You all have heard this over a million times that you need eat more veggies if you got to lose weight. But, which vegetables? Can you have all of them? Let’s find out

Basics first—the key to lose weight is to eat comparatively lesser calories than you burn without losing out essential nutrients. Sure, most people can manage to eat a bit lesser calories but if you want to lose weight in the healthiest possible way then being a little choosy about selecting what you eat is a must. Vegetables, in general, have low calories. Plus, they are rich in fibre and water content and also offer a wide range of nutrients that help you stay healthy


1. Cabbage (Patta gobi): Easily available in the market, cabbage is a super food and a dietary staple in most parts of the world. Most importantly, it is one vegetable that you can count on while counting calories. One cup of sliced cabbage will not give you more than 24 calories. It also contains good amount of fibre (2gm in one cup), loads of vitamins along with other minerals like calcium and iron.



2. Spinach (Palak):This leafy vegetable tops the list of foods you should have while on a weight loss diet. One cup of raw cooked, boiled spinach offers 41 calories and 4 gm of fibre.  It also has vitamin A and C that act as antioxidants and keep you away from a lot other diseases. But people who have high pressure should watch out as it will add to your sodium content.
3. Fenugreek leaves (Methi):Methi leaves have earned a bad reputation due to their bitter taste. But they’re definitely a dieter’s friend. 100g of methi leaves contains just 50 calories and plenty of moisture. They provide good roughage and can alone fulfill your body’s requirement of fibre to a great extent. They are rich in calcium and vitamin K and can be cooked just like you cook spinach.
 4. Carrots (Gajar):Obviously, if you cook ‘gajar ka halwa’ and expect to lose weight, that’s definitely not going to happen. Carrots or gajar are among those vegetables that you need to eat raw if you want to keep your calories low. In fact, it is the best option for those who want to avoid all the cooking mess and still eat healthy food. Gajar is one of the vegetables that taste equally good when raw. One medium sized gajar will give you 25 calories and 1.5 gm of fibre. You can freely add it to your evening salad.
5. Sprouts:Whether it is the beans or the lentils, sprouted form of these foods are any day better for evening snacks than those oily bajiyas and chips. One cup of any of the sprouted foods will not give you more than 30-40 calories. And they can even be a healthy protein source after exercising or working out in the gym.
 6. Cauliflower (Phool Gobi):Cauliflower is a nutrient dense vegetable that offers 14 calories in half a cooked cup. It also has good fibre content to keep away hunger pangs. It takes time to digest, keeping you full for a longer time. It also relieves edema which is linked to obesity.
 7. Sweet potatoes:Adding sweet potatoes to the diet is the smartest way to lose weight for those who crave sweets while on their weight loss mission. One medium sized, cooked or boiled sweet potato gives you 115 calories. This number is a bit higher than what you must have observed in the above vegetables. But sweet potatoes have very high fibre content. They give you about (3.8gm) 15% of the recommended dietary fibre content, which is enough to keep you full for a longer time.
8. Cucumber:No other vegetable can give you a cooling effect as strong as cucumbers. But to your surprise, among all the vegetables mentioned above they offer the least number of calories. Half a cup of sliced cucumbers will give you only 8 calories. They might not be highly rich in fibre like other vegetables but they have high water content, about 50 gm by weight in half cup of sliced pieces, which works well to keep you full for a long time.
While you switch to these vegetables for losing weight effectively, don’t forget that without exercise none of them will help you lose weight by themselves. Weight loss can only be achieved with proper exercise and healthy food.


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