Vegetables and fruits supply vitamins, minerals and fiber, and they can help you lose or maintain weight.
Why they help
- Fullness: their water and fiber fill you up, slow digestion and help lower blood sugar — for relatively few calories.
- Weight: vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes and nuts help with weight and metabolism. Not all plant foods count: fried vegetables, including fried potatoes, are linked to weight gain.
- Gut health: the trillions of microbes in your gut — the microbiome — do well on vegetables, fruits, high-fiber foods and fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir and miso. Highly processed foods can upset that balance.
The idea is to substitute: replace calorie-dense or highly processed ingredients with vegetables and fruits, and eat the same amount of food for fewer calories. One serving of macaroni and cheese might have about the same calories as a cup of strawberries, an apple, and carrots with hummus together.
Through the day
| Meal | Swap |
|---|---|
| Breakfast | Replace part of an omelet or cheesy scramble with spinach, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes or peppers; season with pepper, salsa or hot sauce. Pour less cereal and add bananas, peaches or berries, fresh or frozen |
| Lunch | Swap some sandwich, wrap or burrito fillings for leafy greens, tomatoes, cucumbers or peppers. Choose a broth-based vegetable soup over a cream soup, and fruit over cookies or chips |
| Dinner | Make at least half the meal vegetables and fruits. Replace 1 cup of rice or pasta with 1 cup of broccoli, squash or peppers. Use herbs and spices instead of heavy dressings; finish with fruit salad, on a normal-sized plate |
Calories still count, even when many come from vegetables and fruits.
Snacks of about 100 calories
| Fruit and vegetables | Dried | Nuts and legumes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 medium apple | 4–5 dried apricot halves | 25 roasted pistachios |
| 1 medium banana | 2–3 medium dates | 22 roasted peanuts |
| 1 cup blueberries or grapes | 2 medium dried figs | 12–14 roasted almonds |
| 2 tablespoons hummus with 1 cup carrots, broccoli or bell peppers | ½ cup dried mixed vegetables | 10 pecan halves or 6 walnut halves |
| ⅔ cup edamame; ¼ cup roasted chickpeas |
Skip salty or sugary packaged snacks such as chips, cookies and candy.
More tips
- Eat them whole, washed well; raw fruit brings its own sweetness.
- Choose whole fruit over juice: juice has little fiber, so it doesn't fill you. Avoid sugar-sweetened fruit drinks.
- Canned or frozen is fine — as nutritious as fresh — without added salt, sugar or syrup.
- Dress lightly: vinegar-based dressings, herbs and spices; yogurt or tahini bases add protein.
- Steam or air-fry; avoid breading and frying.
Sources
Based on "Healthy Eating for a Healthy Weight: Fruits and Vegetables," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; a work of the United States government in the public domain. Its stock photograph and photo-based graphic are not reproduced.
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from www.cdc.gov
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