Check these ridiculously low-calorie options that are packed with tons of antioxidants, fiber, protein, and more..
1.Spinach
You'd have to eat 15 cups of Popeye's favorite snack just to crack 100 calories. In addition to being rich in vitamin K, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc and selenium.Spinach contains a hormone that allows muscle tissue to repair itself faster according to a test tube study conducted by University researchers.
2.Kiwi
They pack fiber, potassium and vitamin E, as well as more than a day's worth of vitamin C and more than one-third of your recommended daily allowance of vitamin K. For maximum nutritional benefit, consume them whole—skin and all.
3.Cottage Cheese
Containing about one-fifth of the calories you'll find in most cheeses, cottage cheese is a clear low-calorie winner in the dairy department. Sure, you won't get as many vitamins as you will with fruits and vegetables, but cottage cheese still makes a good low-calorie, high-protein snack, packing 3 grams of protein per ounce. Just be careful: A regular version also contains about 20% of your day's salt requirement, so you'll want to stick with low-sodium versions.
4.Mushrooms
Small mushrooms contain only two calories each, which means you could eat dozens of them before putting a real dent in your diet. Wild mushrooms are rich in the antioxidant ergothioneine.Even better: cooking them in red wine, which contains the antioxidant resveratrol and magnifies their immunity-boosting power.
5.Shrimps
This tasty, low-calorie shellfish makes for a smart protein selection. For fewer calories than you get in a 4-ounce chicken breast, you could eat 16 large shrimp. In each serving you'll get a healthy portion of protein, selenium and vitamin D, as well as some omega-3 fatty acids. When possible, opt for wild-caught varieties, which are lower in pesticides.
6.Cabbage
To match the number of calories in four ounces of its St. Patrick's Day companion, corned beef, you'd have to eat more than eight cups of chopped cabbage. But you don't need that much to reap major nutritional benefits. One cup is loaded with a type of isothiocyanate called sulforaphane, which increases your body's production of enzymes that disarm cell-damaging free radicals. Sulforaphane actually boosts your levels of these cancer-fighting enzymes higher than any other plant chemical, according to Stanford University scientists.
7.Tomato
Tomatoes are a good source of lycopene, the phytochemical that makes them red, and they are a prostate protector and help eliminate skin-aging free radicals caused by ultraviolet rays. Cooking tomatoes (which, like avocados, are technically a fruit) helps concentrate their lycopene levels, so tomato sauce, tomato paste and even ketchup pack on the protection.
8.Strawberry
Packed with antioxidants, which protect you against cancer and memory loss, and immunity-boosting vitamin C, these little rubies make for a perfect low-calorie sweet treat. You could eat an entire pound of succulent strawberries for roughly the same number of calories you'd get in a measly half-cup of vanilla ice cream.
1.Spinach
You'd have to eat 15 cups of Popeye's favorite snack just to crack 100 calories. In addition to being rich in vitamin K, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc and selenium.Spinach contains a hormone that allows muscle tissue to repair itself faster according to a test tube study conducted by University researchers.
2.Kiwi
They pack fiber, potassium and vitamin E, as well as more than a day's worth of vitamin C and more than one-third of your recommended daily allowance of vitamin K. For maximum nutritional benefit, consume them whole—skin and all.
3.Cottage Cheese
4.Mushrooms
Small mushrooms contain only two calories each, which means you could eat dozens of them before putting a real dent in your diet. Wild mushrooms are rich in the antioxidant ergothioneine.Even better: cooking them in red wine, which contains the antioxidant resveratrol and magnifies their immunity-boosting power.
5.Shrimps
This tasty, low-calorie shellfish makes for a smart protein selection. For fewer calories than you get in a 4-ounce chicken breast, you could eat 16 large shrimp. In each serving you'll get a healthy portion of protein, selenium and vitamin D, as well as some omega-3 fatty acids. When possible, opt for wild-caught varieties, which are lower in pesticides.
6.Cabbage
To match the number of calories in four ounces of its St. Patrick's Day companion, corned beef, you'd have to eat more than eight cups of chopped cabbage. But you don't need that much to reap major nutritional benefits. One cup is loaded with a type of isothiocyanate called sulforaphane, which increases your body's production of enzymes that disarm cell-damaging free radicals. Sulforaphane actually boosts your levels of these cancer-fighting enzymes higher than any other plant chemical, according to Stanford University scientists.Tomatoes are a good source of lycopene, the phytochemical that makes them red, and they are a prostate protector and help eliminate skin-aging free radicals caused by ultraviolet rays. Cooking tomatoes (which, like avocados, are technically a fruit) helps concentrate their lycopene levels, so tomato sauce, tomato paste and even ketchup pack on the protection.
8.Strawberry
