Portion question (Lesson 15)

Hi Jeff,

Just finished reading the "two fingers" rule of thumb (no pun intended). I get how it works with solids like avocado, cheese, etc. For lunch I tend to use EVOO on salad and I cook the meat in coconut oil. Would a teaspoon of each (one of EVOO on the salad, one of coconut oil in the pan) be the right amount? Room for more?

Thanks.

Spoiler alert! This might be in the wrong place...

Moved to appropriate forum

Room for more go 1T EVOO and 1/4 avocado. 

Hi Jeff,

Other than the calories, is there a downside to having more than the amount of fat you're recommending? I'm a lightweight, love the taste of olive oil, and when I make my green lunch salad I usually pour as much EVOO as want. And the same question with saturated fat. For a while I was using a lot of saturated fat, and my cholesterol level went high. I know by itself it doesn't mean much, but all the other parameters (HDL/LDL ratio, LDL particle size, particle number, etc) were negatively affected as well. I'm curious what your input would be.

Thank you.

Saturated fat and fructose intake should be inversely proportional. If you eat no fructose then saturated fat is fine. If you eat a lot of fructose then I would limit saturated fat... Well I would remove the fructose but you get what I mean. 

In the specific case of EVOO on salad yea go ahead and add to taste. 

The only fructose I get is from fruit. An apple and some berries, and an occasional banana is my daily intake. It sounds reasonable to me, but reassurance would be nice.

BTW, I've been enjoying the education a lot, and thanks for the time you take for helping. It's highly appreciated.

Mehmet,

It sounds reasonable to me as well. Fructose got its bad name from high fructose corn syrup. Basically it has 55% fructose vs the usual 50% in table sugar. After that started getting press (google Dr Lustig) about how bad it was the knee jerk reaction was to do away with all foods that have fructose in there. Into fruit. Its absolutely outrageous to ditch fruit because the 5g of fructose it has. A 20oz coke is a different story but people lack the ability to infer. 

Bananas are a great PWO food. A little know fact is when you are glycogen depleted(you puked in workout) a bananas fructose can restore muscle glycogen faster than just glucose. This is because fructose by passes digestion if you will. And, we are talking about a very small amount here not a "liter of cola Farva"

You are more than welcome for the help. Its really cool to see you guys go through the program. 

Ugg...I should never have said anything about the fructose PWO....here we go. 

Hi Jeff,

would it be possible to have a ballpark figure for the amount of fat in grams? I find the two fingers rule a bit difficult to follow. And when using the two fingers rule, does it mean the volume of two fingers? Depending on how thick a slice of cheese is going to be, two fingers could otherwise be quite a lot!

Ok, wrapping my head around the portions. I just made a batch of skinless chicken thighs for my lunches this week, and I'll have about 1.25 tbsp of oil in every lunch (between the chicken recipe and the salad). 

I cut the visible fat chunks off the thighs before cooking, but I know they're still a fatty cut, so would I consider that my two fingers?

I don't know that its necessary to cut the skin off of the chicken. There is a lot of nutrients in there but your train of thought is correct. To be honest there is no real black and white way to measure it. 1 chicken thigh may have 1 and anther may have 1.5T. Your approximation and thinking about it is correct.

With the added fat measurement; I accounted for fay cuts of meat like ground beef, skin on thighs and the such as well as lean proteins like chicken breast. The fat is in addition to - coconut oil that you cook it in and the such. 

Hi Jeff, what would be the rough amount of fat in grams? I find it a bit hard to follow the two fingers rule.

Nope.  No approximate measurements will be provided in Thrive 1 as everyone's portion sizes will vary significantly.  

We are working with approximations of portions sizes only.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

On 4/10/2016 at 11:27 AM, Jeff Serven said:

I don't know that its necessary to cut the skin off of the chicken. There is a lot of nutrients in there but your train of thought is correct. To be honest there is no real black and white way to measure it. 1 chicken thigh may have 1 and anther may have 1.5T. Your approximation and thinking about it is correct.

With the added fat measurement; I accounted for fay cuts of meat like ground beef, skin on thighs and the such as well as lean proteins like chicken breast. The fat is in addition to - coconut oil that you cook it in and the such. 

Good information! Thanks for helping me understand the portions. 

And I'm all about chicken skin--but like you, I really only like it when it's crispy. This recipe called for chunks of chicken thighs to simmer in a sauce, and I wasn't interested in the skin that way. This weekend I roasted some drumsticks, and of course left the skin on

sounds good! 

Sorry to insist on this one but can't really figure out what to do. Are we to consider two fingers worth of avocado, equivalent to two finger worth of brie (cheese), butter, oil, milk or any other source of fat?  Should things like salad dressing (e.g. oil) or fat in a meat portion be counted towards the two fingers or not?

Dont include fat in meat but if you cook your meat in coconut oil and also have avocado and olive oil on your salad those do need to be counted. 

All right, thanks Jeff