Chia Seeds?

[Sacramento Vegan]

First day - not sure where to count Chia Seeds
I do know a T has 68 cals and 4.5 grams of fat though....

[Happy Herbivore]

all seeds are a "fat" (seeds, nuts, coconuts, avocados = fat)

A serving of fat on the program is approx. 85-100 calories with 2-6g carbs, 3-5g protein and 8-10g of fat. 

Since 1T of chia seeds is 68 calories, 6g carbs, 2g protein and 4.5g fat (and thus, 1/2 T chia seeds is is 34 calories 3/1/2)

I would treat 1 1/2 T chia seeds as ONE serving of fat (102 calories, 9/3/7) which perfectly meets the serving definition.

This is my fave part of the program -- you can really make it your own with food choices! 

[Happy Herbivore]

I've been getting a few emails for how to figure out recipes, etc. I know the first few days are hard -- there is a huge learning curve but by Friday it'll be second nature.

K. wrote me asking me to help her figure out her morning smoothie.

K had: 3 kale leaves, 3 romaine leaves, 1 ½ cups sliced banana , 1 c almond milk, 1T Chia seeds, 1 cup mixed berries/cherries, 1 scoop amazing grass (wheat grass powder)

I find it's better to look at each ingredient rather than the smoothie as a whole. 

For example, 1T chia seeds is a little less than 1 serving of fat. 1 cup mixed berries is 1 serving of carbs, 1 1/2 cups bananas is 1-3 servings of carbs depending on if it was sliced banana, mashed banana, etc.

The 6 leaves probably don't even equal one serving of carbs... I would treat it as a 1/2 serving. The almond milk is 1 serving of protein & I have no idea what the nutrition analysis is for wheat grass powder to make a guess (I'd need to see the label).

REMEMBER TOO that No one food is going to be all carbs or all protein -- so even though almond milk has fat it's MOSTLY protein, which is why it's treated as such. Even brown rice has protein in it, it's still MOSTLY carbs, and so on.

Look at the definition for each serving and compare that to the nutritional info of the food you want to eat in order to decide if its a carb, protein or fat and how much of it is 1 serving :-)

A serving of protein is roughly 100-130 calories with 18-25g carbs and 5-10g protein and 1-4g fat.

A serving of grains and fruit carbs is 100-150 calories with 20-30g carbs, 1-4g protein and 0-2g fat.

For vegetable carbs, it's based on selecting three items for variety (who wants to eat three cucumbers to get a serving?). Each partial serving is 30-40 calories, 7-8g carbs, 0-2g protein and 0-1g fat so when you add three together it mimics 90-100 calories, 20-30g carbs, 3-6g protein and 0-3g fat

A serving of fats is 85-100 calories with 2-6g carbs, 3-5g protein and 8-10g fat.

But really, the easiest way -- is based on 100 calories -- if you eat 300 calories worth of spinach you know it's 3 servings. EASY!