If you’re trying to lose weight, vegetables are a must. Not only are they extremely low in calories but they also contain a range of health boosting nutrients that support your body’s fat burning processes in numerous ways. In this article I’m going to be taking a deeper look at why vegetables are the perfect weight loss food and providing you with a number of recipes for incorporating them into your daily diet.
How Do Vegetables Help With Weight Loss?
1. Vegetables Are Low In Calories: The majority of vegetables contain well below 100 calories per serving. So by making sure all your meals contain plenty of low carb vegetables, you can significantly reduce the amount of calories you are consuming and this contributes to healthy weight loss.
Related reading: What Are the Best Low Carb Vegetables?
2. Vegetables are rich in Fiber: Most vegetables are rich in fiber. Fiber is an indigestible type of carbohydrate that feeds the good bacteria in your gut and keeps your bowels moving and more. Although your body cannot digest fiber, fiber rich foods do require more calories to digest than foods that are lacking in fiber. This means by eating plenty of vegetables, you’ll burn off more calories during digestion and put on less weight as a result.
3. Vegetables Are Packed Full Of Essential Nutrients: Vegetables are an excellent source of health boosting vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients (natural plant chemicals). While these nutrients are not directly responsible for healthy weight loss, they do ensure that your metabolism remains optimal and prevent it from slowing down. Therefore, by eating vegetables regularly, you can ensure that your body continues to burn the maximum number of calories possible.
4. Vegetables Contain Lots Of Water: Almost every vegetable is over 50% water. Like vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients, water doesn’t directly burn body fat but it does keep you hydrated which helps maintain your metabolism and supports your body’s fat burning processes.
Three Tasty Vegetable Marinades
One of the biggest complaints people have when it comes to vegetables is that they don’t like the taste so they avoid eating them completely. However, if you’re willing to do a little preparation, you can make vegetables tasty without adding many excess calories.
Below are three of the best tasty vegetable marinades which you can use to add an extra kick to your veggies (each recipe creates enough marinade for one serving of vegetables, so if you’re eating more vegetables, simply adjust the number of ingredients):
1) Sweet Chili, Lemon & Onion Marinade: Combine 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of coconut sugar or a few drops of liquid stevia, 1/2 teaspoon of chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon of onion powder and 1/2 teaspoon of Himalayan salt in a mixing bowl. Whisk all the ingredients well with a fork or small hand whisk until they’re fully combined and then add your vegetables to the mixing bowl and mix gently with the marinade.
2) Honey, Garlic, Ginger & Soy Sauce Marinade: Combine 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon of raw honey, 1 tablespoon of tamari ( wheat free) soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon of ginger powder and 1/2 teaspoon of Himalayan salt in a mixing bowl, whisk all the ingredients well with a fork or small whisk until they’re fully combined and then add your vegetables to the mixing bowl and mix gently with the marinade.
3) Honey, Lemon & Wasabi Marinade: Combine 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon of raw honey, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, 1 teaspoon of wasabi, 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper and 1/2 teaspoon of Himalayan salt in a mixing bowl, whisk all the ingredients well with a fork or small hand whisk until they’re fully combined and then add your vegetables to the mixing bowl and coat them in the marinade.
Summary
Not only are low carb vegetables tasty and good for your health but they’re also essential if you want to lose weight and keep it off. The good news is that with a little planning and preparation, you can easily make them part of your daily diet without compromising on taste. So if you’re not eating vegetables on a daily basis already because you don’t find them tasty enough try giving them the marinade treatment.
