AS - questions about leeks and mushrooms

[HopingWishingPraying]

I was wondering about these two vegetables in my sway. AS I know you have said that onions can sway blue a little as they can increase testosterone - do leeks do the same thing? Normally I use onions in everything, if I cant use them I was hoping to use leeks - are they ok?

Also I know you have said not to worry about counting the nutrients in vegetables. I was wondering about mushrooms though. In Australia they used to have a campaign that said "Mushrooms: Meat for Vegetarians". The campaign raved on about how much protein there is in mushrooms and therefore what a good substitute they were for meat? Is this true? I am hoping to eat lots of mushrooms on the LE diet as I love them, but should I limit them or count their protein? I have also read that they are very potassium rich, and try as I may I cant get the IG voice out of the back of my head that scares me about this.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[fish2012]

hello
beleive leeks okay on all the diets i have been using as onion replacment, i'm not eating mushrooms as banned on fg but think they are okay on the others x

[NCBeachyGrl]

I think any vegetable is fine...besides avocado and it is suggested to just buy the less nutritious ones. Like get white mushrooms instead of portobella and other ones. I think I read somewhere that you stick to vegetables that aren't brightly colored and you should be fine. I think onions are OK, but not 100% sure!

[atomic sagebrush]

Leeks DO have the same compounds and onions and garlic but it's not as highly concentrated. Leeks are def. allowed on LE. Personally, I think it's highly likely that onions and garlic are also perfectly fine to eat, but since you don't NEED them, I figure, why not drop them in favor of leeks just to be on the safe side.

Meat has ten times the amount of protein in mushrooms and the mushrooms, because they are largely water and fiber, are much more bulky and harder to eat and will fill you up much faster than an equal amount of meat. You literally COULD NOT eat enough mushrooms to make up for meat. Mushrooms are fine on LE Diet and in fact are a free food for cals, protein, and fat. Vegetables/mushrooms do have nominal amounts of protein but these proteins are not complete like the proteins in meat anyway, so not only are they much, much, much lower in protein, but the protein is in a form that may be more difficult for your body to use (esp. on LE Diet where you are limiting your foods by quite a bit and may not be getting all the amino acids required to make a complete protein).

There is SOME potassium in mushrooms but they are NOT very potassium rich in comparison to other foods like potatoes, bananas, tomatoes, coconut water (which are all allowed on LE Diet as well BTW). Mushrooms are comparable to dairy in terms of potassium.

Plus, keep in mind that you NEED to get 2500-3500 mg of potassium a day anyway and this is true on all three diets because that's the lower limit of potassium for health. Eat less potassium than that and you start getting muscle cramps, chest pains, and heart palpitations and can actually DIE if you keep it up for too long. You may very well find that your problem is getting enough potassium, not getting too much.

[atomic sagebrush]

I think any vegetable is fine...besides avocado and it is suggested to just buy the less nutritious ones. Like get white mushrooms instead of portobella and other ones. I think I read somewhere that you stick to vegetables that aren't brightly colored and you should be fine. I think onions are OK, but not 100% sure!

Yes, when you have the option of picking a less nutritious veg over a more nutritious one, then by all means pick the less nutritious one. But you DO NOT need to cut out the more nutritious vegetables all together. In fact, a portobella mushroom can make a great "burger" and is very much allowed on LE Diet! You just don't eat enough portobello mushrooms to add up to anything.

[NCBeachyGrl]

ohhhhh I never thought about a portobella burger! I might have to try that this week!

[Mochagirl]

I ate tons of mushrooms and leeks on the LE diet, and portobello burgers were my staple whenever we had people over for a BBQ - no one even noticed I was eating something different from them.

[Sunflower3]

portobello burgers! WOW! Does anyone have a recipe?

[Mochagirl]

I used to just marinate mine in balsamic vinegar, then grill it, sometimes adding a slice of provolone cheese to melt on top. It was very yummy with some low fat mayo on a low sodium bun.

[Sunflower3]

Thanks mocha girl! Will definitely be making those burgers. How long do you need to grill them for? 5 minutes each side? Thanks again!!!

[Mochagirl]

Sounds about right!

[HopingWishingPraying]

Great, thanks so much for this info and all the reassurance about these veggies. The mushroom burgers sound very yummy too, I can say with complete confidence that they shall be a staple meal on my table for the next few months!