Healthy Food Choices: Low Calories

Video Transcript

MARY HONDROS: Okay, I'm going to talk a little bit about low-calorie foods. Low-calorie foods, at least the natural ones, include a lot of different kinds of vegetables, like cucumbers, carrots, green beans especially, peas and things like that. Other low-calorie foods include high carbohydrate foods like cereals, pastas and breads. Non low-calorie foods are obviously things like meat. So when you're trying to consume a diet that has lower calorie foods, it's best to choose a diet based on whole grains and mostly vegetables. To qualify as low-calorie, something needs to have less than 40 calories per serving, which usually means per half cup when you're talking about vegetables or reduced calories would mean you have 25% less than the original version. So if you're trying to include low-calorie foods in your diet, remember the following tips. One, choose fresh, frozen or canned green beans, carrots, cucumbers, anything like that. Those are the lowest calorie vegetables. And then also remember that avocados are the highest calorie vegetables. Secondly, try to reduce the amount of meat that you eat. That is a very high calorie food and generally, if you do choose to eat it, you should choose the leaner, ground beef versions. And then chicken without skin, which is a lower calorie food item. Thirdly, choose tuna or fish that's packed in water rather than soybean oil, because the oil makes it a higher calorie food. And lastly, choose skimmed and reduced, and low fat versions of milk and milk products, because those tend to have lower calories than their original full fat. And those are 4 tips on choosing low calorie foods as part of your diet.