:? I am a little confused. If two tomatoes are one block of carbs. and 1.5 cups chopped tomatoes are one block of carbs. Then why is it when I chop one tomoto I get 1.5 cups? doesn't really make sense.

[quote:ccc7369b95="arsenikos"]:? when I chop one tomoto I get 1.5 cups? [/quote:ccc7369b95] :shock: Never seen that big tomatoes in my entire life! Our tomatoes are less than 1½ inches (diameter)... :)

wow, barmansk, that's a really small tomato....

yeah that is a small tomato. it just confuses me that there are two ways to measure tomatoes with different results. the confusion arose when i tried to substitute one tomato block in a recipe that didn't have tomatoes. instead of putting two tomotoes i tried to be more analytical and decided to chop them. i chopped one tomato and had 1.5 cups of tomato. i had one tomato left. if i hadi put in the two tomatoes i would have added 2 blocks of tomatoes and had too many blocks in my meal. Can anyone see my point?

Hello- There are basically three ways to Zone. First is the hand/eye method. Protein source the size and thickness of your palm, fill the rest of your plate with low GI vegies and fruit, with a little favorable fat sprinkled on top. Next is the block method. Use the block guide in any of the Zone books for a GENERAL average quantities of favarable foods. The first two methods illustrate that you can be successful on the Zone without killing yourself with weighing and measuring everything. The last method is indeed using nutrition labels or nutritional information to calculate EXACT measurements in weight or volume. This is the method I use. I am VERY anal-retentive (obsessed with even the smallest of details.) Each method has its positive and negative aspects. Don't get bogged down with which is better. They all work. Chose the method that you think will work best for you and go with it :) Have fun! It's FOOD! Michelle

i think i like the third way. but my problem is that the discrepancy is both with the 2nd method. In the food block guide it says two tomatoes or 1.5 cups chopped. which would you use if you had to use this procedure. it's twice the blocks according to my example above. and how would you do it by weight?

[quote:a22ded3cd9="arsenikos"]i think i like the third way. but my problem is that the discrepancy is both with the 2nd method. In the food block guide it says two tomatoes or 1.5 cups chopped. which would you use if you had to use this procedure. it's twice the blocks according to my example above. and how would you do it by weight?[/quote:a22ded3cd9] You've posted this question in two different threads, which is confusing. I'm not an authority on this, but as it would appear that tomatoes come in different sizes, and unless Dr. Sears clarifies what size the "average" tomato is to allow two per block, perhaps it makes sense to use the 1.5 cups chopped as the block size. It also might help if you see how many of the average size tomatoes where you live it takes to equal 1.5 cups chopped, and then you'll have your answer! 8) Andrea

[quote:eae2b53d28="arsenikos"] and how would you do it by weight?[/quote:eae2b53d28] OK, let's be serious now. First, you need to know the nutritional value of the tomatoes, for example [url]http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/cgi-bi.../url]. One block of carbs is 9g, and 100g of tomatoes contains 3.9g of carbs. Therefore, you need (9/3.9)*100g of tomatoes for one C block = 230g. Does that make more sense now? :? This is the method I always use. [i:eae2b53d28]Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw, year round average Scientific Name: Lycopersicon esculentum Nutrient Units Value per 100 grams of edible portion Water g 94.50 33 0.159 Energy kcal 18 0 Energy kj 75 0 Protein g 0.88 19 0.039 Total lipid (fat) g 0.20 26 0.034 Ash g 0.50 19 0.018 [b:eae2b53d28]Carbohydrate, by difference g 3.92 0 [/b:eae2b53d28] Fiber, total dietary g 1.2 5 0.234 Sugars, total g 2.63 0 Sucrose g 0.00 12 0.002 Glucose (dextrose) g 1.25 16 0.135 Fructose g 1.37 17 0.073 Lactose g 0.00 9 0.000 Maltose g 0.00 9 0.000 Galactose g 0.00 4 0.000 Starch g 0.00 4 0.000 [/i:eae2b53d28] I hope this helps you :)

thanks this is the kind of information i've been waiting for.

[quote:ece066a17f="BARMANsk"] OK, let's be serious now. First, you need to know the nutritional value of the tomatoes, for example [url]http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/cgi-bi.../url]. One block of carbs is 9g, and 100g of tomatoes contains 3.9g of carbs. Therefore, you need (9/3.9)*100g of tomatoes for one C block = 230g. Does that make more sense now? :? This is the method I always use. I hope this helps you :)[/quote:ece066a17f] How many grams per ounce?

[quote:ef9c860696="jaydpiii"][quote:ef9c860696="BARMANsk"] OK, let's be serious now. First, you need to know the nutritional value of the tomatoes, for example [url]http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/cgi-bi.../url]. One block of carbs is 9g, and 100g of tomatoes contains 3.9g of carbs. Therefore, you need (9/3.9)*100g of tomatoes for one C block = 230g. Does that make more sense now? :? This is the method I always use. I hope this helps you :)[/quote:ef9c860696] How many grams per ounce?[/quote:ef9c860696] about 28 g per ounce Sue

hey barmansk, just one question, don't you have to subtract out the fiber?

[quote:a3bce5074f="arsenikos"]hey barmansk, just one question, don't you have to subtract out the fiber?[/quote:a3bce5074f] Hi Arsenikos, that's correct. You do subtract out the fiber. I'm using a less complex nutritional info from Finnish www pages (fineli) showing both 'total carbohydrates', 'carbohydrates, fibers subtracted' and 'fibers'. I compared the USDA www-page content to my own lists from Fineli, and found that 'carbohydrate, by difference' was equivalent to the fineli (carbohydrates, fibers subtracted). I hope that someone using the USDA list can confirm this deduction. The point is, anyway, that you do not count the fibers. -Satu-