6th SemiAnnual Veggie Challenge

[RosieC]

Isn't rutabaga (which we call swede) a starchy vegetable, like carrots? I didn't think it would count as a turnip ...?

Surely Dr Atkins wouldn't have allowed something with 21g carbs and no fibre in the early levels ...?

EDIT ... I think the database must be wrong about the fibre, though, because raw rutabaga has quite a lot, and fibre doesn't disappear in cooking.

Glad to hear about avocados!

[Fancy1952]

Hi Rosie, yes, rutabaga IS one of the OWL rung 8 vegies, but as I mentioned, I grew up knowing it as TURNIP, imagine my surprise to find REAL turnip I made that mistake during induction, but was quickly put on the right track by imagood1 Interesting how cooking a vegetable changes the sugar content, eh? Unfortunately, I'm not a fan of raw rutabaga or turnip ;(

See you in the vegie aisle,

Suzanne

[mitzimarie]

Rosie and Suzanne - thanks for the discussion! Here are a few points about rutabaga and turnips:

rutabaga = Swede turnip = Swede = yellow turnip Pronunciation: roo-tuh-BAY-guh Notes: Rutabagas look like turnips, only they're a bit larger and have a yellow complexion. Use them just as you would turnips.

turnip Notes: Turnips can be roasted, boiled, steamed, or stir-fried. Select small turnips that feel heavy for their size.

Have any of you checked out the link to the Nutritional Spreadsheet that I included in the first post of this thread? It lists each food, the weight of the food per cup, the nutrition facts, and which rung the food is allowed. I LOVE this list! I printed it out, and use it all of the time.

Here is the link to it again: (Sorry I can't get it to look like it does in the first post)http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.com/useful_files/CARB_COUNT.pdf


Very awesome tool for those of us who like to measure our veggies by weight, rather than trying to figure out just how much veggie we should put into a cup to consider it a full cup.

As you can see from the spreadsheet, turnip is an Induction veggie, and rutabaga is a Rung 8 Strachy veggie.

[Georgiana]

Originally Posted by Fancy1952

Wow, I was just being busy on Fitday comparing "cooked from fresh" and "cooked from frozen". Almost twice the vegie carbs in "cooked from fresh"! So I will try cooking fresh broccoli, since it's one of my favourites, and since my local store seems to have stopped carrying frozen broccoli

It is better to measure/weigh all your veggies raw, whenever possible. If you buy frozen, that's fine... but try to measure them before cooking.

Also... if you chop the broccoli in tiny pieces and fit it in a cup, the net carbs you will be consuming are going to be different than if you were to measure it in larger pieces. And if your pieces don't have a different size than those that were analyzed by the USDA, the carb count will again be different.

It is better, in my opinion, to weigh your vegetables raw, before washing them (to avoid weighing water). That way 100 g of broccoli will have the same number of carbs, regardless of how you chop it or how you fit it in a measuring cup.

As for the difference between frozen and raw broccoli... This is from the USDA...

100 g broccoli, raw

89.30 +/- 1.036 g water
2.82 +/- 0.437 g protein
0.37 +/- 0.004 g fat
0.87 +/- 0.033 g ash
6.67 g carbohydrate 
2.6 g dietary fiber

100 g broccoli, frozen, unprepared

91.46 +/- 0.134 g water
2.81 +/- 0.045 g protein
0.29 +/- 0.022 g fat
0.66 +/- 0.013 g ash
4.78 g carbohydrate
3 g dietary fiber

As you know, in the US everything that is not fat, protein, water or ash is considered to be carbohydrate. This is why there are standard errors given for water, protein, fat and ash... but not for carbs. If you take these standard errors into account, the total carbohydrates in 100 g of raw broccoli can be anything between 5.13 and 8.15, while the total carbohydrates in 100 g of frozen broccoli ranges anywhere from 4.57 to 4.99. The differences, as you can tell, come from the different water content and from the different errors appearing in determining water and protein content.

I was also checking out rutabaga versus white turnips, lordy, 1 c. of cooked rutabaga has 21 grm of carbs and no fibre!

As Rosie pointed out, the carb count you are using is incorrect. There are indeed 21 g of total carbohydrate in 1 cup of boiled rutabaga... but there is fiber there too (4.3 g).

Whereas the same amount of turnip has 7.9grms of carbs and 3.1 grms of fibre.

This time of the year we have Tokyo turnips around here and they are nice steamed, with butter and spices on them.

Interesting how cooking a vegetable changes the sugar content, eh?

Cooking does have some effect on the carbohydrate content of vegetables, but the difference you are seeing with rutabaga comes mainly from a change in volume, not from some physico-chemical changes in carbohydrate content.

If you compare equal weights of raw and cooked rutabaga,

Raw (100 g):
8.13 g total carbohydrate
2.5 g dietary fiber

Boiled (100 g):
8.74 g total carbohydrate
1.8 g dietary fiber

The difference in total carbohydrate content is caused mainly by a loss of water in rutabaga, as a result of boiling.

It is not very clear though what happens with the total carbohydrate and dietary fiber content of vegetables as a result of cooking. Some water is lost in cooking, which can "concentrate" the carbs. Some dry matter is also released in the boiling water, which can increase the percentage of dietary fiber. Sugar in the cells can be released in the boiling water as well, which decreases the carbohydrate content. Some dietary fiber can also be lost in the boiling water.

But in the end, the differences are pretty small; for the veggies I checked, the largest differences between raw and boiled are around 1 net carb. However, you need to weigh them raw and dry... or, if you prefer, measure them by cup, but raw.

[gonnabskinny]

Originally Posted by mitzimarie

You bet!



LOL! Oh, yeah... you're an angel.

And a joy. I'm glad you're here. It's been a long time!

Thanks! Actually, we didn't do mexican last night after all. We went to TGI Fridays, which had easier choices. While everyone else sipped margaritas and chardonnay, I had a couple of wonderful tall glasses of ICE WATER! I really was a good boy, at least almost! I had the cobb salad. All legal, but after logging in everything last night I estimated that I went over my induction allowance yesterday. I should have stopped at 1/2 the salad and taken the rest home and I would have been fine.

Today we are meeting somebody for lunch at a local bbq place. At least Rudy's has a nutritional guide. However, the sides!!! Yuck! Nothing to choose from, so stopping by Market Street on my way there and going to make a small salad at their salad bar and carry it in with me.

[LittleLinda]

Count me in for 12g please!

[mitzimarie]

Originally Posted by LittleLinda

Count me in for 12g please!

Gotcha!

barrnone - OWL
Blueberrylady - OWL
Fancy1952 - OWL
Georgiana - OWL
goin2befit - Induction
gonnabskinny - Induction
happymom - OWL
imagood1 - Induction
jimmie 48 - OWL
kntrylady - OWL
LittleLinda - Induction
liv - OWL
mitzimarie - Maintenance
mizski - OWL
RosieC - OWL
Sham - Induction
somethings gotta give - Maintenance
Valinerya - Induction
Whatsername - OWL


Don, exellent job on your dining experience!

Georgiana, thanks for your discussion. I appreciate it.

Off to work! I'll check in this evening. Have a great day, All.

[lucyloo]

I'm in too! 12nc - Induction

[gumby87]

Hi! I'd like to join too, please. I'm currently doing OWL.

I'm really looking forward to the challenge to get in my veggies.

[somethings gotta give]

For my first new veggie I think I am going to add Jicama, never had it don't even know what it looks like, but came across a recipe for "french fries". Anybody ever had it, and if so how did you cook it and what would you compare the taste to?