Can I Eat All the Fruits and Vegetables I Want?
Unfortunately, fruits and vegetables do have some calories. Eating must be planned and limited even on a vegetarian diet. The good news is that a plant-based diet tends to have less fat and fewer calories than the same amount of meat. An ounce of fried bacon, for instance, has about the same number of calories as about 13 ounces of apple slices. That does not mean that you can eat an unlimited number of apples and expect to be normal weight, but a 200 calorie snack consisting of 13 ounces of apple slices will satisfy you more than the same 200 calories in only 1 ounce of bacon. The amount of fiber and water content and gives apples more volume therefore it’s more filling.If you were to plan to have a salad for lunch you would likely have enough food to fill you up without filling your fat cells, but only if you controlled your portions. Here is any easy recipe for a filling salad:
- 2 cups of lettuce
- 1 cup of spinach
- 1/4 cup of mushrooms
- 4 slices of tomatoes
- 1/2 cup of water chestnuts
- 1 tablespoon of sunflower seeds
- a slice of diced onions
- 5 olives
- 1 cup of of diced cucumbers
- 1/2 cup of celery
- 1/2 cup of carrots
- 1 tablespoon of dressing
Size: Diner Plate Calories: 333
To fill the same sized plate with a hamburger and French fries you would have more than 800 calories. Of course, 333 does not equal zero so if you continued to eat salads all day your weight would go out of control.
The myth of “negative calories” is an impossible dream. It takes very few calories to chew celery or mushrooms, so eating all you want will not make you lose weight.
A vegetarian diet is not a magic bullet, but used judiciously it can help lead to good weight control and general good health.
This is a good point. I think people get confused with healthy and fat loss. Yep, EVOO is incredibly good for you, but a 1/4 of a cup on every salad you eat will probably prevent you from burning fat. As always, moderation and knowledge is the key.
Exactly!
Hi Kardena ,
What kind of salad dressing do you suggest ?
Hi Pearl,
I usually make my own salad dressing because even most salad dressings from the health food store use canola oil. Use vinaigrette dressings not creamy ones.
My basics are oil, lemon/apple cider vinegar, sweetener, salt, herbs and spices. If I already have avocado in my salad then I skip the oil.