Calorie Counting made Easy

When you can’t count calories

Guidelines to follow when straight calorie counting is impractical.

1. Eat foods that are filling and low in calories. That means meals and snacks made with whole grains, such as brown rice, whole-wheat bread, and oatmeal, as well as legumes, such as lentils and other beans.

2. When you eat meat, choose lean cuts of meat and modest amounts — about 3½ or 4 ounces per serving.

3. Avoid fried foods. For stovetop cooking, it’s better either to stir-fry foods in nonstick pans lightly coated with a cooking-oil spray or to braise them in broth or wine. Baking, broiling, and roasting add no extra fat to your meals.

4. Use low-fat or nonfat dairy foods. Milk, yogurt, and cheese are good sources of protein and calcium, but the whole-milk versions of these dairy products are very high in fat.

5. Avoid fast foods. Hamburgers, chicken nuggets, French fries, and other fast-food meals and snacks tend to promote weight gain for two reasons. First, they are high in fat, calories, or both. Second, the “value meals” are often excessively large and tempt you to overeat.

Reprinted from Harvard Health Publications