Veggies should make up a powerful portion of your meals. Examples of simple ways to include vegetables in each dish include adding spinach to your omelet, serving raw vegetables with dip for lunch, and serving roasted broccoli for dinner. While many essential vegetables are preserved in these raw or very lightly cooked preparations, this is only the case for some other cuisines and snacks that emphasize veggies.
Some components frequently used to enhance flavor and texture in vegetable meals include oil, salt, sugar, cheese, and breading, which frequently results in high-calorie foods. Unfortunately, these qualities may make your favorite vegetable considerably less healthful and contribute to extra weight gain.
Read about the vegetables that could be making you fat:
- Tempura Eggplant
A delicious, crispy batter encircles a vegetable. Any vegetable skeptic may be persuaded to eat more vegetables by this dish! Eggplant is a calorie-efficient food that is high in nutrients. Unfortunately, two of the crucial components in eggplant, fiber and antioxidants, may be damaged when battered and fried.
The most popular uses for tempura batter, typically used as a covering for vegetables and seafood, are egg, flour, and water. The dish is then deep-fried after being coated. The tempura batter and oil add a lot of calories to the tempura eggplant, most of which might be of higher quality. The antioxidant-rich peel of this vegetable is frequently removed before the tempura coating, depriving the eggplant of numerous nutrients yet maintaining its fiber throughout frying. Additionally, dipping sauces are frequently provided with tempura foods, which increase the number of unhealthful calories in this dish.
- Cauliflower Fritters with Aioli
Due to its numerous preparation options and mild flavor, cauliflower has recently experienced a meteoric rise in popularity. However, although cauliflower has important elements like fiber and vitamin C, it becomes a calorie-dense version of itself when fried and dipped in a sauce made of mayonnaise.
Cauliflower fritters are a popular snack that is simple to prepare at home and are made with a mixture of cauliflower, eggs, flour, and seasoning before being cooked in oil. As a result, a vegetable with very few calories becomes a source of calories and unhealthy fat. In addition, a veggie-based appetizer may have more calories than an entree once it has been dipped in the aioli sauce, another calorie-dense component of this dish.
- Beet Chips
Beets are not universally adored since many dislike their “earthy” flavor. However, this vegetable has vitamins C, iron, and fiber. In addition, beet juice and other concentrated beet products reduce blood pressure.
Even while this is fantastic, beet chips are a different story. The nutritional density of beets decreases when a very thin slice is cut, fried in oil, and sprinkled with salt. While certain nutrients may still be there, eating a lot of chips would be necessary to get any meaningful vitamin and mineral value. This would leave you with a snack high in calories, fat, and salt, which may make weight management more difficult.
- Fried Okra
Fried okra is a common dish in the southern states that is more renowned for its flavor than its ability to help people lose weight. Okra is a naturally low-calorie vegetable with fiber, vitamin C, and other vitamins and minerals.
Fried is one of the most popular ways to prepare this vegetable. However, stewed and sauteed are other options. Fried okra is prepared more frequently using cornmeal than the other fried vegetables on this list. Even if it’s a novel addition to a fried vegetable, the dish still has a lot of calories and fat, which could help you gain weight.
- Carrot Cake
Sadly, the less healthful components of carrot cake outweigh the shredded carrots. Carrots are a further source of vitamin C and iron and include lutein, an antioxidant that supports eye health. However, vitamin C and lutein are likely to break down after being cooked, resulting in less of these nutrients being available for consumption.
Carrots lose these important nutrients when cooked, but carrot cake, which uses typical cake components, may still be a healthier option for those trying to lose weight. Unfortunately, carrot cake is one of the least healthful ways to consume carrots and may also contribute to weight gain because it contains sugar, wheat, oil, sugar, and cream cheese in the frosting.