Clarifying weights and measurements

[Sarah1980]

Hi all!

I'm a newbie (although not a newbie to Atkins) and I have the most recent book, Dr Atkins NEW Diet Revolution, published in the UK in 2003. I've noticed a few things have changed, such as the amount of veggies and cheeses you can eat. If I remember correctly, the very first edition I owned didn't prohibit cheese or salad veggies, only certain types of veggies.

And now I'm confused just a bit! I hope someone can shed a bit of light on this for me....the Atkins people really didn't (I emailed them a few days ago).

In my book, it specifically says:

"Salad Vegetables: You can have 230g-340g (8-12oz) per day" and then lists them.

On the next page, for the Other Vegetables, it specifically says:

"Other Vegetables: You can have 140g-200g (5-7oz) per day if salad does not exceed 230g (8oz)--these vegetables are slightly higher in carbohydrate content than the salad vegetables."

Ok. Now, the problem. g=grams. Grams are weight. So are Ounces unless using a measuring cup, which is Fluid Ounces. It would never occur to me or anyone I know of to do anything other than WEIGH their vegetables using Dr Atkins' guide. And this is what I have been doing.

However, according to several other sources, including the Atkins Website, I am allowed 2-3 CUPS of salad veggies per day and 1 cup of Other Vegetables if I haven't exceeded 2 cups of salad veggies. According to customer service at Atkins, the rule of thumb is to cut up your veg into small pieces and loosely pack them into measuring cups!

That is totally contradictory and conflicting information and is why I am confused. Three measuring cups of salad veg is absolutely nowhere near the 230g-340g that the Atkins book allows. I bought a bag of ready chopped salad the other day....a HUGE bag that yielded 3 massive heaping bowls of salad and it weighed 250g! That's on the minimum side of the allowance!

I hope I'm making sense.....can someone shed some light on the subject? Thanks in advance!
Sarah

[not2late]

It's the editor's fault. Whoever edited the UK book didn't know that fluid measurements don't equal dry weight measurements. For example, 8 fluid ounces of tomatoes doesn't weigh 8 ounces.

Some of our UK members use a measuring jug (240 ml = 1 cup). Some of our UK members weigh their veggies (there's a conversion chart in the sticky by soliwit).

[Sarah1980]

So for dry goods, Atkins is using fluid measurements??? Oh no!

[Elizellen]

Originally Posted by Sarah1980

So for dry goods, Atkins is using fluid measurements??? Oh no!

Weird isn't it

I can see how you might measure something like rice or flour by cup measures (in the olden days they used things like a 'peck', 'bushel', 'firkin' or 'hogshead') but broccolli?!?!?

You can buy cup measures nowadays in most of the superstores and cooking shops if you decide to use them for some foods.

I use mine when measuring ground linseed (flax in USA) and ground almonds for recipes.

[Sarah1980]

The thing is, I've been measuring my veggies...and having a right nice feast! That's got me down now lol I've not been going overboard or anything by any means. It was just a thrilling thought that I could have that much veg to eat!

I wonder how many other UK Atkin's dieters are doing the same thing?