Lowest Calorie Fruit
If you are on a low-calorie diet to lose weight and the dietary plan says that you can eat as much fruit as you want, be very careful. There are some types of fruit that are not as ‘slimming’ as others. Read about the lowest calorie fruit in this article!
Fruits Allowed in Diets
Most diets (or most of the effective and healthy ones) allow you to eat a large amount of fruit during the day. It’s important to know which ones are the best for your goals, though. How? If you aim to lose weight, that depends on the calories they contain. Below you’ll find a table showing the lowest calorie fruit.
It’ll also tell you about the nutritional value of each fruit so you can choose the ones that are most appropriate for your personal diet.
Advantages of eating fruit
Besides being low calorie, fruit has other advantages. It provides you with fiber, antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins. You should eat between three and five servings of fruit a day. These can be divided among breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.
In general, they all have weight-loss properties because they have few calories in relation to their volume or weight. They give you a feeling of fullness. This is especially true when you eat them with the skin. The fiber they contain makes them exceptional body cleansers.
They can help get rid of harmful substances in your body. They improve intestinal movement and prevent constipation. Lastly, they act like antioxidants. In other words, they limit the formation of free radicals, improve cellular metabolism, and facilitate the breakdown of fats.
Keeping in mind the properties of each fruit makes it easier to choose one or more to eat everyday. Although they are all beneficial, each one is unique. As such, different fruits have different things to offer.
Regardless of which fruits you choose, remember that a diet rich in fruits and also vegetables will help you lose weight. It will also increase your energy levels, making you feel less tired or weak in your daily life.
When to eat it
Some people say that fruit should be eaten outside of your main meals. They argue that having it for dessert after the main dish makes them “lose” most of their nutrients during digestion.
They ferment in the stomach and make the process slower. That’s why many people don’t feel good about eating fruit for dessert. If you feel this is an issue, we suggest you enjoy them outside of full meals. They can be great as mid-morning or mid-afternoon snacks.
Fruits contain a substance known as “fructose.” The body converts this substance into glucose, which is energy. This glucose needs to be burned so that it doesn’t accumulate in the body as fat.
Some experts say that the best time to eat fruit is during the morning because the metabolism is working the hardest. So, the digestive process will let you burn the glucose that builds up and also satisfy your appetite for several hours.
The best fruits for losing weight are going to be the ones with the least calories. These are pears, apples, kiwi, mandarins.
A list of lowest calorie fruit
You should keep this list where you can see it. It’ll help you figure out which fruits to eat more of and which to eat less commonly. The value is an approximate figure based on 100 grams of the fruit.
- Watermelon: 15 calories
- Grapefruit: 26 calories
- Strawberries: 27 calories
- Medlar: 28 calories
- Raspberry: 30 calories
- Peach: 30 calories
- Melon: 30 calories
- Blackberry: 35 calories
- Plum: 36 calories
- Redcurrant: 37 calories
- Pear: 38 calories
- Cranberry: 41 calories
- Mandarin: 41 calories
- Apple: 45 calories
- Fig: 47 calories
- Cherry: 48 calories
- Apricot: 52 calories
- Orange: 53 calories
- Pineapple: 55 calories
- Kiwi: 56 calories
- Grape: 61 calories
- Pomegranate: 62 calories
- Mango: 73 calories
- Banana: 85 calories
- Avocado: 232 calories
As you can see, the lowest calorie fruit on this list is grapefruit.
You might also be interested in: Lose Weight With Grapefruit
What About Dried Fruits?
If you’re looking for a protein-rich diet, dried fruits are a great option. The difference between dried and fresh fruit is that the dry ones have a lot of calories. However, the good news is that their ability to make you feel full tends to be much higher. This is the table with the number of calories in the dried fruits group. As with fresh fruit, this is an approximate value per about 100 grams of the dried fruit.
- Prune: 177 calories
- Dried date: 256 calories
- Dried fig: 270 calories
- Raisin: 301 calories
- Chestnut: 349 calories
- Peanut: 452 calories
- Almond: 499 calories
- Pine nut: 568 calories
- Pistachio: 600 calories
- Hazelnut: 625 calories
- Walnut: 670 calories
You might be amazed at how many calories these dried fruits have for such little weight. You won’t find the lowest calorie fruit among these. However, keep in mind that their fatty acids and nutrients turn them into pretty healthy meals compared to other foods.
Other foods that have a similar amount of calories with less nutrients are cheese, steak, cold cuts, and legumes. 100 grams of cream or fresh cheese has more than 300 calories.
A strip of steak more than 400, while cold cuts are no lower than 300 calories, and legumes have around 350. The vegetables that are less fattening are lettuce, cucumber, radish, and squash.
Images courtesy of Sean McEntee, Kim Lowton, Clare Bell, Mario Diogo, Victor, Championship catering, bogoni and Steve Parker.