What are low calorie foods? The body needs adequate nutrient to keep functioning properly. And we get these adequate nutrients from food that we eat. But as well we know that the excessively calorie is bad for people who are being overweight. Therefore, if you seriously want to burn more pounds of your weight and get satisfied result of your weight loss diet, it is so important to know and clearly understand how much calories of every food that you want to eat. Generally, there are 3 major categories of food; fat, protein, and carbohydrate. Each type of this food is not equal in energy (calories). Fat usually has higher amounts of calories if compared with protein and carbohydrates.
How much you should eat carbohydrates, proteins, and fats per day in order to maintain your healthy weight? Unfortunately, there is no single formula that can work for everyone in determining the ideal balance of fat, protein, and carbohydrate. But generally, the body usually needs for about 35-25 percent of fat, 35-10 percent of protein, and about 65 to 45 percent of carbohydrates from the daily calories.
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| Source: dtc.ucsf.edu |
List of low calorie foods
The following are several popular and top low calorie foods to help your weight loss diet!
Berries
They can be a nice idea for a small package of your nutritious food. You can get a lot of amounts of fiber, antioxidants, water, and phytonutrients from berries. These useful properties are not only good to help your weight loss program but also can promote good health for your entire body.
Many experts also recommend berries (like cranberries and blueberries) to control the level of your blood sugar. They are low in calories but can be effective enough to make you full longer. And furthermore, they also can be combined with a lot of different choices of recipes.
Broccoli
If you are looking for food that can provide high amounts of fiber, vitamin K (for bone-building), vitamin C & A (beta-carotene), and also helpful in controlling the weight of your body then broccoli is one the best recommendations. It usually can be found all year long, and therefore it has already been popular vegetable in the U.S.
Like other super foods, broccoli is also useful to make anyone who consume them become full longer, therefore will also be great choice for weight loss diet. Furthermore, there are plenty options to enjoy more in eating broccoli -- you can eat it grilled, stir-fried, lightly-steamed, raw, and so on.
Beans
Beans are good source of ‘low-fat protein’, potassium, magnesium, insoluble fiber, and good carbohydrates. That’s why they are not only recommended for one of good lists of your weight loss diet (helpful fill you up longer), but also often recommended by the doctors in controlling the cholesterol and helping rid the body of waste.
You can also choose beans to substitute the option of poultry or meat in your meal. For better result, you can consume 3 cups of beans a week -- the recommendation from the U.S Dietary Guidelines.
Kiwi
Another choice to get more antioxidants to promote good health is kiwi (a nutritionally dense fruit). We can also get a lot of vitamin C (enough to supply our daily vitamin C requirement) from 1 large kiwi.
Furthermore, kiwis are also rich in vitamin E & A, fiber, and potassium which are the essential nutrient properties that often missed in our daily menu. With the nice color and taste of kiwi, this fruit can be easily enjoyed in a lot of options. We can enjoy this fruit alone or by slicing it into salads, desserts, and so on.
Eggs
It is undeniable that eggs are good choices for anyone who is looking for economical, nutritious, and rich in protein. Some studies found that individuals who eat an egg in their breakfast then they tends eating fewer calories throughout the day.
Eggs also contain good minerals and 12 vitamins that are believed will be helpful to promote good development of memory.
But they also contain high cholesterol, especially in the yolk of egg (read more cholesterol in egg yolk). Therefore, it is recommended to avoid eating egg more than one a day. 1 egg a day is acceptable for healthy individuals, but if you have cardiovascular disease you need to consult first with your doctor for more in-depth information.
Dark orange vegetables
These vegetables are good source of potassium, calcium, vitamin C, and vitamin A. They are not only one of good options in controlling your calories intake but also will be good for people who have high blood pressure level (hypertension -- read also foods that lower blood pressure). Some dark orange vegetables are orange bell peppers, carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, and butternut squash.
Salmon
Salmon is low calorie food, but this doesn’t mean you are allowed to eat it too much -- you should eat it twice weekly.
Salmon is a kind of fish that contain good source of iron, low saturated fat, and iron. It also contains high amounts of omega-3 fatty acids. That’s why, eating salmon in moderation can encourage for your heart to keep healthy --- and salmon is also recommended by the American Heart Association.
Quinoa
It is good option if you are looking for whole grain for your weight loss diet. It is now available in many supermarkets, and you can find it easily in your local area. Some people also know quinoa as ancient grain that can be easily to make!
Other advantages why you should choose quinoa;
- You can prepare quinoa as easy as when cooking rice.
- Quinoa can be enjoyed alone or also can be combined with nuts, lean protein, or vegetables.
- Quinoa is also high in natural iron, fiber, and protein. A cup of quinoa contains about 5 grams of fiber. And a cup of cooked-quinoa has about 8 grams of protein. Furthermore, quinoa is also high source of selenium, vitamin E, and zinc which are very helpful properties to help maintain your weight and also reduce your risk of developing diabetes and heart disease -- read also the link between overweight and diabetes!
Nut is identical with snack that can increase your calories intake. But it also has heart-healthy fats, antioxidants, fiber, and protein. So, should you choose or avoid nuts for your weight loss diet?
The key is the portion control! All types of nuts can be healthful and helpful in controlling your weight if you consume them in small doses! So, it is so important to consider the portion of nuts that you eat per day. Make sure you eat nuts in moderation!
Free-fat yogurt
Yogurt is good dairy product for your health. But when it comes to weight loss diet, you should choose one that labeled with ‘free-fat’! Free-fat yogurt is not only very low in fat but also rich in healthy nutrients (such as potassium, protein, and calcium (higher than other dairy products)).
If you don’t like yogurt, you may love consuming skim milk! It only contains about 83 calories /cup. It also can be very easily to slip into your favorite beverages (like coffee) so thus you can enjoy it with fun.
Below is another helpful low calorie foods list:
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| Source: weightlossforall.com |
Cooking methods to keep low fat
These following cooking-options tend to be lower in fat:
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| Source: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov |
Dark chocolate
Dark chocolate is not categorized into low calorie foods, but it contains 2 helpful properties to help lose your weight in long term. These positive properties are (1) antioxidant and (2) helpful for you to control any sweet cravings.
But be careful, once again dark chocolate also has many calories -- therefore you should consume it in moderation!
Celery
Celery is good source of foliate (helpful nutrient to promote better production of new cells) and fiber (the essential nutrient for your digestion).
Salad
Eating salad before your meal will be useful for your body to get daily veggies intake and also helpful for your weight lost diet. This idea may also be helpful to prevent yourself feeling too hungry before taking your main meal.
Chili peppers
Some studies found that adding a bit of heat to your breakfast can help you get a controllable lunch in small portion. Though there is not directly link between chili peppers and weight loss program, but chili has capsaicin that can help you prevent weight regain.
Lentils
Lentils are another option that can make you full longer without packing the body with loads of fat and calories. They have many amounts of foliate and fibers which not only make you full longer but also good for healthy cell growth and your digestion.
Green tea
Green tea is rich source of antioxidant, and some experts recommend it for healthy beverage before doing your exercise. This is purposed to encourage your endurance when doing exercise so thus you can burn more your calories!
But you should know that green tea also has caffeine! Read more how much caffeine in green tea! So, if you have a certain healthy condition that is closely associated with caffeine, you need to consult first with your doctor in order to keep safe!
And if you seriously want to use green tea for your weight loss program, you may want try matcha green tea (a high class of green tea).
What else you should clearly understand?
Though there are a lot of low calorie foods that you can explore, but it is still important for you to consume them in moderation.
Moreover, whatever super foods that you eat to burn more pounds of your weight but if you have lack of physical activity then these foods can be almost useless. Therefore, you still need to move your body by having regular exercise to burn more calories so thus you can get better result in losing your excessively weight.
Don’t forget also to explore other ideas to increase your metabolism, because ‘better metabolism that you have -- better result that you will get in losing your weight’! Read also foods that boost metabolism!
Additionally, you may ever consider choosing very low-calorie diet (VLCD) to burn more pounds quickly. But it’s so important to make sure that you get your daily nutrient requirements. That’s why before beginning you VLCD; you need to see and discuss first with a doctor or proper medical supervision in order to keep safe!
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Image credit to ‘shutterstock’ for illustration
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