A huge number of women and men living on the planet dream of losing weight. As a rule, to effectively deal with a large number of extra pounds, it is necessary to combine different measures. Often, such a complex is a combination of heavy loads and proper nutrition.
What does the concept of "proper nutrition" mean? First of all, this is the presence in dishes of all the components that are necessary to maintain the normal functioning of the body. In addition, these should be low-calorie foods.
What kind of food will be effective at losing kilograms? Consider a list of low-calorie foods for weight loss.
The general concept of calorie foods
As practice shows, not all products that have a small amount of calories in their structure help to lose extra pounds. How to determine the proper nutrition for yourself? To do this, you first need to know certain rules regarding the nutritional value of food.
It is no secret that low-calorie foods for weight loss can not be attributed to those that are too fat. If you make the simplest calculations, you can find out that there are about 9 calories per gram of such a product, which is actually a lot. The same goes for strong alcohol. Therefore, if you want to lose weight, it is advisable to completely abandon it.
If we talk about carbohydrates and proteins, then in these elements there are significantly fewer calories - about two per gram of product. In practice, it is easy to see that fruits and vegetables are most often found in the list of foods with the most low-calorie foods. They contain a huge amount of fiber, which, when used correctly, helps to remove all toxins and toxins from the intestines, contributing to weight loss. When this component enters the body, the level of cholesterol in the blood is significantly stabilized, and digestion is also improved.
Talking about the ratio of the fat content of the product and the number of calories in it, one cannot be mistaken, assuring yourself that the lack of fat in the composition of the ingredient in its usual manifestation means that the product is healthy and low-calorie. It is not always so. A vivid example of this statement is skim milk, which in terms of calories per 100 ml is not much inferior to that product that has a maximum level of fat content.
People’s opinion is also erroneous that with the exclusion of fatty foods from the diet, the body will become thinner and fit, and the body will be more healthy. Yes, in this case, it is indeed possible to observe a significant decrease in body weight, however, in the absence of fats in the body, as a rule, serious malfunctions in the gastrointestinal tract occur, hair begins to fall out, nails become more brittle and some other problems are observed.
What foods are considered low calorie? Those that contain less than 100 calories in 100 grams. What is included in the list of the most low-calorie foods? Consider most of them by category.
Meat products
As you know, living without meat is quite difficult. Such a statement is formed, if only because its structure has a huge number of components necessary to maintain the normal functioning of the body. What low-calorie foods are on the meat list?
When choosing meat in the store, great attention should be paid to the liver and kidneys of any kind: beef, pork or chicken. These offal are quite good for maintaining a diet. In addition, with their help, you can improve your daily diet well, enriching the body with vitamins and minerals necessary for the development of the body.
From among pure meat, veal, rabbit meat and chicken are recognized as dietary species. They have a low calorie content and a lot of protein, so many athletes use them to strengthen muscle tissue at any age.
Fish and seafood
The list of low-calorie foods contains a considerable number of marine and river inhabitants. As scientific studies show, such a food contains a huge amount of rare minerals and vitamins, as well as iodine. Most of it can be found among the inhabitants of the seas.
Of the number of sea fish, the most low-calorie species are: flounder, cod, blue whiting, saffron cod, smelt, macrourus and pollock. If we talk about fish that live in fresh water, then river perch and zander are especially useful for weight loss. In addition, you should also pay attention to burbot, crucian carp and carp - when cooked, such a fish is very tasty.
A small amount of calories is present in crayfish, boiled crabs, as well as in cooked mussels. Oysters and shrimp are also considered low-calorie foods.
Seaweed is also of great benefit to the human body, which is sold at store shelves at an inexpensive price. It is recommended to use it not only for weight loss, but also to maintain a normal level of iodine in the body.
Dairy products
Often people who want to lose weight use low-fat dairy products. Is this really the right decision? In part, yes. However, it should also be understood that some dairy products in non-fat form have the same calorie content as in their normal state.
Among the low-calorie products from a number of dairy nutritionists include yogurt, kefir and yogurt of natural origin (homemade sourdough). In addition, in order to reduce the number of calories in your daily diet, it is recommended to eat fermented baked milk, skimmed cottage cheese and acidophilic milk (which contains an increased content of beneficial bacteria). A small nutritional value is also characteristic of tofu cheese and whey, squeezed during the preparation of cottage cheese.
Vegetables and fruits
There is an opinion that all vegetables are low-calorie products for weight loss. And it is truly true. As research by scientists in the field of dietetics shows, all vegetables have a minimum calorie content and a high level of fiber, which positively affects the work of the intestines and the body as a whole. As a rule, 100 grams of most vegetables contain no more than 40 calories, which is an excellent indicator for those people who want to lose a few extra pounds. Among the highest-calorie foods of this group, garlic stands out - its nutritional value is 106 kcal per 100 grams of product.
Broccoli and celery are among the most healthy vegetables. They not only have low nutritional value, but also significantly contribute to weight loss. To fully digest them, the body requires a much greater amount of energy than it receives from them.
As for fruits and berries, the situation with this category of products is the same as with vegetables. The most caloric among them are rose hips and dates, which contain almost 300 kcal in 100 grams of dried fruit. Everything else can be safely eaten by those who follow a diet for weight loss. However, we must also remember that they can not be abused in large quantities.
Among fruits, special attention should be paid to avocados. This product contains a huge amount of veins, but the number of calories that is present in it makes it easy to get rid of extra pounds. Such a product is used as food, as a rule, by people who adhere to low-carb diets.
Legumes and cereals
It must be understood that all products that belong to this group, in fresh and raw form, are rather high-calorie ingredients. However, this indicator drops sharply under the condition of their heat treatment, for example, cooking. Among these products, pearl barley, oat, rice, semolina, as well as pasta, which are made from wholemeal flour, are recognized as low-calorie. As for buckwheat, it, presented in the form of porridge, is quite high-calorie: 1003 grams of the product contains 153 kcal. However, for people who want to not only lose fat, but turn it into a beautiful relief of muscles, it fits perfectly, but only if it is cooked on water.
As for legumes, the most low-calorie recognized boiled lentils and beans.
Nuts and butter
In fact, in this group there are completely no products that are low-calorie. However, in practice, no diet is complete without their use. Otherwise, after some time after the beginning of the diet, in which there will be no fat contained in oils and nuts, the skin will be dry. The vessels and liver will become less healthy, and the nervous system will begin to bear stress and other shocks harder. Professional nutritionists recommend, along with the most low-calorie products for weight loss, eat at least 25 ml of oil per day.
As for the calculation of calories, it must be understood that 100 grams of the usual sunflower oil contains 900 kcal. However, the method of simple mathematical calculations can determine the absence of harm from its use. Using a teaspoon of such a product per day (for example, for dressing salad), the weight of the ingredient in which is only 5 grams, you can enrich your body with only 45 kcal and a good amount of vegetable fats, which favorably affect the appearance and general health.
As for nuts, they can generally be replaced with a second breakfast, which should be provided for with any good diet. In order to replenish your energy supply, it’s enough to eat only a handful of almonds, walnuts or peanuts, twice as many sunflower seeds or five macadamia nuts.
Sweets
There is an opinion that during the observance of the diet the use of sweet food is strictly prohibited. In fact, you can eat them, but not all. What are the low-calorie foods for tea?
When choosing a low-calorie, but sweet food, you should definitely pay attention to dark chocolate, honey, and also dried fruits. In addition, on the shelves of shops you can find a large number of varieties of marshmallows and marmalade - such products can also be eaten by those who want to lose weight. They have a very small number of calories. However, this list is small, so with frequent use of such ingredients, they quickly get bored. What is eaten in this case?
When you have to turn on fantasy, you can do homemade jelly. As a rule, its caloric content is not more than 55 kcal per 100 grams. In order to choose the basis for such a dessert in the store, you need to carefully study the packaging in the place where the nutritional value is indicated. You can also buy dessert in the finished form - then you must definitely study the section that indicates the composition of the product. It is preferable that it does not have a large number of flavors, colorants, as well as flavor enhancers. In addition, the best option is jelly made on the basis of agar-agar, and not gelatin, since this component is a natural thickener.
What low-calorie sweet foods can still be found in stores? When searching for those you must pay attention to diet jams and bars. In addition, marshmallows, dried fruit candies and frozen yogurt will be useful. Nutritionists do not recommend paying attention to cookies, as it is usually made from very high-calorie ingredients. Many people mistakenly believe that oat, biscuit and shortbread cookies are dietary, but in fact this is far from the case: the nutritional value of such products is at least 380-400 kcal per 100 grams.
Diet Products
What are the most low-calorie foods recommended to include in the diet menu? When choosing such, it should be borne in mind that it should not only have low energy value, but also contain a large amount of fiber, minerals and vitamins.
You should definitely include yogurts, radishes, mushrooms (champignons), boiled brown rice, tomatoes, cucumbers and cabbage in your weight loss menu. It is these components that are offered by nutritionists for mandatory use when dieting. This is due to the fact that their structure contains a considerable amount of fiber, which by its action helps to slow down the absorption of fats in the body. Due to this, the process of conversion into positive energy occurs correctly, sebaceous deposits are not formed, so a person begins to lose weight over time.
When compiling your menu for every day, you must understand that the minimum daily number of calories should vary around the indicator of 1000-1400. If you do not follow this rule, many processes that occur in the human body are disrupted, as well as a slowdown in metabolism. Poor metabolism contributes to poor absorption of nutrients. In a properly composed diet, proteins must necessarily be present that will replenish muscle mass. Only in this case will the process of burning fat.
Sample diet menu
What low-calorie foods can be consumed while maintaining a diet? First of all, you should pay attention to the fact that the diet menu must necessarily include the presence of five meals a day. It should have two breakfasts (first and second), lunch, afternoon snack and dinner.
In the morning, for the first breakfast, you can drink a glass of natural juice with a small dried cracker. The second morning meal can be made at 9-10 in the morning. During this period, you can drink a cup of tea without sugar (ideal - herbal), as well as eat a couple of sandwiches with brown bread and boiled meat. To all this, it is recommended to add vegetables, for example, a couple of tomatoes. A great breakfast option is also oatmeal with chopped fruit or with honey.
As for lunch, it should be especially balanced. A great afternoon snack option is a serving of borscht (or any other low-calorie soup), a slice of boiled fish, a boiled soft-boiled egg, a pair of boiled potato tubers, as well as a light salad of vegetables, with the addition of vegetable oil.
During the afternoon snack you should definitely eat nutritious low-calorie foods. A good example of a snack in the period of about 3-4 hours of the day can be fruit assortment (about 150-200 grams), as well as a small piece of biscuit.
Dinner of a person following a diet that includes low-calorie foods from the list above should consist of a glass of low-fat kefir, as well as a teaspoon of sweet jam. In combination with all this, you must definitely eat some low-calorie muffin. Dinner is necessary at about 6-7 pm.
Consider a few recipes that people can follow on a diet. All of them will consist of products containing a small amount of calories.
Vegetable salad
This wonderful recipe from low-calorie products for weight loss will appeal to all people who want to get rid of a few extra pounds. The big plus of this salad is that it consists of products that can be easily found at any time of the year.
To prepare such a salad, it is necessary to boil three beets to the state of readiness, the same amount of carrots, and then cool them and cut them into cubes. After this, add 4 tablespoons of canned green peas to the vegetables, half the chopped onion, as well as three pickled cucumbers chopped into cubes. Such a salad should be seasoned with a spoon of oil, for which mustard or flaxseed is ideal. After mixing, the dish can be eaten.
Baked Eggplant
To prepare such a dish, you need to take 450 g of eggplant, wash them, cut into rings, slightly salt and leave for a while on the table. So they will lose their bitterness and in the finished form will turn out to be very tasty.
In the meantime, you can prepare other ingredients. To prepare such a dish, 250-300 g of mushrooms and the same amount of tomatoes, cut in circles, will be required.
In a separate bowl, you need to prepare a spicy sauce for such a dish. To do this, mix three crushed cloves of garlic and an incomplete glass of sour cream.
When the eggplants lie for about half an hour, they should be thoroughly rinsed with cold water, slightly dried with paper towels, and then laid on a baking sheet, which is covered with foil or parchment paper. Top with tomatoes and mushrooms. The contents should be uniformly poured with garlic-sour cream sauce and sprinkled thoroughly with a small amount of grated cheese. After this, the dish should be sent to the oven, preheated to 180 degrees, for half an hour. The output is excellent baked eggplant, which goes well with many side dishes.