Vegetables That You Can Eat Anytime & As Much As You Want

May 7, 2011 | By Mike Samuels

Vegetables are sources of vitamins and minerals and should be a main part of your diet, especially when losing weight. Vegetables help keep you feeling full without providing lots of unwanted calories. While all vegetables do provide some calories, certain ones are extremely low in calories but high in nutrients, meaning that you can eat them at any time of the day, and have an almost unlimited amount.

Asparagus

Asparagus is very low in calories but high in nutrients. A cup of cooked asparagus provides around 268 mcg of folate, which is nearly 70 percent of the recommended daily intake. Folate is a B vitamin that helps prevent neural defects and protects against the harmful blood chemical homocysteine, which has been linked to heart disease. One cup also provides around 3.6 g of fiber, and for only 40 calories.

Spinach

Gram for gram, spinach is one of the best nutrient providing foods you can find. It is high in vitamins D and K -- fat-soluble vitamins that are important for maintaining healthy bones -- but low in calories. Olympic trainer Charles Poliquin recommends buying organic spinach when possible because it is often sprayed with high amounts of pesticides and has a thin skin, meaning that the pesticides can easily penetrate it.

Peppers

You don't have to stick to green vegetables. Choosing different colored ones helps to add variety and nutrients into your diet. According to nutritionist Dr. Jonny Bowden, peppers provide you with vitamins A, C and K, as well as lycopene, which is associated with lowering the risk of prostate cancer. Use peppers in your salads, stir fries and omelets.

Carrots

Carrots are particularly high in carotenoids, which have strong antioxidant properties and are linked to reducing the risk of various cancers. The old saying about carrots helping you to see in the dark may also be true. Both lutein and zeaxanthin are present in carrots and have been shown to reduce the likelihood of macular degeneration. Have carrots alongside a main meal, add them to salads, or dip them in cottage cheese or hummus as a healthy snack.