Vegetables for Weight Loss

Vegetables consist of vitamins, minerals and fiber and also have a high water content. Due to their low-calorie, nutrient-dense characteristics, they are always recommended by doctors and nutritionists when it comes to weight loss. Vegetables can be used for snacks and added in with main dishes.

Reduction

• Before you start using vegetables, you need to know where to start and where you want to end up. In order to lose weight, you must create a caloric deficit where your total daily expenditure is higher than your intake. If you were to reduce your daily intake by 500 calories, you can lose 1 lb. a week, because it takes a 3,500-calorie reduction to lose a pound. Replace some of the higher-calorie side dishes and main courses with vegetables, as they are significantly lower in calories.

Fresh, Not Fried

• It is true that vegetables have their benefits, but those benefits are canceled out when you don't prepare your vegetables properly. If you are looking to lose weight, avoid adding butter, cheese and breading. This will turn a low-fat healthy food into a fat-laden calorie bomb that has been robbed of its nutrient value. Deep-fried vegetables are especially bad because they get saturated in fat when they are cooked.

Multiple Meals

• Three square meals a day has been the gold standard for many years. This, coupled with calorie restriction, might be an effective way to lose weight, but it also proposes a potential problem. If you wait long periods between meals, you can become ravenously hungry and end up overeating. The other option is eating multiple meals throughout the day. This can keep you feeling satisfied, it can keep your energy levels sustained, and it can also give your metabolism a nice boost. Eating a small meal every two to three hours throughout the day will also make it easier for you to get the recommended three to five servings of vegetables a day.

Fiber

• Fiber is a non-digestible substance that can be found in beans and fibrous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, yams, carrots and squash. When vegetables that are high in fiber are consumed, they offer you a number of benefits that affect weight loss. They create bulk in your stomach, which can help fill you up; keep you feeling full for a longer period of time; and can cause you to eat fewer overall calories with your meals. Make sure to have some form of high-fiber vegetables with all of your meals.

Options

• The meals you eat do not have to be all vegetables, but make sure they are prominent. For breakfast, have a salad with a chopped-up hard-boiled egg, have a veggie omelet or make an egg sandwich with lettuce and tomato on a whole-wheat bun. For lunch, try a whole-wheat wrap with tuna and raw veggies, a salad with a chicken breast on top, or a whole pita with low-fat cheese, lettuce and tomato. Supper can consist of whole-wheat pasta with steamed broccoli and low-fat Italian dressing, baked salmon with brown rice and steamed cauliflower, or a lean steak with a baked sweet potato and Brussels sprouts. Examples of smaller meals are celery with almond butter in the center, baby carrots with cheese sticks, and rice and beans.