Wow, girl, you do way better than me!

Like I said, some days 90% of my food intake is veggie. Then other days I hardly get any. Just depends on how my meals pan out for the day and what I'm in the mood to eat.

Not many veggies again today, I'm afraid.

I had peas and carrots today with my fish and that's about it.

However, I had a day last week (before I started this thread) where I had baked butternut squash for lunch along with carrots and spinach, then had broccoli for dinner with mushrooms and snap peas. So it just depends on how my meals pan out. Some of my meals are completely vegetarian, although I'm a meat lover, so I usually have chicken or fish of some kind.

This thread is reminding me that I'm not eating as many fruits and veggies as I should. I'm nowhere near the recommended 5 a day.

Today for lunch I had steamed cabbage and 1/2 a yam (there were also some mushrooms in the chicken marsala that I made). We had sushi for dinner, so the only "veggie" in that was the nori seaweed.

We eat out quite a lot and not many restaurants have a good variety of veggies, so I usually just have a side salad (not very nutritious :( )

I had a caesar salad today with mixed greens, carrots and onions. Spinach in that salad as well.

That's it on the veggie front, I've been really slacking lately. But I haven't had dinner yet.

For lunch I had Thai mixed vegetables (carrots, celery, mushrooms, broccoli, peppers and cabbage). I had butternut squash soup for dinner.

I love butternut squash soup! I love ALL squash, both winter and summer.

Doing a little better today. I'm having carrots, broccoli and cauliflower for lunch along with a bunless veggie burger and soy cheese. So I'm getting some mono's as well.

Oh, and lettuce and onions on my burger.

Had Japenese food today, so that means very little in the way of veggies :(

I had a little bit of seaweed in my soup and about a 1/4 cup of edamame (soy beans). I'll have to eat some vegetables for dinner. I have some leftover cabbage and 1/2 a yam. I might make a small salad too.

I love edamame!

Yes, they are very good for you (lots of protein) and a good way to get some soy in your diet. I realize I'm going to have to really work at it if I'm going to be eating more veggies!

Yeah, it's not easy, especially when you're working with calorie restriction. Until I reach my goal, I only eat about 1200-1300 calories a day. There's no way to get the "recommended" servings of ANY food group per day on that little bit of calories.

6-11 servings of some things?

Yeah, right.

A small ear of corn and peas and carrots with my catfish for lunch today.

Going to have steamed broccoli for my mid-afternoon snack.

So far:
a big "gourmet greens" salad at lunch
tabouli with a lot of parsley
shredded red cabbage

With dinner:
cucumber slices
frozen spinach

Drank some pom. juice.

Great job :)

I find that for the nutritional value and low calorie content, foods like veggies, fruits, beans and legumes are superior and are my first choice because it's very easy to get all the required daily nutrients by focusing on those foods *first* and adding in others (like breads) with what calories are left. By looking at the nutritional profile of recommended servings/foods, you can easily figure out which foods will meet those goals with the maximum fiber, nutrition and satisfaction levels.

I eat about 1200-1500 calories on average and a typical day looks like this for me:

A large bowl of split pea soup with veggie broth, celery, carrots, onions, garlic, spices nutritional yeast and served with 1/2 a sprouted grains bun

A large bowl of steamed broccoli with lemon, pressed garlic and nutritional yeast

A large bowl of red lentils with zucchini, kale, onion, garlic, leeks, cilantro, spices and veggie broth

1 can of chickpeas with flax oil, ground flax seeds, garlic, apple cider vinegar and spices, coarsely chopped and served over a HUGE salad of mixed baby greens, arugula, romaine lettuce, shredded beets and carrots, celery and tomatoes

4 cups Vitasoy Complete (the entire carton of 4 cups has only 280 clories, yet has 24 grams of protein, 16 grams of fiber and over 100% the daily requirement for calcium)

1 apple and 10 almonds

1 serving calcium-fortified orange juice with hemp protein powder

This day is nutrient-packed, delicious and gives me enough fiber and nourishment so that I *don't* feel hungry or deprived (and it meets or exceeds the nutritional requirements for an average 265 pound adult woman such as me ;) ). Plus, it's 100% cholesterol-free and very low in fat, especially saturated fat :)


:carrot: