Calories in the Vegetable Food Group

Calories are a necessary part of life. Why....without calories, the body would just fall over and die.

While calories are more commonly viewed as 'something that makes one fat', calories are actually viewed as 'energy' by the body. Although common sense tells us that delicious pastries, pies, cakes, puddings, chips, and fried foods - as well as other fat-loaded foods aren't good for the body's circulatory system, the body recognizes calories as energy.

Smart Vegetable Choices for Weight Loss Results

If Dieter Debbie has consumed all the calories that her body requires for the day, and the hungries hit and she decides to munch on a bag of innocent, low calorie carrots - these 'healthy' calories will then be stored in Debbie's fat cells. Eeek - weight gain!

On the other Diet Hand, Dieter Debbie should be applauded for making a wise food choice. Rather than the body storing 35 calories she consumed, if she had relented to a slice of cheesecake, the body would have been storing about 700 calories.

Dieting or not - vegetables can make one of the healthiest choices for weight loss and the closer they are to their natural state, the less calories they contain. Calories in vegetables can be found here at Diet Bites, and in the meantime, let's do a few calorie comparisons with vegetable that is a fan-favorite of most individuals - the healthy potato.

Vegetable Selection	Serving Size	Preparation Method	Calories
Baked	One 7-ounce	Enjoyed plain with a little salt & pepper.	220
	"	With regular sour cream, butter, salt & pepper.	340
	"	With regular sour cream, butter, bacon bits, cheese, salt & pepper.	450
Hash Browns	1 cup	Home prepared.	413
French Fries	7 ounces	Fried also contains 9.3 fat grams.	297
Mashed	1 cup	Prepared with whole milk added.	174
	"	With whole milk and butter added.	237
	"	whole milk and margarine added.	237
Scalloped	1 cup	Prepared with margarine.	216
Chips	8 ounces	Plain variety, salted, commercially prepared potato chips.	1,242
	1 ounce	" '	155
Potato Salad	1 cup	Home prepared with Mayo.	358
	"	Home prepared with Miracle Whip Light.	228

Smart Vegetable Choices for Snack Time for Weight Loss Results

Here are a few great suggestions for dieters when snack time arrives:

- raw broccoli trees served with 45 calories of your favorite salad dressing

- 100 calories worth of sweet potato, mashed, sprinkled with cinnamon and no calorie sugar substitute

- one celery stalk filled with 1 teaspoon of peanut butter (using Peter Pan's Whipped Peanut Butter will save more calories)

- one celery stalk filled with 1 serving of whipped cream cheese

- Carrot & Raisin Salad: shred one large carrot and add 1 teaspoon of dark or golden raising OR dried cranberries add 1 teaspoon of Miracle Whip Light.

- an assortment of raw vegetables served with 45 calories of your favorite salad dressing or yogurt

- 100 calories worth of vegetable chips

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