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| Filling Up on Vegetables to Keep you Fuller Longer |
It is that time of year when we all want to fill up on foods high in carbohydrates. The colder weather and darker days make us want to hunker-down and fill up on our favorite comfort foods like pastas, potatoes and cookies. Regrettably, this comfort food diet is worse on our waistline.
We can certainly have and enjoy our favorite carbs but the trick, it seems, is to fill up first with tasty seasonal vegetables.
Here’s why vegetables are key to feeling full longer: “There’s strong research that shows people eat the same weight of food every day,” says nutritionist Beth Kitchin, RD, an assistant professor at the University of Alabama in Birmingham in a recent interview with EveryDayHealth.com. This factor is crucial to your weight management strategy. When you get hungry, eat vegetables — which are low in calories — in place of higher-calorie food items. These high-fiber foods will help you feel full longer and stay slender. Salads are a classic filler, but you can also add extra veggies to cooked dishes for volume.
One of my favorite recipes that satisfies my carb craving yet adds the vegetables to help us feel full and not over indulge is a Cooking Light Overnight Lasagna (308 calories/serving). Another recent find is a Mediterranean Diet roasted vegetable lasagna (330 calories/serving).
Enjoy! And Live Vibrant!
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