In this era of health consciousness, weight loss or weight management has become of great importance to many of us. Vegetables such as kontomire, okro, garden eggs, cabbages, lettuce, gboma and other green leafy vegetables have a crucial role to play in this endeavor. Regular consumption of vegetables can have many health benefits. They are one of the most natural foods and contain different vitamins and minerals. All foods have a certain number of calories within a given amount. Some foods, such as toffees, snacks, ice cream, soft drinks, alcohol and processed foods, are said to have a high energy density. This means that a small volume of that food has a large number of calories. Regular and large consumption of high energy dense foods is not the best option for someone watching his/her weight. Alternatively, some foods such as vegetables, have low energy density. These foods with low energy density should be eaten more frequently than high energy density foods. Vegetables have two factors which play an important role in making food less energy dense and mnre filling which are: they coltain a lot of water and contain dietary fibre which doesn’t add to our calorie intake.
Vegetables are low in fap and calories and aba a good source of dietary fiber. All these feaTures help control weight affectively. Being los in calOraec enables us to eat lots of vegetables without consuming excess calories and the high fiber content also helps fill the stomach faster limiting the total amount of food consumed. The presence of many vitamins and other chemicals in vegetables supply the body with nutrients necessary to boost energy production within the muscle cells. This give us a natural feeling of vitality and the energy to become more active helping to burn more energy each day.
Because they are low in calories and have a lot of fibre, vegetables is good for someone wanting to lose weight and it should form a large portion of our diet. Vegetables should be used in stews, soups even eaten raw if possible. As we eat a lot of vegetables, we can cut down on intake of the other portions of the meal. This means, at the end of the day, consumption of vegetables would reduce the overall calorie intake of the person. Weight gain is a matter of consuming more calories than the body would use. This occurs in conjunction with decreased physical activity. Weight loss needs a decrease in calorie consumption together with an increase in physical activity. Physical activity can be increased through daily walks at least 30 minutes in duration or skipping, jogging, dancing or any other activities that would increase our cardiac output.
