You just can’t beat vegetables for low calorie nourishing food. Veggies are packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. But there’s so much more to these colorful foods that makes them ideal for weight loss.

Vegetables tend to have a high water and fiber content. Both water and fiber increase the bulk or volume of foods. This in turn reduces the energy density or calories. When the ratio of calories to weight is high, a food is considered to be high-energy dense. In other words, a small amount of food can have a high number of calories.

Low energy dense foods such as vegetables have relatively few calories by weight. This means you can eat more food for the same number of calories as an energy dense food such as pecan pie.

Low energy dense foods can fill you up and provide you with a sense of when you’ve had enough BEFORE you overeat. They also help to displace high calorie food you might otherwise consume.

If you are not a veggie fan and can’t imagine ever enjoying vegetables, I hope you will give them another chance. Exploring the wide range of flavors and textures of vegetables can be an adventure. As I continue to learn about the health benefits of vegetables, I am motivated to discover new and delicious flavors in the foods I prepare for meals and snacks. I hope in time you feel the same!

Image by shannonpatrick17 via Flickr

Low Calorie Vegetables: 100 Calories or Less

artichoke, cooked 1 medium 60 calories

asparagus, cooked ½ cup 85 calories

beets, cooked ½ cup 37 calories

bok choy, cooked 1 cup 20 calories

broccoli, raw ½ cup 26 calories

brussel sprouts, cooked ½ cup 28 calories

cabbage, cooked ½ cup 17 calories

carrots, cooked ½ cup 35 calories

carrots, raw ½ cup 27 calories

carrots, raw 1 large 30 calories

cauliflower, cooked ½ cup 15 calories

celery, raw ½ cup sliced 10 calories

celery, raw 1 stalk 5 calories

cucumber, raw ½ medium 20 calories

edible podded peas, cooked ½ cup 22 calories

eggplant, cooked ½ cup 17 calories

fennel, raw ½ cup 15 calories

green peas (English peas), cooked 67 calories

jicama, raw ½ cup 25 calories

kale, cooked 1 cup 36 calories

lettuce, raw 1 cup 5 calories

onions, raw ½ cup sliced 23 calories

radishes, raw ½ cup sliced 9 calories

spinach, cooked ½ cup 20 calories

sweet green peppers, raw ½ cup sliced 9 calories

sweet potato, baked ½ cup 90 calories

sweet red peppers, raw ½ cup sliced 14 calories

sweet yellow corn, cooked 65 calories

swiss chard, cooked 1 cup 35 calories

tomato, raw 1 medium 25 calories

turnips, cooked 1 cup cubed 33 calories

white mushrooms, raw ½ cup sliced 8 calories

winter squash, baked (all varieties) ½ cup 40 calories

zucchini, raw 1/2 cup sliced 9 calories

Certain veggies are good raw or cooked others you will need to cook to enjoy. This doesn’t have to be time consuming or difficult. Most vegetables can be easily prepared and cooked in minutes with a microwave oven.

If you have the time, you just can’t beat the flavor of sliced roasted veggies. Brush veggies with a very light coating of olive oil, add seasoning, and then roast in a 425-degree oven. Watch the time. Some veggies brown up nicely in as little as ten minutes or so (small tomato wedges) whereas others might take as long as 30 to 40 minutes (sweet potato slices).

Here are a few more tips on how to get veggies in your diet more often:

1. Cut up veggies to be eaten raw at the beginning of the week. Keep them in a translucent container in the refrigerator in clear view when you open the fridge door. Having veggies ready to grab and eat makes them more appealing.

2. Get creative with salads! Salads can be so much more than iceberg lettuce and tomatoes. Think spinach or mixed leafy greens. How about beets, broccoli, carrots, jicama, cauliflower, cucumber, peas, onions, celery or fennel in addition to or instead of tomatoes?

3. Toss cherry tomatoes, halved with lightly cooked broccoli florets, a little olive oil, lemon juice, and seasoning.

4. Enjoy cut veggies with a low cal dip. You can make your own healthy dip by blending low fat cottage cheese with nonfat plain yogurt. Add seasoning, mix, and enjoy!

5. Add veggies to soups, salads, stir-fry dishes, casseroles, omelets, sandwiches, and more.

Check out my previous articles for some additional low calorie snack ideas:

1. Low Calorie Dairy Snacks

2. Healthy Low Calorie Fruit

3. Healthy Low Calorie Beverages

4. 28 Healthy Low Calorie Snack Foods to Go

5. Low Calorie Healthy Carbs: 100 Calories or Less

6. Low Calorie Meat, Poultry, Fish, and Seafood: 100 Calories or Less

Till next time, watch those calories and eat healthy foods!

calories Health Maintenance weight loss

Without a doubt, meat, poultry, fish, and seafood are excellent sources of protein and other important nutrients. However, knowing what to select and why is not quite so simple. Fatty meats can be a significant source of calories and unhealthy fat. Fish and seafood can be a potential source of contaminants. Another concern is the use of antibiotics and hormones with poultry, pigs, and cattle.

Here are some tips to help you out:

1. Choose lean cuts of red meat along with small portion sizes to keep the calorie count down as well as the amount of saturated fat and cholesterol. If you eat beef, I would strongly encourage you to seek out a quality source of grass fed organic beef. Lean cuts of grass fed cattle (also sheep and bison) can have significantly less fat than an equivalent amount of lean grain fed beef, as little as 1/3 the fat. Organic beef will be free of antibiotics and hormones.

2. As for fish, the potential health rewards of eating fish may outweigh possible risks for many people. The two contaminants of most concern with fish are mercury and PCBs (Polychlorinated biphenyls).

With the exception of women who are pregnant, might become pregnant, or who are breast feeding, adult women can safely eat two servings a week of fish or seafood. However, if you are eating more than two servings a week, select a variety of fish or seafood to reduce your risk of contaminants from a single source. Predatory fish such as shark, swordfish, tilefish, or king mackerel are more likely to have higher concentrations of potential contaminants than other fish.

Salmon is an excellent choice if you are watching your weight. I’ve included salmon as one of the top ten best choices for women and weight loss. (Top Ten Weight Loss Foods for Women) It is a great source of healthy fat as well as being a good source of protein and other nutrients. At the same time there’s good reason for caution.

A study from a few years back revealed that farmed raised salmon had about 10 times more PCBs, dioxins, and pesticide residues than wild salmon. The Food and Drug Administration claims that the levels of PCBs are not high enough to recommend limiting the consumption of farmed salmon. However, I believe there is reason for concern because PCBs and dioxin can build up in body fat and remain there for decades. In addition to health concerns, farmed salmon also poses a significant environmental risk for wild salmon and other fish living in their natural habitat. (Report Cites Health Risks of Farm-Raised Salmon) So, if you can, purchase wild salmon rather than farm-raised.

3. Choose organic whenever possible to avoid potential problems from poultry, pork, and beef that might otherwise have traces of antibiotics or hormones.

Low Calorie Portions of Meat, Poultry, Fish, and Seafood

Pork:

Lean Ham - 2 oz. - 82 calories (12.6 grams of protein)

Pork Tenderloin (lean, roasted) - 2 oz. - 92 calories - (16 grams of protein)

Canadian Bacon - 1 oz. - 40 calories - (about 6 grams of protein)

Poultry:

Light Turkey Breast Meat (oven-roasted without skin) - 2 oz. - 75 calories - (17 grams of protein)

Chicken Breast without skin (2 oz. oven-roasted without skin) - 75 calories - (16 grams of protein)

Beef:

Beef (Round/Loin)

Top Sirloin - 1 oz. - 60 calories - (8 grams of protein)

Top Round - 1 oz. - 56 calories - (10 grams of protein)

Seafood:

Water-packed Tuna (about 2 ounces) - 70 calories - (15 grams protein)

Shrimp - 3 oz cooked with moist heat - 84 calories - (about 18 grams of protein)

Cocktail Shrimp - 1/4 cup - 40 calories - (8 grams protein)

Crab Meat - 3 oz. - 94 calories - (19 grams of protein)

Fish:

Salmon (skinless and boneless pink salmon) - 60 calories - (10 grams of protein)

Salmon Jerky - 1/2 oz. - 40 calories - (7 grams of protein)

Tilapia fillet (cooked, dry heat) - 2 oz. - 73 calories - (15 grams of protein)

Some Brand Name Products:

Chicken of the Sea (Fancy Crabmeat) - 2 oz. - 40 calories - (7 grams of protein)

Butterball Turkey Breast (Oven Roasted) - 2 oz. - 70 calories - (10 grams protein)

Oscar Mayer Thin Sliced Deli Meat (Oven Roasted Chicken Breast) - 2 oz. - 60 calories - (10 grams protein)

Oscar Mayer Thin Sliced Deli Meat (Turkey Breast) - 2 oz. - 60 calories - (9 grams protein)

This list along with the ones I’ve shared previously should give you lots of ideas for healthy low calorie snacks:

1. Low Calorie Dairy Snacks
2. Healthy Low Calorie Fruit
3. Healthy Low Calorie Beverages
4. 28 Healthy Low Calorie Snack Foods to Go

5. Low Calorie Healthy Carbs: 100 Calories or Less

I would encourage you to create your own short list of favorite low calorie food choices. Then keep it handy so you can stock up when you go grocery shopping. You may also want to post a list on your refrigerator to remind you of what is available for those times when you need just a little bit of something healthy and low cal!

Till next time, watch those calories and remember to eat healthy!

calories Health Maintenance weight loss