Nutrition: Question about Romaine Lettuce

[couchon]

I have seen a number of posts saying that you shouldn't feed Romaine lettuce every day because of the calcium content. I am not sure why that is, because, according to the chart, it has the same Ca:P ration as red leaf lettuce and less calcium than green leaf lettuce.

If Romaine lettuce is not OK to feed every day, what lettuce is OK (I know they need variety, but I want to find a lettuce that I can feed on a day to day basis if I have to)? Also, I think one of my pigs is getting too much calcium? Which lettuce has less calcium than others?

[JD In Van]

I was wondering about some of the ratios too (like why cucumber's a frequent but not daily feed while zucchini is daily). Or why carrots are marked as okay for one a day but at the same time we tell people to give them sparingly.


I try and mix it up by giving the boys cilantro every day for their "breakfast" and then in the evening they get what ever we're using for our dinner salad, or what ever's left from the night before. So about 3 x week it's romaine, 2 x week it's green leaf and 2 x week it's chard or some times a little bit of each if we've got dribs and drabs. By far cilantro's still their favorite.

[akstrohm]

Cucumber is not a daily veggie because of its high water content. Zucchini has less water.

Carrots are marked as daily because there is a note saying "one baby carrot per day". This is what is meant by sparingly.

Go easy on the chard--it is very high in oxalic acid (about like spinach). I would avoid it all together.

[JD In Van]

So the ratios aren't everything is essentially what it comes down to?

Chard is marked as an every day lettuce on your chart though.

[akstrohm]

It's not my chart. Chard is marked as daily because Ly did not know the oxalic acid content. I believe she is working on a revised chart.

[Ly&Pigs]

Originally Posted by JD In Van

So the ratios aren't everything is essentially what it comes down to?

In my opinion, no. It comes down to the overall makeup of the veggie. I figure things based on overall nutrition content like sugars, vitamin A&C content, oxalic acid content, calcium content, etc. To me, it's not just about calcium content. It's about many factors.

It's better to give a variety of lettuces rather than sticking with one single type. While the ratios are very similar to one another on some of the lettuces, the nutrient contents in the lettuces do differ a little. Romaine is higher in sugars than some of the other types but some of the others contain more Vitamin A. The best way to feed lettuces is to either feed a couple types per day or rotate types around.

Variety is the key to a good overall balanced veggie diet.

I haven't started on the chart revision yet but it is a project I plan to start working on this week. It may take up to 1-2 months to complete. But the new charts will be worth the wait.

[couchon]

Ly, thank you for your response. I understand about variety, and that's definitely what I am striving to provide. I guess my question is if you had one type of lettuce that you gave more than others, that you stocked up on in case you got sick and couldn't go out or if you ran out (a sort of a staple, I guess, that would be more common than the other types) what would it be?

[Aquena]

I have been feeding romaine everyday, If I choose to switch off every other day, or every other meal, what would be the best two lettuce types to use on a daily basis?

[Peggysu]

Originally Posted by Aquena

I have been feeding romaine everyday, If I choose to switch off every other day, or every other meal, what would be the best two lettuce types to use on a daily basis?

Ly will provide the best answer, but I can give an idea about what I do.

My local grocery store really only carries red leaf, green leaf and romaine. They have butterhead, but its so expensive I don't buy it. Every week I rotate and get two different heads of lettuce. When I go to Albertson's I always get endive and escorole and add that into their meals. I also get red and white swiss chard and rotate those from week to week. I try to keep the lettuce varried as much as possible and switch it up every week.

[Ly&Pigs]

There really is no answer to the best two types to use. Any two types would be fine. Spring mixes are generally good because they provide a variety of different lettuces. Just watch out for the ones that contain spinach.

I do pretty much what Peggysu does but I also add in spring mix because the only types of lettuces I can normally get are romaine, red and green leaf unless I go out of town for a doctor's appointment or a meeting and stop by other grocery stores on the way home to look for other kinds of lettuces.

Originally Posted by couchon

I guess my question is if you had one type of lettuce that you gave more than others, that you stocked up on in case you got sick and couldn't go out or if you ran out (a sort of a staple, I guess, that would be more common than the other types) what would it be?

Spring mix because it contains a variety. I also don't see how anyone can "stock up" on lettuces as they tend to go bad after a few days.

[couchon]

Is oak leaf lettuce OK?

And I just meant that, for example, I was really sick this past weekend, so I went out just once and bought a large pre-packaged lettuce bags (Romaine). This lasted me for the four days that I was in bed (I only have two pigs), so I didn't have to go outside.

[akstrohm]

Oak leaf lettuce should be fine.

[barbanderson]

Originally Posted by Ly&Pigs

There really is no answer to the best two types to use. Any two types would be fine. Spring mixes are generally good because they provide a variety of different lettuces. Just watch out for the ones that contain spinach.

I do pretty much what Peggysu does but I also add in spring mix because the only types of lettuces I can normally get are romaine, red and green leaf unless I go out of town for a doctor's appointment or a meeting and stop by other grocery stores on the way home to look for other kinds of lettuces.

Spring mix because it contains a variety. I also don't see how anyone can "stock up" on lettuces as they tend to go bad after a few days.

They have these new kind of bags called "green bags" and now some "green boxes" I use to keep my lettuces and veggies in. They do a pretty good job if you happen to see a sale on any lettuces you cannot use all up right away. So far so good anyway in my use of these bags as I too try to vary the lettuces on a regular basis and I like that nothing seems to go bad before I can use it up