1200 Calorie Diet: How Many Servings of
Vegetables Do You Need Each Day?
Article by Diet Bites
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For the 1200 Calorie Diet, the Vegetable Group daily serving recommendation equals 1.5 cups.
What Counts as a Serving of Vegetables?
1 cup of frozen green beans
1/2 cup of cooked fresh carrots
1/2 cup of chopped celery
Health Notes - Weekly Recommendations for Vegetables
1.5 cups of dark green
1 cup of orange
1 cup of legumes, cooked
2.5 cups of starchy vegetables
2 cups of raw, leafy greens
4.5 of assorted vegetables
One potato, two potato - three potato four, let's get to cooking some vegetables through the kitchen door!
Mashed Vegetables for Your Weight Loss Plan
Many vegetables take on an entirely different flavor when they go from raw to roasted or boiled or baked - or even when prepared on the grill.
And they also take on new flavors and textures when they are mashed. And so many specimens can be used in this manner. Let's look at a few of our favorites:
1. Potatoes: you know the drill. You peel them, wash them, cut them up and boil them in water until they are tender. Now at this point we can add the traditional ingredients or low calorie ones which will make them a more healthy choice for your diet.
While adding softened cream cheese, full blow sour cream, rich cream or Half & Half can add a ton of flavor to the potatoes - these ingredients also add a ton of fat.
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For example, one cup of plain boiled Russet potatoes contains 134 calories and 0.16 total fat grams. When mashed using whole milk and margarine the calorie values almost double to 237 kcals and about 9 grams of total fat. Think about what butter, cream and other fatty additives can do to increase the caloric and fat values, further still.
Therefore, when we're preparing them for our weight loss plan, let's simply drain them, add a little salt and pepper. Now we'll do the mash using skim milk and a Tablespoon or two of reduced fat margarine. Sure, they aren't as rich-tasting as the fatty recipe - but we are what we eat and while dieting, if we want to drop pounds, then there are methods that we can use to trim the kcals.
And actually, these homemade mashed potatoes are quite earthy and delicious, holding more of the flavor of the potato rather than the fatty ingredients that would have been added in their place.
2. Sweet Potatoes: These are a lot of fun when mashed. You can add ground cinnamon, reduced fat margarine - a little milk and they are so tasty, and yes - healthy. If you have pumpkin pie spice on hand, it works great and you won't need the cinnamon.
3. Squash: This applies to all varieties - from summer straight neck to zucchini. Simply boil and thoroughly drain off all of the liquid. Mash by hand using an old fashioned potato masher. Add a serving of reduced fat margarine, salt and pepper and they are ready for the meal plate.
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2,200 Kcal Plan | 2,400 Calorie Diet | 2,600 Kcals
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