A Few Of My Favorite Things

This week I thought I’d share a few of my favorite foods.  What do they all have in common?  They taste good, they’re low calorie, and in many cases they are nutrient-dense.   It’s nice to have a long list of foods that you enjoy eating while you know they are contributing to your intake of vitamins and minerals, and also not contributing excess calories.

So here is my top 5 list!

1.  Plumicots Also known as Pluots, Plumcots, Aprilums, or Apriums, this delicious fruit is a cross between a plum and an apricot.  The name depends on what percent of the fruit cross is plum and what percent is apricot.   A good source of vitamin C and fiber, each whole fruit provides less than 40 calories.  A great sweet treat for in between meals, you’ll have to get out there soon to find them,  as the season soon comes to a close.

2. Newton Fruit Crisps By the makers of Fig Newtons, these tasty pastries are like steam-rolled newtons.  They are more flat, longer, and have a crisper dough. They’re also sweeter.  The filling flavors choices are apple cinnamon or mixed berry and they are both  yummy!  A package includes two cookie bars and you can eat them both for just 100 calories.  It’s hard to believe they can fit that much cookie in such a low calorie serving.  Not a great source of any nutrients in particular, they do onlyhave 2 grams of fat, and sure beat eating some other cookies that have twice the fat and calories.

3. Calorie-free beverages Drinking sweetened beverages is a very unsatisfying way to use up the limited number of calories you want to ingest in a day.  But sometimes water gets boring.  If you haven’t tried seltzer water for a while, there are some great flavors out there, without any artificial sweeteners–just a hint of fruity flavor and some cool fizz.  Canada Dry, Seagrams, and LaCroix are brands I know make tasty lemon-lime, orange, berry, and/or grapefruit flavors.  Be cautious of those flavored waters and seltzers that claim to be “all natural” and in fact contain caloric sweeteners, or those that announce, “zero calories” but have artificial sweeteners in them.  The pure, flavored seltzers are cool and refreshing with nothing added but the slight fruity flavor.  Great to enjoy with a meal, or just to help hydrate in between.

4. Skinny Cow If you haven’t yet heard of Skinny Cow ice cream novelties, it’s time to get on the bandwagon!  Somehow, this company has managed to make ice cream bars, ice cream sandwiches, fudgesicles, and several more products that taste great, bring only 110-160 calories to the table, and give you ample portion sizes.   They do not have the taste or texture of some “diet” ice creams which are low in sugar and/or fat:  These taste great!  If you like ice cream after dinner, as so many of us do, you can find your favorite treat–from bars to cones–in a mass of varieties and flavors (the ice cream sandwich fillings alone come in you choice of coffee, chocolate, mint, peanut-butter, or vanilla!) without breaking the calorie bank.

5. Wallaby Yogurt Who knows how long this one has been around?  It’s hard to keep up with all the new brands, varieties, and flavors of yogurt that can now take up half the refrigerator aisle in some stores.  All I know is I’ve found it now and it’s my favorite! (They’re made in California, by the way, and not Australia as the name implies).  The texture is very creamy (I can practically drink it like a thick shake) and the flavors are actually more unique.  Here are a few pictured:  my pick is maple, but I also love mango lime, passionfruit, and blackberry just to name a few.  One reason I chose this brand is because there are no artificial sweeteners–I just can’t find any that don’t have an aftertaste, so I look for yogurt that has real sugar, and it’s surprisingly hard to find!  Meanwhile, at 140 calories for the lowfat and fewer for the nonfat, these yogurts are a fantastic source of calcium (25% of the daily value in just 6 ounces) to balance out a meal or fill in for a snack.

Well, those are just my top five–let us know what some of your favorites are so we can all add more low-calorie, tasty treats to our healthy-and-yummy list!

Written by Laurie Beebe

About The Author: Laurie Beebe has been a registered dietitian for 25 years and is certified in adult weight management. Laurie currently serves as a diet coach and life coach at www.mycoachlaurie.com

Related posts:

1. The Cookie Diet, Revisited
2. Soup Is Good Diet Food, Too
3. 3 Smart Alternatives to Sugary Snacks