Okay, my Swami says I'm allowed 5 cups of veggies per day. Now is that cooked or uncooked? With Brussels sprouts and brocolli there is hardly any difference but with spinach it's a whole different story of course (as well as mushrooms and onions).

I've always figured that meant raw veggies. I count 1/3 cup of cooked spinach as a full cup of greens, even when it starts out in my kitchen as 1/3 cup of frozen spinach.

Agreed....spinach shrinks down to nothing.  I buy the fresh baby spinach at WFs and I could toss half a package into something I'm cooking on the stove and it seems like there's hardly any there.  I do use it straight from the package for salads and for sandwiches though.

Quoted from ruthiegirl

I've always figured that meant raw veggies. I count 1/3 cup of raw spinach as a full cup of greens, even when it starts out in my kitchen as 1/3 cup of frozen spinach.

1/3 cup raw spinach is a full cup?? How do you do that?

2 cups of raw spinach turns into approx. 1/2 cup cooked spinach in my kitchen.

I fill a 1 cup  measuring cup full with spinach and count it as one cup raw, or cooked, it just shrinks in cooking.  I do the same with bag salad (usually have 2 cups of salad mix with 1 cup of baby spinach, then top with 1/2 cup each of onion, celery, and green pepper, 1 cup of portobello mushrooms, 1/4 cup seeds, 2 Tablespoons (or 1/8 cup )of ground flax seed and ground almonds.

Quoted from SandrAruba

1/3 cup raw spinach is a full cup?? How do you do that?

2 cups of raw spinach turns into approx. 1/2 cup cooked spinach in my kitchen.

Whoops. I mis-typed before. I count 1/3 cup of cooked spinach as 1 cup of raw greens. By your calculation, 1/4 cup of cooked spinach would be a full cup of greens. Either way is probably accurate enough, but I prefer to err on the side of "this wasn't enough- let's eat more veggies!"

I'm reducing my intake of spinach for a while to see if there is any improvement in my intestines. I'm not stopping it but I have been eating it quite a lot and sometimes 3 times a day.

It contain oxalic acid, a substance which (paradoxically) interferes with the absorption and assimilation of iron by the digestive system.

I never really looked at the amounts of veggies I ate. I know I am allowed 5 cups and I usually go like... okay this is about .. so much. But then I realized that perhaps if I want to loose weight sticking more closely to the prescribed amount for a while is better. So I started measuring everything and realized that it's not that easy since some food shrink and it made me wonder about how you should measure.

I am also trying to limit the grains for a while. I'm allowed three slices of bread every day, but I want to only eat grains, three times per week. So I am eating more salad as my last meal, which is why I have to know how much I am eating so I won't overeat in the evening.