Manage Your Weight With Fruits and Vegetables

There are many different ways to lose or maintain a healthy weight. Using more fruits and vegetables along with whole grains and lean meats, nuts, and beans is a safe and healthy one. Fruits and vegetables also provide essential vitamins and minerals, fiber, and other substances that are important for good health.

To lose weight, you must eat fewer calories than your body uses. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to eat less food. You can create lower-calorie dishes by substituting fruits and vegetables for higher-calorie ingredients. The water and fiber in fruits and vegetables will add volume to your dishes, so you can eat the same amount with fewer calories.

Here are some simple ways to cut calories and eat fruits and vegetables:

Lighten Up Your Lunch

· Substitute vegetables such as lettuce, tomatoes or cucumbers for some of the cheese and meat in your sandwich.

· Add a cup of chopped vegetables, such as broccoli, carrots, or beans in place of some of the meat or noodles in your favorite broth-based soup.

Dinner

· Replace 1 cup of rice or pasta in your favorite dish with chopped vegetables such as broccoli, squash, onions, or peppers.

· Take a good look at your dinner plate. Vegetables, fruit, and wholegrains should take up the largest portion of your plate. If they do not, add a favorite vegetable or two. This will reduce the total calories without reducing the amount of food.

Snacks

One snack-sized bag of corn chips has the same number of calories as a small apple, 1 cup of whole strawberries, AND 1 cup of carrots with 1/4 cup of low-calorie dip. Try some of the choices below:

· a medium-size apple (72 calories)

· a medium-size banana (105 calories)

· 1 cup steamed green beans (44 calories)

· 1 cup blueberries (83 calories)

· 1 cup grapes (100 calories)

· 1 cup carrots (45 calories), broccoli (30 calories), or bell peppers (30 calories) with 2 tbsp. hummus (46 calories)

· Choose whole fruit over fruit drinks and juices. It is better to eat the whole fruit because it contains the added fiber that helps you feel full.

· Whole fruit gives you a bigger size snack than the same fruit dried—for the same number of calories.
A small box of raisins (1/4 cup) is about 100 calories. For the same number of calories, you can eat 1 cup of grapes.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 at 1:21 pm and is filed under Wellness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.