Every Day Habits: Big Bowl of Fruits and Veggies

Part of being successful in any weight loss or fitness endeavor is being consistent with food choices and exercise. By being consistent, you develop habits that support your goals.

Over the last year, I have developed some every day habits that I want to share with you. The first one I want to tell you about is a big bowl of fruit and veggies that my husband and I share daily.

Bill and I started intermittent fasting last February. We eat between the hours of 1 pm and 7 pm and begin the day with lemon water followed by black coffee. We have our first meal around 1:00 pm and always start with a big, beautiful bowl of fresh fruit and vegetables. After we finish that, we eat whatever we’re having for lunch – usually a sandwich or wrap, a salad, a bowl of soup, or leftovers from the night before.

I know these bowls look like a lot of food and it is a lot of food! I eat half of this, which usually adds up to around 350 to 400 calories. I log everything into my Noom app to be sure.

Depending on how hungry I am, I shoot for about 500 to 600 calories for lunch so I’ve still got plenty of room for a turkey or hummus wrap or a big bowl of homemade veggie soup with some parmesan sprinkled on top. The fruit and vegetables are packed with vitamins, nutrients and fiber and they’re delicious. They also fill us up because most of the foods in our fruit and veggie bowl have a high water content.

But there is more to it than that. These foods have low calorie density. Mayo Clinic describes high and low calorie density like this: 

Simply put, energy density is the number of calories (energy) in a specific amount of food. High energy density means that there are a lot of calories in a little food. Low energy density means there are few calories in a lot of food. When you’re striving for weight loss, the goal is to eat low-energy-dense foods. That is, you want to eat a greater volume of food that’s lower in calories. This helps you feel fuller on fewer calories.Here’s a quick example with raisins and grapes. Raisins have a high energy density — 1 cup of raisins has about 434 calories. Grapes have a low energy density — 1 cup of grapes has about 82 calories.”

~ Mayo Clinic

There are other benefits to the fruit and veggie bowl: 

• I am getting plenty of vitamin C by eating these bowls. No supplement needed. Right now, citrus is in season and so tasty. I buy loads of tangerines, oranges and grapefruit and we’re eating them in our bowls and as snacks. 
• All this fiber is helping our digestion.  
• We are upping our hydration levels, which in turn also helps digestion as well as energy levels. 

Fruits and veggies aren’t the only low calorie density foods. So are beans, grains, white fish, egg whites, chicken breasts and fat-free dairy (like Greek yogurt). If you are unsure of the calorie density of a food, use this math equation -> divide the food’s calories by its weight in grams. 

Here’s a link to a chart with some popular foods’ density: https://whartonmedicalclinic.com/…/Caloric%20Density.pdf

If you want to lose weight, try adding more low density foods to your diet and see if you notice the difference!

Adrienne