Your best food choices
Changing lifestyle habits is never easy and creating an eating plan using this concept is no exception. The first step is knowing which foods are best.
* Vegetables. Most vegetables — salad greens, asparagus, green beans, broccoli and zucchini, for example — are low in calories but high in volume. Each vegetable serving is about 25 calories, and typical serving sizes are 1 cup raw, a half cup cooked or 2 cups leafy vegetables. Some vegetables are starchy — such as corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes and winter squash — and contain more calories, about 70 calories in a half-cup serving.
* Fruits. Practically all types of fruit fit into a healthy diet. But some fruits are better choices than others are. Whole fresh, frozen and canned fruit without added sugar have about 60 calories a serving. Unlike fruit juices and dried fruits, these types of fruit are higher in bulk because of water and fiber and are your best choices. A typical serving is a small- or medium-sized piece of fresh fruit or a half cup of sliced fruit.
* Carbohydrates. Most foods in this group are either grains or are made from grains, such as cereal, rice, bread and pasta. The best type is whole grains because they're higher in fiber and other important nutrients. Whole grain means the bran and germ are left on the grain when it's processed. Examples include whole-wheat bread, whole-wheat pasta, oatmeal, brown rice and whole-grain cereal. Each serving of carbohydrate has about 70 calories. A typical serving is a half cup of grain, such as rice, pasta, barley or cereal, or one slice of bread.
* Protein/dairy. This includes foods from both plant and animal sources. The best choices are those that are high in protein but low in fat and calories, such as legumes — beans, peas and lentils, which are also good sources of fiber — fish, skinned white-meat poultry, fat-free dairy products and egg whites. Foods in the protein/dairy group have about 110 calories a serving, which is about a half cup of legumes, 3 ounces of chicken or fish, or 1 cup of skim milk. Serving sizes vary depending on the type of food.
Eat sweets and high-fat foods in moderation since many of these foods are high in calories but low in volume. For example, just 1 tablespoon of butter has about 100 calories and 1/2 cup M&M's has about 512 calories.