One Cup Meals

[RobinGirl 34]

Does the one cup meal rule refer to the weight or the size of a 1 cup measurement? Specifically with lettuce.

[2muchfun 8,927]

Size.

[geology rocks 9]

I'm no expert and everyone's doctor is different, but my doctor said to imagine your food puréed in a one cup container. A "cup" is a volume, so you cannot use weight as an approximation unless you are considering a Fluid like Water. This is because 8 Fluid ounces is equivalent to one cup. Using ounces only works with drinks. That said, invision what you are eating all chewed up in a one cup container. Hope this helps. The weight / volume thing is hard if you don't work with weights and measures on a daily basis. Don't worry! You will get it figured out! :-)

[DELETE THIS ACCOUNT! 12,703]

It's volume or size. Picture filling a one cup measuring cup.

[elcee 3,342]

I've never used the 1 cup thing as I find it too difficult. I am surprised though at geology rocks comment about imaging the food all chewed up in a container. I didn't realise that it was 1 cup after you have chewed it. How the heck are you supposed to measure that?!!!!

[djbrn02 6]

I usually try to measure everything. I bought a kitchen scale and I measure my meat (3-4 oz), then vegetables. However it total 8oz total in weight. Regardless if it is a liquid or not when chew it started at a certain weight. So if you chew 3 oz of meat then it is 3 oz however you toss it. I try not eat things that I can not measure and that keeps me in line with Portion Control.< /p>

[RobinGirl 34]

I'm still confused about lettuce. Once it's chewed up well it gets really small. That's why I thought if I weighed it it would be more realistic. In a salad bowl I can only fit maybe an ounce and a half of lettuce but it looks like a cup in size. One bag of lettuce only has 5 ounces so a little goes a long way. It has little or no calories and it provides Fiber and Vitamins (the dark green stuff) and it makes my chicken easier to palate. My dr told me to eat it I just don't want to over stuff my stoma.

[Heathermarie0407 67]

Your going to know when your getting too full. I would say do what you can to estimate you one cup chewed. And the. Pay attention while your eating. And just stop when your satisfied, don't wait till your stuffed and you should be fine.

[geology rocks 9]

Why not ask your nutritionist? I am sure they could help you out.

So far as the "all chewed up" comment for visualizing your portions is concerned..... They actually told me to imagine it puréed in a one cup container. Chewed up.....puréed.....same difference! :-) I hope I didn't confuse anyone with that comment. The point is that your stomach above the band only has about a one cup volume.

This might help..... I have juicer at home. Three good sized romaine lettuce hearts will condense down into about 2 cups of "juice" and about 3 cups of pulp. In short, when I make a salad I get a 2 cup plastic ziplock container and fill it with lettuce (not packed in there too tight, but not super lose either). After adding dressing, feta, sunflower seeds, etc....the rather large looking salad is actually just about the perfect size for me. I try very hard to keep meals down to 1.5 cups or less, so the salad is just about perfect even though it takes up more space than "one cup". Remember!! You can't eat the empty spaces between the leaves of lettuce, so they don't count as part of the one cup volume!! Lose, fluffy foods are challenging to measure for this reason. I agree with the gal above..... You will have a good idea of how much is enough after a while. Listen to your band and you level of satiety. Best of luck! :-)