, which I eat on Miracle Noodles. And when I went to Carl's Jr. for the low carb burger, I got EXTRA tomatoes on it. But other than that, I've stayed away from all of the restricted veggies.

I guess I should be happy I don't have cravings for REALLY bad stuff, right?

I can say though, that when I do have them, my glucose readings don't seem to go up, so...it's not so bad.

Granted I don't reeeally understand the insulin response, but I think that little amount of carbs doesn't spike up the insulin and from that point of view it is better to spread them out. Kind of like, don't have more than 15 net carbs per 2 hour period or so, so that sugar can get absorbed without needing insulin. I read somewhere that body can absorb small amount of carbs without insulin. Anyway, I don't think tomatoes would hurt your diet even if you had them every day, but it's up to you....

The tomato issue was always a question with me, especially after reading Dr. Tran's site-where he says tomatoes each day are not a problem (as long as they aren't cherry tomatoes). I just try to limit them to twice a week.

That's interesting because there is zero nutritional difference between a cherry tomato and a regular tomato. The only reason I could see for that differentiation would be that it might be easier to overportion smaller tomatoes, but there's no difference in carbs or calories.

I too love tomatoes but I haven't really missed them to be honest. I've had them only twice in the past month and only as part of my veggie portion.