It
would be unrealistic to think you could successfully lose weight and enjoy what
you’re eating with a mere handful of foods, no matter how delicious, nutritious
and satisfying they may be.
They’ll
lend different tastes and textures to every meal and provide a wide range of
vitamins, minerals, proteins and other vital nutrients. Naturally, each one is
high in fiber, low in fat and safe when it comes to sodium content, too.
Many
have crunchiness and flavor we’ve come to desire in snack and nibbling foods.
If you’re like most of us, you may have a real junk food snacking habit – a
habit you’re going to have to change in order to slim down. Many of the foods
in this section may be worthy substitutes.
1. Barley
This
filling grain stacks up favorably to rice and potatoes. It has 170 calories per
cooked cup, respectable levels of protein and fiber and relatively low fat.
Roman gladiators ate this grain regularly for strength and actually complained
when they had to eat meat.
Studies
at the University
of Wisconsin show that
barley effectively lowers cholesterol by up to 15 percent and has powerful
anti-cancer agents. Israeli scientists say it cures constipation better than
laxatives - and that can promote weight
loss, too.
Use
it as a substitute for rice in salads, pilaf or stuffing, or add to soups and
stews. You can also mix it with rice for an interesting texture. Ground into
flour, it makes excellent breads and muffins.
2. Beans
Beans
are one of the best sources of plant protein. Peas, beans and chickpeas are
collectively known as legumes. Most common beans have 215 calories per cooked
cup (lima beans go up to 260). They have the most protein with the least fat of
any food, and they’re high in potassium but low in sodium.
Plant
protein is incomplete, which means that you need to add something to make it
complete. Combine beans with a whole grain – rice, barley, wheat, corn – to
provide the amino acids necessary to form a complete protein. Then you get the
same top-quality protein as in meat with just a fraction of the fat.
Studies
at the University
of Kentucky and in the Netherlands
show that eating beans regularly can lower cholesterol levels.
The
most common complaint about beans is that they cause gas. Here’s how to contain
that problem, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA): Before
cooking, rinse the beans and remove foreign particles, put in a kettle and
cover with boiling water, soak for four hours or longer, remove any beans that
float to the top, then cook the beans in fresh water.
3. Berries
This
is the perfect weight-loss food. Berries have natural fructose sugar that
satisfies your longing for sweets and enough fiber so you absorb fewer calories
that you eat. British researchers found that the high content of insoluble
fiber in fruits, vegetables and whole grains reduces the absorption of calories
from foods enough to promote width loss without hampering nutrition.
Berries
are a great source of potassium that can assist you in blood pressure control.
Blackberries have 74 calories per cup, blueberries 81, raspberries 60 and
strawberries 45. So use your imagination and enjoy the berry of your choice.
4. Broccoli
Broccoli
is America’s
favorite vegetable, according to a recent poll. No wonder. A cup of cooked
broccoli has a mere 44 calories. It delivers a staggering nutritional payload
and is considered the number one cancer-fighting vegetable. It has no fat,
loads of fiber, cancer fighting chemicals called indoles, carotene, 21 times
the RDA of vitamin C and calcium.
When
you’re buying broccoli, pay attention to the color. The tiny florets should be
rich green and free of yellowing. Stems should be firm.
5. Buckwheat
It’s
great for pancakes, breads, cereal, soups or alone as a grain dish commonly
called kasha. It has 155 calories per cooked cup.
Research at the All India
Institute of Medical Sciences shows diets including buckwheat lead to excellent
blood sugar regulation, resistance to diabetes and lowered cholesterol levels.
You cook buckwheat the same way you would rice or barley.
Bring two to three
cups of water to a boil, add the grain, cover the pan, turn down the heat and
simmer for 20 minutes or until the water is absorbed.
6. Cabbage
This
Eastern Europe staple is a true wonder food.
There are only 33 calories in a cup of cooked shredded cabbage, and it retains
all its nutritional goodness no matter how long you cook it.
Eating cabbage raw
(18 calories per shredded cup), cooked, as sauerkraut (27 calories per drained
cup) or coleslaw (calories depend on dressing) only once a week is enough to
protect against colon cancer. And it may be a longevity-enhancing food. Surveys
in the United States, Greece and Japan show that people who eat a lot of it
have the least colon cancer and the lowest death rates overall.
7. Carrots
What
list of health-promoting, fat-fighting foods would be complete without Bugs
Bunny’s favorite? A medium-sized carrot carries about 55 calories and is a
nutritional powerhouse. The orange color comes from beta carotene, a powerful
cancer-preventing nutrient (provitamin A).
Chop
and toss them with pasta, grate them into rice or add them to a stir-fry.
Combine them with parsnips, oranges, raisins, lemon juice, chicken, potatoes,
broccoli or lamb to create flavorful dishes. Spice them with tarragon, dill,
cinnamon or nutmeg. Add finely chopped carrots to soups and spaghetti sauce –
they impart a natural sweetness without adding sugar.
8. Chicken
White
meat contains 245 calories per four ounce serving and dark meat, 285. It’s an
excellent source of protein, iron, niacin and zinc. Skinned chicken is
healthiest, but most experts recommend waiting until after cooking to remove it
because the skin keeps the meat moist during cooking.
9. Corn
It’s
really a grain – not a vegetable – and is another food that’s gotten a bum rap.
People think it has little to offer nutritionally and that just isn’t so. There
are 178 calories in a cup of cooked kernels. It contains good amounts of iron,
zinc and potassium, and University
of Nebraska researchers
say it delivers a high-quality of protein, too.
The
Tarahumara Indians of Mexico eat corn, beans and hardly anything else. Virgil
Brown, M.D., of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, points out that high blood
cholesterol and cardiovascular heart disease are almost nonexistent among them.
10. Cottage Cheese
As
long as we’re talking about losing weight and fat-fighting foods, we had to
mention cottage cheese.
Low-fat
(2%) cottage cheese has 205 calories per cup and is admirably low in fat, while
providing respectable amounts of calcium and the B vitamin riboflavin. Season
with spices such a dill, or garden fresh vegetable such a scallions and chives
for extra zip.
To
make it sweeter, add raisins or one of the fruit spreads with no sugar added.
You can also use cottage cheese in cooking, baking, fillings and dips where you
would otherwise use sour cream or cream cheese.
11. Figs
Fiber-rich
figs are low in calories at 37 per medium (2.25” diameter) raw fig and 48 per
dried fig. A recent study by the USDA demonstrated that they contribute to a
feeling of fullness and prevent overeating. Subjects actually complained of
being asked to eat too much food when fed a diet containing more figs than a
similar diet with an identical number of calories.
Serve
them with other fruits and cheeses. Or poach them in fruit juice and serve them
warm or cold. You can stuff them with mild white cheese or puree them to use as
a filling for cookies and low-calorie pastries.
12. Fish
The
health benefits of fish are greater than experts imagined – and they’ve always
considered it a health food.
The
calorie count in the average four-ounce serving of a deep-sea fish runs from a
low of 90 calories in abalone to a high of 236 in herring. Water-packed tuna,
for example, has 154 calories. It’s hard to gain weight eating seafood.
As
far back as 1985, articles in the New England Journal of Medicine showed a
clear link between eating fish regularly and lower rates of heart disease. The
reason is that oils in fish thin the blood, reduce blood pressure and lower
cholesterol.
Dr.
Joel Kremer, at Albany
Medical College
in New York,
discovered that daily supplements of fish oil brought dramatic relief to the
inflammation and stiff joints of rheumatoid arthritis.
13. Greens
We’re
talking collard, chicory, beet, kale, mustard, Swiss chard and turnip greens.
They all belong to the same family as spinach, and that’s one of the
super-stars. No matter how hard you try, you can’t load a cup of plain cooked
greens with any more than 50 calories.
They’re
full of fiber, loaded with vitamins A and C, and free of fat. You can use them
in salads, soups, casseroles or any dish where you would normally use spinach.
14. Kiwi
This
New Zealand
native is a sweet treat at only 46 calories per fruit. Chinese public health
officials praise the tasty fruit for its high vitamin C content and potassium.
It stores easily in the refrigerator for up to a month. Most people like it
peeled, but the fuzzy skin is also edible.
15. Leeks
These
members of the onion family look like giant scallions, and are every bit as
healthful and flavorful as their better-known cousins. They come as close to
calorie-free as it gets at a mere 32 calories per cooked cup.
You
can poach or broil halved leeks and then marinate them in vinaigrette or season
with Romano cheese, fine mustard or herbs. They also make a good soup.
16. Lettuce
People
think lettuce is nutritionally worthless, but nothing could be farther from the
truth. You can’t leave it out of your weight-loss plans, not at 10 calories per
cup of raw romaine. It provides a lot of filling bulk for so few calories. And
it’s full of vitamin C, too. Go beyond iceberg lettuce with Boston, bibb and cos varieties or try watercress,
arugula, radicchio, dandelion greens, purslane and even parsley to liven up
your salads.
17. Melons
Now,
here’s great taste and great nutrition in a low-calorie package! One cup of
cantaloupe balls has 62 calories, on cup of casaba balls has 44 calories, one
cup of honeydew balls has 62 calories and one cup of watermelon balls has 49
calories. They have some of the highest fiber content of any food and are
delicious. Throw in handsome quantities of vitamins A and C plus a whopping 547
mgs of potassium in that cup of cantaloupe, and you have a fat-burning health
food beyond compare.
18. Oats
A
cup of oatmeal or oat bran has only 110 calories. And oats help you lose
weight. Subjects in Dr. James Anderson’s landmark 12-year study at the University of Kentucky lost three pounds in two months
simply by adding 100 grams (3.5 ounces) of oat bran to their daily food intake
and nothing else. Just don’t expect oats alone to perform miracles – you have
to eat a balanced diet for total health.
19. Onions
Flavorful,
aromatic, inexpensive and low in calories, onions deserve a regular place in
your diet. One cup of chopped raw onions has only 60 calories, and one raw
medium onion (2.15” diameter) has just 42.
They
control cholesterol, thin the blood, protect against cholesterol and may have
some value in counteracting allergic reactions. Most of all, onions taste good
and they’re good for you.
Partially
boil, peel and bake, basting with olive oil and lemon juice. Or sauté them in
white wine and basil, then spread over pizza. Or roast them in sherry and serve
over paste.
20. Pasta
The
Italians had it right all along. A cup of cooked paste (without a heavy sauce)
has only 155 calories and fits the description of a perfect starch-centered
staple. Analysis at the American Institute of Baking shows pasta is rich in six
minerals, including manganese, iron, phosphorus, copper, magnesium and zinc.
Also be sure to consider whole wheat pastas, which are even healthier.
21. Sweet Potatoes
You
can make a meal out of them and not worry about gaining a pound – and you sure
won’t walk away from the table feeling hungry. Each sweet potato has about 103
calories. Their creamy orange flesh is one of the best sources of vitamin A you
can consume.
You
can bake, steam or microwave them. Or add them to casseroles, soups and many
other dishes. Flavor with lemon juice or vegetable broth instead of butter.
22. Tomatoes
A
medium tomato (2.5” diameter) has only about 25 calories. These garden delights
are low in fat and sodium, high in potassium and rich in fiber.
A
survey at Harvard
Medical School
found that the chances of dying of cancer are lowest among people who eat
tomatoes (or strawberries) every week.
And
don’t overlook canned crushed, peeled, whole or stewed tomatoes. They make
sauces, casseroles and soups taste great while retaining their nutritional
goodness and low-calorie status. Even plain old spaghetti sauce is a
fat-burning bargain when served over pasta, so think about introducing tomatoes
into your diet
23. Turkey
Give
thanks to those pilgrims for starting the wonderful tradition of Thanksgiving
turkey. It just so happens that this health food disguised as meat is good
year-round for weight control.
A
four-ounce serving of roasted white meat turkey has 177 calories and dark meat
has 211.
Sadly,
many folks are still unaware of the versatility and flavor of ground turkey.
Anything hamburger can do, ground turkey can do at least as well, from
conventional burgers to spaghetti sauce to meat loaf.
Some
ground turkey contains skin which slightly increases the fat content. If you
want to keep it really lean, opt for ground breast meat. But since this has no
added fat, you’ll need to add filler to make burgers or meat loaf hold
together.
Four
ounces of ground turkey has approximately 170 calories and nine grams of fat –
about what you’d find in 2.5 teaspoons of butter or margarine. Incredibly, the
same amount of regular ground beef (21% fat) has 298 calories and 23 grams of
fat.
Buying
turkey has become easy. It’s no longer necessary to buy a whole bird unless you
want to. Ground turkey is available fresh or frozen, as are individual parts of
the bird, including drumsticks, thighs, breasts and cutlets.
24. Yogurt
The
non-fat variety of plain yogurt has 120 calories per cup and low-fat, 144. It
delivers a lot of protein and , like any dairy food, is rich in calcium and
contains zinc and riboflavin.
Yogurt
is handy as a breakfast food – cut a banana into it and add the cereal of your
choice.
You
can find ways to use it in other types of cooking, to – sauces, soups, dips,
toppings, stuffings and spreads. Many kitchen gadget departments even sell a
simple funnel for making yogurt cheese.
Yogurt
can replace heavy creams and whole milk in a wide range of dishes, saving scads
of fat and calories.
You
can substitute half or all of the higher fat ingredients. Be creative. For
example, combine yogurt, garlic powder, lemon juice, a dash of pepper and
Worcestershire sauce and use it to top a baked potato instead of piling on
fat-laden sour cream.
Supermarkets
and health food stores sell a variety of yogurts, many with added fruit and
sugar. To control calories and fat content, buy plain non-fat yogurt and add
fruit yourself.
Apple butter or fruit spreads with little or no added sugar are
an excellent way to turn plain yogurt into a delectable sweet treat.
