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A ‘low energy dense food’ sounds like another weight loss scheme but it is actually backed by decades of research. The logic is very simple, eat foods with lots of water content to get more volume for fewer calories.
Energy density in plain terms is the amount of energy or calories in a gram of food. Food can be very low, low, medium or high density. Butter is the best example of high density food with 180 calories in 20 grams. Watermelon is very low with just 7 calories in 20 grams. Portion size is another way to witness the difference. One and half oranges have the same number of calories as three pretzel rods.
There is an easy way to find a food’s energy density, you just have to divide the number of calories in a serving by the number of grams in that serving. Energy density ranges from low to end, low being 0.5/1 calorie/gram to 4-9 calories/gram. You can use a calorie counter for fresh foods and use the nutrition facts to divide the calories by the gram in a portion.
Typically, foods that are low energy are high in fibre and water, that’s why they are filling. If you replace high density foods with lose density foods you will just feel deprived so eating low- energy density foods works equally well for weight loss and weight maintenance.
While you are making food at home, you can start by adding non- starchy vegetables in place of starchy ones, and some of the meat. Instead of a sandwich, replace the slices of bread with leafy greens and convert it into a salad! When choosing grains, choose oatmeal and quinoa that increase in volume when cooked in water, they are much more filling than dry cereal.
It is very easy to just eat healthy by simply switching out high energy foods for healthy alternatives. You will feel healthier, you will see a definite improvement in your health and you will feel so much better about yourself too!
