Right Food Choices

Here are suggestions to help you make the right choice without sacrificing the satisfaction that eating provides.

1. Choose white meat. A six-ounce portion (about the size of a deck of cards) of white meat turkey without skin has 230 calories, while a mixed portion of white and dark meat with skin has about 345 calories.
2. Limit rolls and butter. An average roll has 80-85 calories. Add butter, and you’re eating 120 calories instead.
3. Eat steamed rather than buttered vegetables. Buttered vegetables have about twice as many calories per cup as steamed vegetables. Even cutting back on the amount of butter you use on vegetables can be significant. Remember that every tablespoon of butter adds about 100 calories to a dish. Lemon juice or low-fat salad dressings are alternative ways to top vegetables if you’re craving a sauce.
4. Water packed tuna instead of oil packed tuna. Between the two variants of canned fish, the tuna in brine is a top choice for us. Although both contain omega-3 fatty acids, a 3-oz tuna in oil contains 7 grams of fat and 165 calories, while the tuna in brine version contains 1 gram of fat and 135 calories.
5. Tomato slices, lettuce, pepper strips in replacement of mayonnaise in your sandwich. Loading that sandwich with greens and other yummy vegetables will absolutely make your lunch healthier. Skip on the mayonnaise, remember even if it says “reduced calories” it still has calories in it.
6. Two cups of skim milk instead of two cups of whole milk. Drinking three glasses of milk a day is very beneficial to us women in order to consume the calcium we need, especially in preventing osteoporosis. What’s more, we can have the same nutritional value from skim milk with less calories.
7. A cup of low-fat, sugar free yogurt instead of glazed doughnut. A low-fat fruit yogurt is better for snacking with only 125 calories than the tempting glazed doughnut with 245 calories. Yogurt is not only high in calcium, it’s also packed with protein. According to the new approach made by the American Dietetic Association, a High Calcium Low Calorie diet can play a role in weight loss that dieters can maintain for life.
8. A bottle of chilled water instead of diet soda. This is very true since water does not contain a single amount of calories — that’s right, zero calories guaranteed. A glass of water does not make us gain weight and also flushes out harmful toxins.
9. Pass on the whipped cream in your mocha or latte. To jumpstart your morning, ask your barista to prepare your favorite gourmet coffee with skim milk and resist the urge to add on extra whipped cream and chocolate syrup.
10. Have a fruit instead of that cake for dessert. What’s better than having a piece of chocolate cake? Fruits! Not only do they provide vitamins and minerals, some of them contain antioxidants and are also packed with hundreds of disease-fighting phytochemicals — natural substances that work as a team to protect good health. We suggest you try a cup of mixed fruits instead of a slice of chocolate decadence cake for an after dinner dessert. Even if you have the canned fruit cocktail, it only contains 45-88 calories versus the 235 calories of frosted chocolate cake.