Yes. Just make sure you count their carbs toward the meal total.

No. Vegetables contain calories just like all other foods. Treating them as “unlimited” may negatively impact your progress.

In the case of weight loss, eating too many may take you out of a calorie deficit. In the case of weight gain, eating too many vegetables may fill you up before you consume ample protein, carbs, and fat, thus possibly preventing you from eating enough to drive progress.

Your plan contains a specific amount of veggies per meal. We recommend sticking to it for optimal results. The only exception is if you’re trying to gain weight and the veggies are really filling you up to the point where eating all of your meals is becoming almost impossible. If that’s the case, feel free to reduce veggie intake temporarily until you gain the weight your plan specifies.

Yes. You may have fresh, frozen, or canned—whichever you prefer. Use the same weights of veggies no matter the prep method.

Vegetables contain many essential vitamins and minerals that work to optimize health, immune function, energy, exercise performance and more. Plus, they’re rich in fiber, which supports digestion, fullness, and long- lasting energy. As such, we strongly encourage you to eat them. Here are a few strategies to “sneak in” vegetables throughout the day:

• Omelet: Sauté peppers, onions, tomatoes, broccoli and/or spinach into an omelet. The fluffy eggs, herbs, spices, hot sauce, ketchup and/or potential cheese you add will mask the taste of vegetables you dislike.
• Smoothies: Add spinach or kale to smoothies. You will NOT taste the greens (though kale will be more palpable than spinach), but beware it will turn your smoothie green. Carrots also work well.
• Sandwiches: Sneak a piece of dark, leafy green lettuce between your bread and protein, and you’ll hardly notice it! Pile on any other vegetables you can tolerate as well, because, if you’ve packed your sandwich with protein and delicious bread, you’ll notice the vegetables’ texture more than their taste.
• Juicing: Juicing fruits and vegetables into a small liquid beverage is another simple strategy for consuming vegetables each day. Note that this liquid form will not assist in keeping you full like the solid forms would (unless you incoSculporate the skin/peels for added fiber).

Although these two options are beneficial, nothing replaces the combination of essential nutrients, phytochemicals, antioxidants and fiber that vegetables provide. We strongly suggest favoring whole food sources, and treating a “greens” or multivitamin supplement as “icing on the cake” to a solid “food first” foundation.